Monthly Musings – November 2015

This is a where I look back at what I read (or tried to read) during the past month. I also plan on highlighting my experiences in any book club reads I from the month as well. I will always start with any books I would label as a surprise find/under-read books so if anyone missed my reviews for them, and don’t make it to the end of this post, they’ll be easy to find.

This was a phenomenal month for me in terms of backlist items. A Knight of Seven Kingdoms, while a new release in this form, contains 3 short stories by George R. R. Martin that were previously released in separate anthologies. These stories have been on my TBR list for years and really just the task and price of tracking down out of print anthologies was what kept me from reading them. So happy I was able to finally get ahold of them early this month!

Then, I went on a bit of a binge and read the entire Rain Wilds Chronicles by Robin Hobb in a week. That’s 4 books, but using Whispersync so I could read print and listen to the audiobook for all of them made it easier to accomplish (Hobb’s addictive writing definitely helped as well!). I posted some thoughts about how reviewing has impacted my reading habits a bit, and explained how much I enjoyed taking the time to read this series. I have to admit, knowing I was putting all of my review books on hold until I finished was a motivator in making more time to read it, but with these books, I never really felt rushed, just immersed. Funny thing I noticed was that I did my Liveship Traders binge read, that was also in November (last year). So maybe this will be a yearly trend 🙂 But now I have caught up on all of the Realm of the Elderlings books, I’m curious what I might pick.

Highlighted Reads from November

Giveaway

There’s still time to win a copy of The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston

Review Summary [MONTH]

• [2 Nov] A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin ★★★★
• [3 Nov] One Good Dragon Deserves Another (Heartstrikers, #2) by Rachel Aaron ★★★½
• [5 Nov] Reign of Iron (Iron Age, #3) by Angus Watson ★★★★
• [9 Nov] Apocalypse Now Now by Charlie Human ★★★★
• [16 Nov] The Flux by Ferrett Steinmetz ★★★
• [19 Nov] Binti by ★★★★½
• [23 Nov] The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston ★★★★
• [27 Nov] Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb ★★★★

 November Backlist Burndown

OK, so I read the entire series, but here’s my first review. I’m debating saving the other 3 reviews to be Backlist Burndown features for the next three months, or releasing sooner, or doing a combined review.

Here’s what other people read and burned off their backlist this month! It makes me happy to see other people joining in with this, so thanks to all of you! 🙂 Anyone else that posted a backlist review this month, feel free to link up! Hope to see another great set of books for May.

Looking Forward to December 2015

Keep an eye out tomorrow for a fantastic interview with Michael Livingston, author of The Shards of Heaven! Also, for my upcoming reading , I know I have plenty lined up that I could or might read in December, but here are three that I want to make sure I read this month: