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Time again to review what I've been reading over the past month. November has been busy in many ways, and I tried to do a lot of reading. Once again my ambition was greater than what I actually accomplished, but it does feel good to see so many books completed or close to completed.
November's Books Completed and Reviewed
During November I started reading:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Aspiring scientist Victor Frankenstein successfully animates his human-like creation, but bitterly regrets his ambition when he realizes the creature has truly become a monster. (Read my full review HERE)
Great God! if for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have banished myself for ever from my native country, and wandered a friendless outcast over the earth, than have consented to this miserable marriage.
The Calm I Seek by Christina Lourens - Rebecca is just opening her heart to Gabriel when a betrayal sends her reeling, and a family tragedy strikes as well. A novel about forgiveness and second chances.(Read my full review HERE)
Women were much better off with a parrot. Same life expectancy - and even longer in some cases - as a man, and it wouldn't hurt you.
A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber - Kiera and Gage attend a Twelfth Night house party only to be drawn into a murder investigation when a decaying body is found in the crypt. (Read my full review HERE)
After all, the three youngest Kerr brothers had been some of the only people in residence for nearly the entirety of the month of December, which meant that any one of them could have been involved in the murder and concealment of that body in the crypt. Perhaps they all were.
The Gold Digger by Liz Tolsma - Ingrid helps Nils search for clues about what happened to his brother, who disappeared after coming to town to marry Belle Gunness, Ingrid's sister. A chilling mystery based on a true crime story. (Read my full review HERE)
She couldn't face it. Never would admit it.
Nils wanted her to say that Belle was involved in his brother's disappearance.
Silas Marner by George Eliot 
- I've been working on this classic along with the students in my high school Literature class. The lonely and bitter weaver despairs after his hoard of gold is stolen, but he takes in a little orphan girl who softens his heart again. We wrap up our study of this book later this week so my review will come sometime after that.
- I've been working on this classic along with the students in my high school Literature class. The lonely and bitter weaver despairs after his hoard of gold is stolen, but he takes in a little orphan girl who softens his heart again. We wrap up our study of this book later this week so my review will come sometime after that.Nobody in this world but himself knew that he was the same Silas Marner who had once loved his fellow with tender love, and trusted in an unseen goodness. Even to himself that past experience had become dim.
To Dwell Among Cedars by Connilyn Cossette - I'm reading an ARC of this novel from a favorite author but its release date is December 1st. A young orphan girl runs away from her Philistine homeland and follows the Ark of the Covenant to Israel. There she is taken in by a Levite family and tries to find her place as tensions rise all around her.
"Azuvah said to remain with the Ark," I said, hoping that Lukio could not see my hands shaking in my lap, nor sense the double-mindedness beneath my show of certainty. "And that is what we will do. No matter what happens, we stay."
A Pretty Deceit by Anna Lee Huber - Verity and Sidney are still on the trail of the suspected traitor Lord Ardmore, but they also are helping Verity's aunt by investigating some strange occurrences at a family estate.
"You must be aware of the forgeries and thefts my aunt has told us about," I began, leaning against the edge of the desk as I assessed his demeanor, having already deduced that his body language would tell me more than his words.
Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks by Diana Butler Bass - A thoughtful look at what gratitude really is, and how we understand and express it in different ways. We know gratitude is good but many of us have trouble sustaining a life of gratefulness.
Gratitude is both a noun and a verb. Gratitude is both a feeling and a choice. The first often arises unannounced and the second takes a lifetime of practice.
During November I continued reading:
The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick - This novel is required reading for a co-op class I teach. I've read it before so I'm mostly looking at it to refresh my memory rather than re-reading it start to finish.
I'm sitting on the gutter curb, thinking the world is stupid if this is what happens to the best person ever born. What's the point if you have to live behind cutwire and steel doors and be afraid of gangs and then get sick and die because normals are too numb to remember the cure?
Coming Up in December!
One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Everyday Confetti by Karen Ehman & Glynnis Whitwer
When Silence Sings by Sarah Loudin Thomas
On my blogs recently . . .
Besides the reviews, here on Just A Second you'll find:
And on my homeschool blog, Homeschool Coffee Break:
This post will be linked at the November 2020 Wrap-Up Roundup and Giveaway hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction; (and at the weekly reading list meme hosted at Book Date.)
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