Read:
Reviving Ophelia – Mary Pipher & Sara Pipher Gilliam (Riverhead Books, 2019)
Under the Lilacs – Louisa May Alcott (Nelson Doubleday Inc., 1955)
The Silence of the Girls – Pat Barker (Penguin Books, 2018)
Frying Plantain – Zalika Reid-Benta (Astoria, 2019)
Know My Name – Chanel Miller (Viking, 2019)
Emerald City – Brian Birnbaum (Dead Rabbits, 2019)
Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng (Penguin Books, 2014)
The Dutch House – Ann Patchett (Harper, 2019)
Currently Reading:
The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead
2019 Reading Goals:
Books Read: 104/100
Books Reviewed: 80/50
Thoughts:
I reached my goal! My 100th book of 2019 was Frying Plantain. When I set this goal in January I thought it was a little crazy and a lot ambitious. My hope was simply that it would spur me to read more; I didn’t necessarily hope to actually hit 100 in a year.
November was full of great books! This is partially due to the fact that I crafted my reading list with care and filled it with books I’d been looking forward to. But, as readers know, you can never quite be sure how a book will land. Fortunately, almost every book I read this month was excellent. My two non-fiction reads, Reviving Ophelia and Know My Name were entirely different but both thoroughly thought-provoking. The Silence of the Girls and Frying Plantain were both books I added to my TBR based on the positive reviews of others and they did not disappoint either. Celeste Ng’s first novel and Ann Patchett’s latest novel were books I was looking forward to. While I do think Little Fires Everywhere is stronger, they were both very readable and compelling stories. Review of The Dutch House should be coming in the next week.
What’s Next:
Classics! In an effort to finish out 2019 strong and clear out some longstanding TBR titles, I’m devoting myself to classics for the month of December. I’ll be starting with Bleak House by Charles Dickens once I finish The Underground Railroad. More than one person has raved about this Dickens novel so I’m looking forward to it. I love A Tale of Two Cities and hate Great Expectations so we’ll see how it goes!
Also starting in December is The Second Annual Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards! This is my completely made-up and arbitrary awards ceremony where I make up categories and then choose my own winners for them. I had fun doing it last year so it’s now a tradition. Check back Tuesday to find out more and see what this year’s categories will be!
How was your November reading? What was the best book you read this month? How do you like to end the calendar year when it comes to books?
Karissa Reads Books 
Congratulations on hitting your reading goal! 😊
Yay for reaching your reading goal! I hope you’re enjoying The Underground Railroad, and classics for December sounds like great reading. I’m also curious about your literary awards, that sounds fun! I’ll definitely keep an eye out!
Thanks!
A bit of advice: if you don’t know how the legal system used to work back in Dickens’s time, look it up. It’s very important to understanding what the hell is happening for a good chunk of the book. I read Bleak House and enjoyed it myself.
Good tip! I remember learning a little bit when I studied the history of England (and I wrote a paper on Oliver Twist for that class) but that was quite a while ago. Everyone seems to have a good opinion of Bleak House!
I am sure you will love Bleak House, how can anyone not? Actually, Great Expectations is my least favourite Dickens novel, and I am still to read A Tale of Two Cities, so your positive opinion on it is very encouraging.
That’s encouraging to me too!
You will love Bleak House. You will love Bleak House. You WILL love Bleak House. The power of positive thinking… 😉
At this point, if I don’t love Bleak House I will probably just have to lie about it! But I think I will!