Another month of reading down for 2024 and another reading log completed! This month was super busy for me overall with me launching my digital products on my store this month and committing to a content schedule.
As you know, I do all of this myself and it’s definitely a learning process.
Keeping up the trend from last month’s reading log, I decided to give myself another reading challenge. I wanted to read 15 books this month. I was convinced I would easily be able to reach this goal since I read 9 last month without even trying. BUT.
I may have bitten off a bit more than I could chew given just how busy I was this past month.
So, Did I Meet My Reading Goal This Month?
See, about that… You’ll have to find that out in the next post! Because this post itself was so long I decided to break it up into two parts. So be on the lookout for it this week.
I will give you a hint: I did read more this month than last month.
How These Reading Challenges Help Me Build Good Habits
I have been trying to build the habit of reading to replace my screen time and in that aspect, I have completely succeeded! I normally only watch YouTube videos when I eat meals or occasionally my husband and I will play games together or watch a show or movie. Other than that, I’m reading!
The only time I am on social media is to respond to or post something on my Facebook Page or Pinterest. I did have one day this month that I let myself kind of catch up on Tiktok and scrolled on it for a while. Overall, I’m happy with how my habits have been changing and plan to keep it up.
So, with that said, let’s get onto the books! I’ll be showing my full reading log entry that shows what I read, the genre, the page count, a brief description, and my rating.
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What I Read This Month | Monthly Reading Log Entry
Great Leads by Michael Masterson/John Forde
- Nonfiction/Educational
- 123 Pages
- I read this book as part of my self-help/self-improvement journey. They claim this book will instantly make your copy stronger and I’m inclined to believe them! Wonderful reference I will always keep on hand for writing. Translates into all kinds of writing.
- Would recommend it if you’re looking to improve your writing.
- 5/5
The Tent by Margaret Atwood
- Collection of short stories
- 124 pages
- Favorites of the book: “Thylacine Ragout”, “Chicken Little Goes Too Far”, “Bring Back Mom: An Incantation”. Atwood’s fascinating/experimental with words fully on display.
- 3.5/5
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
- Historical Fiction/Retelling
- 126 pages
- I love retellings and Atwood’s writing so it’s no surprise I would enjoy this one. Short and sweet with some interesting theories about Penelope’s personality and I enjoyed the maids’ perspective of the story. If you’re an Atwood fan or a Greek mythology fan, you’ll enjoy it. Would recommend
- 4/5
The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger
- Historical Novel
- 555 pages
- The story surrounds a small Minnesota town shortly after the Korean war. Its aftermath wracks many of the characters in different ways. A rich local man is found dead in the river that runs through the small town uncovering a messy web of terrible happenings that has occurred over the years. Well written and the theme of war permeating all the characters in different ways is interesting. Would recommend this one if you enjoy history and a murder mystery.
- Content warning: CSA, sexual assault, as well as depictions of war/death.
- 4.5/5
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
- Coming of Age novel
- 267 pages
- I thought I would enjoy this one more but something about it was lacking for me. Well written but the focus of the story did not appeal to me as much as I had hoped. Very descriptive writing which I appreciated. I feel like this is something I would have enjoyed reading in my younger years. That being said, I would still recommend it.
- 3.5/5
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
- Thriller
- 283 pages
- This book follows the narrator’s reflection of her life as a young woman living in small town “X-ville”. She is a caretaker for her abusive alcoholic father and does not have any friends of her own. Most would call her odd. She has poor eating habits and a very strange outlook on life. In her desperation to get out of X-ville and reinvent herself, she meets a woman at the boys’ prison she works at. She becomes infatuated with her and becomes an accomplice to a shocking crime. This story picked up for me about 2/3s in. It’s a bit dark and outright gross in some respects but I can say it was certainly interesting.
- Content warning: CSA, murder mention. 283 pages
- 4/5
Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
- Collection of short stories
- 555 pages
- After reading Atwood’s The Tent, I was excited to have this collection of short stories as my first Gaiman read. I love how short stories allow an author to experiment with different ideas in a low stakes way. And Gaiman also writes a small blurb about the inspiration or conception of the story which is a nice extra. My favorites of the book: The Wedding Gift, We Can Get Them For You Wholesale.
- 4/5
Reading Log Part One Wrap Up!
That marks the end of part one of my November Reading Log. I’ve been having a lot of fun keeping track of everything I’m reading in my Ultimate Reading Journal. I plan to use it in the future to plan my reviews. Unfortunately, I didn’t really have time to write any this month. But keeping track of my thoughts about each book and writing out my TBR List are a few of my favorite ways to use the journal.
Totals so far in this this blog:
Books Read: 7
Total Pages: 2033! Pretty good, I think!
If you’d like to grab a reading journal for yourself, you can find it here at my shop.
Both my products are on sale this week for Black Friday so if you are reading this during the week it’s been posted, take advantage of the 30% off sale!
And with that, I’ll end the blog here.
Until next time,
Click on the images of the books for the links to Amazon if you want to check out the title!
*Tip: If you’re looking for the kindle version of a book, you will need to open the link in a web browser, not the Amazon app*
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