Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

We are going into the final month of 2024, but before we do... what was your best book of November?

Answer the following questions:

- Title
- Author
- Rating
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio)
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable)
- Brief reason why it was the best

Best Books Listopia

- Title: In One Person
- Author: John Irving
- Rating: ★★★★
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): Audiobook and eBook
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): N/A but I did used it for the Fall Challenge
- Brief reason why it was the best: John Irving's character descriptions are so detailed and nuanced they come alive before your eyes.

November was not that great. The best book was a re-read:
- Title: All the Light We Cannot See
- Author: Anthony Doerr
- Rating: 5
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): e-book
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): none but I used for another challenge
- Brief reason why it was the best: I really like his writing, and I liked the way the book was sort of a slow burn towards (view spoiler)[ the inevitable meeting of the characters in the dual storyline (hide spoiler)]

My favorites for November are:

- Title: Black Butterflies
- Author: Priscilla Morris
- Rating: 5 stars
- Format: ebook/audio
- ATY Prompt you used it for: na
- Brief reason why it was the best: This is the story of a small family and their neighbors in Sarajevo as they go through the Bosnian War. It is an amazing debut based on the author's own family history. It gives the reader what it was like living in a nightmarish situation of wanton destruction, corpses in the street, starvation, and chaos. It is a moving and powerful story that reminds us of the dangers of extreme nationalism.

- Title: Early Sobrieties
- Author: Michael Deagler
- Rating: 5 stars
- Format: ebook/audio
- ATY Prompt you used it for: n/a
- Brief reason why it was the best: This story of the fragility of early sobriety. It is episodic in format, where Dennis couch surfs, crashing with friends and acquaintances. Dennis gets himself into numerous predicaments, which turn into wild, and occasionally humorous, adventures. It is a marvelous debut.

- Title: Spies
- Author: Michael Frayn
- Rating: 5 stars
- Format: ebook/audio
- ATY Prompt you used it for: n/a
- Brief reason why it was the best: This is a most unusual WWII "spy story" where two kids are playing at espionage and accidentally uncover real secrets in the adult world. It is both a story of wartime intrigue and an exploration of how memory, perception, and guilt leave lasting effects. Readers know something bad is going to happen and will try to anticipate what it might be. The author does a great job of keeping it under wraps until the end.

I had a tie:

Title The Chateau
- Author: Jaclyn Goldis
- Rating: 4 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): Print
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): A book with a two-word title beginning with THE
- Brief reason why it was the best: It was a mystery with a small number of characters, but the twists kept me guessing

Title: Jane of Lantern Hill
- Author: L.M. Montgomery
- Rating: 4 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): ebook
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): A book that fits a suggestion that didn’t make the final list
- Brief reason why it was the best: November is 150th anniversary of LM Montgomery's birth. I read one of her lesser know books. I was captivated by Jane and her struggles.

- Title Next Year in Havana
- Author Chanel Cleeton
- Rating 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio) audio
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) n/a
- Brief reason why it was the best It was such a beautiful story told from two different perspectives - one was the grandmother in 1950s Cuba and the other was from her granddaughter's viewpoint in 2017 when she goes back to Havana to scatter her grandmother's ashes. I highly recommend this book.

- Title Trail of Lightning
- Author Rebecca Roanhorse
- Rating 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio) audio
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) n/a
- Brief reason why it was the best This story is action packed. The main character is a Dine monster hunter set in a post-apocalyptic future. The MC is a bada$$, and I loved the characters, the monsters, the action - all of it. I am so excited to read the second book of the duology.

- Title Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish
- Author Dorothy Gilman
- Rating 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio) audio
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) n/a
- Brief reason why it was the best It has been a heckuva year. I ended up binge-reading 11 of these books because they were awesome "comfort reads." Most of them were just lovely books that I enjoyed. This one, however, was freaking awesome. It read like an action movie. I was hooked. It was so much fun.

Honorable Mentions for the month:
Akata Woman by Nnedi Okorafor - the third and final book of the Nsibidi Scripts series. The whole series was great. This series is one that I recommend for people who are looking for young adult witches and magic without Rowling's gross transphobia.

Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar. This book is pretty small, but it packs a punch. It is not one of King's horror novels (sometimes people think he only writes horror). The story hooked me in and I stayed up way too late one night to finish it.

-Title: Last Call at the Hotel Imperial
-Author: Deborah Cohen
-Rating: 5 Stars
-Format: Print
-ATY Prompt: N/A (Works for "Not a Novel")
-Why Best: Exhaustively researched history/joint biography about American foreign correspondents that almost reads like a novel

And again I can narrow it down to 2, but no further.

Title The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Author Taylor Jenkins Reid
Rating 5 stars
Format eBook
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) I've finished the challenge, so this was just for fun.
Brief reason why it was the best I know I'm late to the game with this book, but it lived up to the hype. It was a tale of old world Hollywood, and I loved it.

Title The Atlas Six
Author Olivie Blake
Rating
Format Hardcover
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) No prompt, just for fun.
Brief reason why it was the best A group of morally questionable 20 somethings doing advanced research into magic, the nature of reality, thought and time. And the ending managed to surprise me, which doesn't happen often.

Title:
The Smallest Island in the World
Author:
Chris Arro
Rating:
5
Format:
eBook, but have since ordered the paperback
ATY Prompt you used it for:
none
Brief reason why it was the best:
A welcome dose of Buddhist thought as an old man tries to teach a young boy how to think about things. A welcome respite.

