I have such a disappointing wrap-up for you this month. But it’s okay, I’ll make it up to you by promising MANY FUN MOMENTS in December to come and hey, we all have bad reading months. I apologise also for the lack of content – I’ve been lazy *proffers bouquets of flowers and little chocolates*. But I’m going to shock you all with amazing things this month. Just you watch.

On the upside, if you’re desperate for more content from me (obviously you are because I’m amazing, remember?) then you can always head over to my Instagram feed where I post the most amazing pictures that you ever did see almost every day. Or, you could whack me over the head with a sprig of holly for my lack of humility. It’s up to you.

LET’S GET STARTED however, with the exciting business of seeing what our favourite online bookstores have on offer for us. If you are unawares, I am an affiliate with all of these companies (aren’t I fancy?) so if you have some Christmas shopping to do and you click the links below to go to these websites, I earn a teeny tiny commission. It’s of absolutely no extra cost to you and you can sleep easy at night knowing that you’ll be supporting my blog, exciting no! Ahem. Alright, let’s get on with it.

The Book Depository is probably your number one stop this Christmastime, and there’s still plenty of time to get in your orders. As always, they have free global shipping so that’s a plus. For my fellow Australian friends our cut off date is the 10th of December, and everyone else in the world is decidedly closer to England where most of the stuff ships from so you’ve probably got a few more days than that to get your shopping in. They have a Christmas guide up, a bargain section, and just about everything else you could possibly want.

For another website with free global shipping hop along and check out Wordery! It’s a great place filled with awesomesauce deals including a Christmas guide and a bookish Christmas advent calendar. Just sayin’. Plus, the last shipping date for Australia with these guys is the 11th – just in case you miss the cut off with the Book Depository.

Want to support an Australian company? Head over to Angus & Robertson Bookworld and enjoy free shipping on orders over $60AUD (an easy thing to achieve this time of year, no?). This is their Christmas guide and if you want an overlook at all the good books of 2017 check out their article!

Another Australian company to check out is Booktopia. They have flat rate shipping within Australia/New Zealand and a bunch of offers that come around continually (so I recommend signing up to their e-mail list, for sure). Check out their Christmas guide or their Christmas Shortlist Picks!

---

The Stars are Legion
by Kameron Hurley

Genre: Sci-Fi
Author: Kameron Hurley
Published: February 2017
Publisher: Saga Press
Pages: 396 {paperback}

Will I continue the series? NO

Hah. This book, wow. This book was not great. I was so creeped out by like, everything that happened with the biotech and just everything. I think the book in and of itself is “good” but wow wow wow – this is definitely not my genre. I was so determined to finish the book though that I slogged through to the end, and then thought – why didn’t I put this down?

Review to come

 Updraft
by Fran Wilde

 

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Author: Fran Wilde
Published: September 2015
Publisher: Tor Books
Pages: 384 {paperback}

Will I continue the series? NO

So as you can see I had a spectacular reading month. This one I properly disliked. I have so. many. issues. with this book and you can watch them all in a review that I’m currently uploading onto YouTube and will hopefully be live for you soon (just head over to MY BOOKTUBE CHANNEL to see if it’s up). Plot holes, plot holes, plot holes – and ew characters.

Review on Booktube

---

Looking for a new and exciting book club to join? Come have some fun with Casey and I over at the Squabbing Dragons! We’re a Goodreads book club and we focus on reading Sci-Fi/Fantasy books that are underrated! This December, starting on the 17th, we’ll be reading Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis – so quick! Go grab a copy!

---

• I wrote some book reviews:
  • Borderline by Mishell Baker
• I ran a giveaway!
• I did my October wrap-up
• I did my wrap-up for round four of the Alphabethon
• My Past to Paper feature for November was about The Great Fire of London
• I did my November TBR
• I did my October book haul

---

• I did a waffly review of Borderline by Mishell Baker
• I did my October wrap-up
• I did my November TBR

---

Genres Read:

Pages Read:

Total: 780

Progress Towards Goodreads Challenge:

100%, or, 40/40 books

 It might have been a horrible reading month, but hey: I achieved my Goodreads goal so GO ME.

---

So I guess you’re expecting a pretty good bedazzlement of information here to explain why I only wrote seven posts and made three videos. Honestly, despite everything I was doing I’m surprised those numbers are so low. Firstly, I got a job. But the job is poor excuse because I haven’t been working that many hours. But it’s a contributing factor.

Secondly, I read some awful books. I think this was the biggest thing; the fact that I didn’t enjoy anything I read in November just killed my creativity. It was also National Novel Writing Month (NaNo, or, NaNoWriMo) and I reached 30,000 words, but not the target of 50,000. So that took up a fair bit of time as I guilted myself into writing instead of reading, but in the moments I did read I’d read like 5 pages and give up. It’s a hard life.

But probably most importantly, I met someone. That’s right ladles and jellyspoons, I can no longer spend 100% of my time behind my laptop or sitting in my bookshelves: I have a boyfriend. I think it’s safe to say that, on the whole, that fact is relatively distracting and I promise to do better this month. I really do. Books before boys, right?

Movies I Watched:

Murder on the Orient Express, 2017: 7/10 stars
I love a good Agatha Christie and whilst I haven’t read the book for this one, I still really enjoyed the film. The resolution was not at all what I was expecting – but then again, when do I ever guess how Christie’s books end? So good!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, 2017: 8/10 stars
I finally caught up on this film and I loved it! It’s completely hilarious with such a great cast of characters. I’m positively dying knowing that they’re finally joining up with the Avengers in Infinity War – it’s going to be crazy!

Tangled, 2010: 9/10 stars
Obviously, this one was a re-watch for me. I think Tangled will always be one of my favourite Disneys. It’s just such a sweet little story, adventure and romance and the song are. addictive.

TV Series I Watched:

Victoria, 2016: Season 1
I watched a few more episodes of this one, although admittedly not a huge amount. I’m thoroughly enjoying the story so far and I think it’s really well done!

Fawlty Towers, 1975: Season 1
I’ve never sat down and watched Fawlty Towers the whole way through, I always just catch random episodes. So this has been half a re-watch for me and half just exploring the series in full. Ridiculously funny.

Blackbooks, 2000: Season 1
This is definitely a re-watch for me! I adore this series and could never get tired of watching it. It’s so funny it hurts and if you haven’t seen it then you 100% need to get onto that. It’s set in a bookshop after all!

---

Tick! November done! 

What was your favourite book that you read in November? 

---

~~ Kirstie ~~

Follow @ozbooksnail