I’ve been on a reading spree!
Ok, the truth is that I’m trying to reach my 2023 reading goal of 200 books, and I’m down to the wire.
Luckily, I’ve been traveling a lot in the car, which makes audiobooks essential to my happiness and ability not to just open the door and jump out. I hate car trips! Audiobooks make them much more tolerable.
Not only have I been reading a ton, I’ve also been loving a lot of what I read.
Is it scale? I’m not sure.
My Favorite Books of November 2023
I read 24 books in November. Of those, I gave seven perfect grades. They are three nonfiction and four fiction books. Here are my reviews.
Kill Show
When I started reading Kill Show by Daniel Sweren-Becker, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to handle the format. It’s written as a series of interviews with the various characters who are participating in a documentary. But I ended up loving it. The format was creative and kept the story advancing quickly.
The documentary is about the disappearance of 16-year-old Sara Parcell and the true-crime television show that launched days after she disappeared. It includes interviews with all the characters, including those accused of kidnapping Sara, her loved ones, the police on the case, and the film crew from the show.
Sara’s story and the stories of those around her play out through the interviews. For the reader, it’s like reading a book, but also watching a true-crime show and the later documentary in your head. Super creative storytelling. It also has a good twist.
Strung Out
Reading an honest portrayal of addiction is never easy. And, sadly, a lot of them have similar narratives. But Erin Khar’s story, Strung Out: One Last Hit and Other Lies that Nearly Killed Me, is different because she recognizes her privilege. Erin is able to tell her story of heroin addiction that started in her teen years, but also draw attention to how things would have been different (possibly even worse) if she didn’t have parents with financial means and if she weren’t a white woman.
Khar’s writing helps make the book an honest human story about struggle, resilience, and the pursuit of healing. She doesn’t shy away from detailing the darker moments of her life, including the lies, theft, and moments of desperation that marked her years of drug abuse.
One of the book’s strengths is its ability to humanize addiction, breaking down the stereotypes and stigmas often associated with drug users. Khar’s journey is a reminder that addiction can touch anyone, regardless of background, and that recovery is challenging.
The People We Keep
The People We Keep by Allison Larkin shows the reader that family can be the people you choose who also choose you, not the people you’re blood related to.
April leaves her small town, abusive father, and shelter in a motor home without a working motor in search of something better. She wants to stop feeling so empty and abandoned and find her place in the world.
Luckily, April can sing. And her musical journey through bars, coffee shops, and anywhere else she can find to perform introduces her to people who shape her understanding of family, love, and self-worth.
In the end, April has lived a hard and winding life for her young age, but she’s surrounded by the people she loves most and vice versa.
The Stranger Behind You
You know I love a good book about a journalist. Add in a murder mystery and a splash of assistance from a spirit, and I’m all in. The Stranger Behind You by Carol Goodman was that book.
Joan Lurie is a journalist who exposes a powerful media mogul as a sexual predator. Then, on the night her story hits the stands, she’s attacked after celebrating with her newsroom colleagues. Joan then finds her life spiraling into a nightmare of paranoia and danger.
The rest of the book weaves Joan’s present-day ordeal with the haunting history of the building where she takes refuge, the Malabar House. She was attracted to the building because of its security, but she later learns it was once a home for women escaping abusive situations.
But is Joan safe there? More importantly, what’s real and what’s paranoia? Are her friends her enemies or vice versa?
The Things We Leave Unfinished
I downloaded this book for free on Kindle Unlimited. It sat on my Kindle for a silly amount of time before I decided to read it. Then, as I was almost immediately pulled into the story of The Things We Leave Unfinished, I thought, “Who is this author? I must read more of her work!” It’s Rebecca Yarros. Yep, that one.
The story is told through a dual timeline, intertwining the present-day life of Georgia Stanton with the unfinished World War II-era novel written by her late great-grandmother, a famous romance author. Now, I’m not usually a historical fiction kinda girl, but I loved the back-and-forth of this book and that it was about writers.
Georgia grapples with her own heartache and the legacy of her great-grandmother’s unfinished manuscript. Should she publish her grandmother’s real-life story, the only novel she left unpublished and unfinished?
As Georgia begins living her own love story, she learns more about her great-grandmother’s true story. So, how should the book be finished? Is it a fairy tale happily ever after, or is the truth, as painful as it may seem, the only way to tell it.
While Fourth Wing isn’t exactly my style, I will be reading more of Yarros’s romance novels.
Twisted
There is no layer of hell deep or terrible enough for Larry Nassar.
Twisted: The Story of Larry Nassar and the Women Who Took Him Down by Mary Pilon and Carla Correa paints a painfully vivid picture of Nassar’s crimes, which victimized hundreds of young women, probably more than we’ll ever truly know.
I love a book written by journalists. I feel like you can trust their fact checking and storytelling even more. This book was painful to listen to at times, especially when learning for the first time that Nassar likely planned to move on to handicapped children as his next victim pool (if he hadn’t already).
Pilon and Correa do not shy away from the grim details of the abuse, but their focus is firmly on the bravery and resilience of the women who came forward to expose Nassar and fight for justice, making this an emotional and powerful read.
If you only read one book about Nassar’s crimes (and one really is enough), this one should be it.
When We Walk By
When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America by Kevin F. Adler, Donald W. Burnes, and Amanda Banh Andrijana Bilbija should be required reading for every American.
The book is a research-based assessment of the issue of homelessness in our nation.
The authors give a voice to people experiencing homelessness by sharing their stories after many interviews.
They also do an excellent job of reviewing systemic failures that perpetuate homelessness, delving into how current policies and societal attitudes often exacerbate the problem. Then, they unpack some of the common myths or stereotypes about homelessness and what we can do to help.
Happy Reading!
There they are, my favorite books of November! Many of them are challenging topics to read about, but they’re all so worthwhile. I hope you’ll find something on the list to read and love. As always, Happy Reading!