- Title | The Downstairs Girl | 11/14
- Author | Stacey Lee
- Rating ★★★★
- Format - I read this via audio and pring
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) - NA

- Brief reason why it was the best
A historical fiction novel that told the story of a young Chinese American girl who influenced her community during the era where women were still inferior both to men and to women in 'class'.
I thought the story was very well done and entertaining.
It fell short for me, as when I was finished with the book I had a hard time believing Jo would have been capable of doing as she did Ms Sweetie...it felt unrealistic to me.
Regardless of this, I do recommend this book for anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

Listopia has been updated through here!

I have been slowly working my way through Manacled this year, and this was the month I finished it!

- Title: Manacled
- Author: SenLinYu
- Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): E-book
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): None
- Brief reason why it was the best: This is such a well-crafted story! It is gruesome without basking unnecessary in the gore, it has romance without romanticising the bad sides and that ending was just everything. When I finally put the book down, I just had to sit with my thoughts for a bit to process it all.

And as a bonus tip: Manacled is being rewritten from fanfiction to a traditionally published book and will be published as Alchemised next year.

- Title White Like Her: My Family's Story of Race and Racial Passing
- Author: Gail Lukasik
- Rating: I don't rate
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): ebook
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): none
- Brief reason why it was the best: This book is a deep dive into one woman's family history after she learns that her mother is biracial and decided to "pass" as white as a young woman. I've read fictional accounts, but this was an absorbing, engaging look at how passing played out in real life, and I learned a lot about Louisiana's oppression of Black and biracial people as well as about Creole culture.

- Title: Giovanni’s Room
- Author: James Baldwin
- Rating: 5*
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): Book
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable):
- Brief reason why it was the best: This is a very well-written story about a young American man, David, and his grappling with his sexuality in 1950s Paris. There is guilt, deceit, violence and passion. I found it astounding.

Title: We All Want Impossible Things
Author: Catherine Newman
Rating: 5 star
Format: Kindle
ATY Prompt you used it for: none - finished, but could be Botanical Cover, Seven Dwarfs (Doc), Pronoun Title

Brief reason why it was the best:
It felt like a very real experience. And I never thought I'd laugh so much while reading a book about someone in hospice. There was crying as well, but not all of it because of sadness.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Title: Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future
Author: Pete Buttigieg
Rating: 5 star
Format: Kindle
ATY Prompt you used it for: A book with an X connection (author is EX-mayor of South Bend, Indiana). Could also be used for Not a Novel

Brief reason why it was the best: This book gave me a greater understanding of the ways in which Pete Buttigieg is a great leader, and also why he was chosen specifically to be Secretary of Transportation.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Title: Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion
Author: Gabrielle Stanley Blair
Rating: 5 star
Format: Kindle
ATY Prompt you used it for: none - finished, but could be Title That Ends in A, T, or Y (if only main title used), Title with 6+ Words (if including subtitle, Cover With 2ndary Color (orange), Not Novel, Science or SciFi (science in this case)

Brief reason why it was the best: This book related to one of my top books in October, Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, in that women, and the efforts they must take on, are often not considered. The book points out quite rightly, that unwanted pregnancies are just as much, if not MORE, the responsibility of the men involved — an early point being that men are fertile 24/7/365 from the time the age they become fertile, until often the end of their lives. There are of course situations in which they are not (due to illness, injury, and the choice to become sterile). While women are fertile for fewer years, but even during those years they are only fertile for maybe a couple of days every month, discounting times they are actively pregnant and often while they are nursing.

There is a LOT of discussion about abortion in the world related to reproductive care overall. Abortions are not ONLY for unwanted pregnancies, but this book is discussing this type of abortion only, as the main discussion point is about prevention, and not desired but failed or dangerous pregnancies.

- Title: Klee Wyck
- Author: Emily Carr
- Rating: 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): hardcover
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): n/a
- Brief reason why it was the best: I learned a lot about Emily Carr and discovered she was a good writer as well.

- Title: Where Wolves Don't Die
- Author: Anton Treuer
- Rating: 4.5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): eBook
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): n/a
- Brief reason why it was the best: The imagery of the reservation on which the main character's grandparents live is amazing.

- Title: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
- Author: Marjane Satrapi
- Rating: 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): Print
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): n/a
- Brief reason why it was the best: The story is so important to be told and never forgotten. Of course, as long as schools continue to ban it, it will be told less and less. Saw absolutely no reason that this was banned and am passing along to a 14 year old.

Listopia updated!

- Title Piranesi
- Author Susanna Clarke
- Rating 5 Stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio) - Ebook
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) - n/a - (would fit "one word title" or "touch of magic"
- Brief reason why it was the best
Magical, fantastic, mysterious, poetic. A beautiful story.

Listopia is up to date!

- Title
Lessons in Chemistry
- Author
Bonnie Garmus
- Rating
5/5
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio)
Audio
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable)
N/A
- Brief reason why it was the best
A sheer please to read! Garmus exaggerates the very real attitudes and prejudices of the 50's snd 60's to their absurdities. I cried and laughed out loud. As a female scientist, I could relate. Bonus: for once the dog, named 6:30, doesn't die! What's not to live about a dog who gets read to and knows 981 words!

Updated the listopia!

- Title: Thrawn: Treason
- Author: Timothy Zahn
- Rating: 5/5
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): Print
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): n/a
- Brief reason why it was the best: A really excellent sci fi novel, that contains one of my favourite Star Wars characters.

Added!