 Okay, I did drop them again. This truly is the spell for forgetting because I have forgotten it. Yes, how clever. And this will be so literary if I say it like this. Seventh time reading this. November, I read 15 books in the NF1. So there's 16 books in this stack. And we're gonna go through them all before I drop them all. I already did drop them all. And I don't wanna drop them again. So let's do it. Which way am I going with this? Oh wait. No. Oh, fuck you. Oh no. Where you go? Good enough. Okay, I did drop them again. I've tried to put them back in order. Might be a slightly incorrect, but no one cares about that besides me. Maybe you do care. I don't know, but I'm sorry. It is what it is. Okay, so the first book that I read in November was spells for forgetting by Adrienne Young. And this made for quite a lackluster start to the month. I mentioned when I put this on my TBR that I keep putting Adrienne Young books on my TBR, keep buying her books because I kind of liked her debut. I was like, this is okay. It's viking inspired. Therefore, that carries it for me mostly. And it's like, it's not bad. And I was like, it's a debut. So I keep buying her books, but they keep getting worse. This was her first adult novel. I think I said in my TBR, I was like, maybe her YA has been sucking because this is really what she wanted to do. And maybe that is true. Maybe this did suck up her creative energy, but it didn't make it good. This book was not good. I did enjoy it more than I've enjoyed her most recent YA books. Like, what's it? So the follow-up for Sky in the Deep, The Girl to See Gave Back, truly was so bored by that. So this at least kept my interest more. But I think in my Goodreads review, I was like, this is just like really forgettable, which, you know, is ironic. And it's just kind of a hodgepodge of vibes. Like, it's like a romance and a thriller and a bit of magical realism. And like not doing any of those things particularly well. It's like if you took the most generic cookie cutter version of each of those things and mushed them together. So it's just like, doesn't really even fully deliver on any one particular vibe. Cause like Sky in the Deep wasn't that good, but it was like very Viking-y. So if you want Vikings like, damn, it's delivering that vibe. Here it's like, if you wanted a thriller, well, it's not that thrilling. If you wanted a romance, it's not that romantic. If you wanted magical realism, there's not much magic in it until there suddenly is. It's kind of lit-ficky, but like not deep enough or interesting enough in terms of like character work to be lit-ficky. It's just kind of like, eh, this truly is the spell for forgetting cause I have forgotten it. Next up is a carryover from October that I did really still want to read. And that's Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergei Diachenko, translated by Julia Mitov Hershey. And this book was very weird. I had a lot of people recommend this to me after my dark academia vlog project, saying, well, it sounds like based on what you're liking and disliking that you should read Vita Nostra. I was like, all right, cause it was more than one person that said that. So I was like, okay, Vita Nostra. I had seen this about like when it came out. And I mean, the cover is certainly intriguing. So I remembered it coming out. I didn't really hear anything about it at the time. And I don't think I fully realized that it would be dark academia. And I'm still not totally sure that I would say that it is. I thought of a comparison and I was gonna use it for my wrap up. What did I think this was? It was kind of like, so to draw on the books that I read for, my dark academia vlog project, this is kind of like, if you mixed together Bunny and Catherine House is the only way I know how to describe it, but like viewed it through a extremely Russian lens or I guess I think the authors are Ukrainian actually, not Russian, but it's a Russophone lens for sure. It was weird. It was very weird. It kept my interest. And it was certainly points for uniqueness, but the ultimate, like a, it was one of those where I was like, this is very strange, but I'm going with it. It's interesting, but it's gonna need to stick the landing to like have earned everything it did up until that point, which is kind of a problem that I had with going way back now, the seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. It's a very weird premise, which keeps you interested. I don't wanna spoil that book, but the ending, it doesn't stick the landing. And so then all the buildup to that is kind of like, well, since it didn't amount to anything that kind of ruins it. And in those situations, it is, I mean, the destination affects the journey up until that point because it colors everything experienced to that point because you're like, I'm intrigued by this because I'm assuming it means something. I'm assuming it's building to something. I'm assuming there's going to be a revelation, a twist, a conclusion that wraps this together, an aha at the end. And that book ended by giving me more questions and answers. And this one, it didn't end by giving me more questions and answers. It just kind of felt like, I don't know. Like it felt like it had made its point and then took that point and pushed it too far. Like I kind of feel like this might be better as a short story because the idea of it is intriguing enough and I don't want to spoil what it's actually about and how that unfolds. It's very strange. I would say it's dark academia, I guess. It does take place in an academic institution and the main character is certainly obsessive and fully immersed in the academia that she is involved in. But it's just so strange. Like it's not tethered to reality really in any way, which is why I think it's similar to Bunny and Catherine House because it has that kind of like disorienting quality. But it's much more, I feel like academic in feel than Bunny or Catherine House. So I get why people recommended this, I guess, because I was pretty positive on Bunny and very positive on Catherine House. So that being the case, I get why people were like, well, I don't know, I should check those boxes for you. So I mean, it largely did. And I would hesitating recommend this because it was an interesting experience. I just feel like the ending, it didn't live up to every all the buildup for it. The point that it made ultimately wasn't that interesting to me anyway. I mean, I had a good time reading it. I would say I think I gave it three stars and it would have been a four if the ending had been stronger. I might have given it four, I don't remember. But that's kind of my feeling. Either I gave it a high three or a four, but like basically like the buildup was certainly better than the ending. So yeah, about an astral. Next up I read City of Dragons by Robin Hobb. This is the third book in the Rainweld Chronicles, which I am body reading with Myra from Books Like Low. And in December we'll be finishing the Rainweld Chronicles with Flood of Dragons. And we will be chatting about the Rainweld Chronicles in a live show in January. So stay tuned for that. But yeah, City of Dragons is definitely better than, what was it, Dragon Haven? Dragon Haven. I feel like the realm of the Elderlings titles, I always get them confused until I read the series and then I have an easy time keeping track of what the order is. But not so with the Rainweld Chronicles. These titles, except for Blood of Dragons, I've always known Blood of Dragons as the last one, but the first three I'm like, I do not remember what order is going. Anyway, City of Dragons. Yeah, I definitely liked it better than Dragon Haven. Dragon Haven, I complained about feeling very like samey because you're stuck in one place and all of the character perspectives are all in that one place. And there's not that much progression of plot even for those characters. It just felt so stagnant. While still being excellent because it's Robin Hobb and the character work is good and the world is interesting, but nevertheless very stagnant. City of Dragons, we had some more perspectives, some more like movement in the plot, more progression in both like narratively and in character arcs. So like, I certainly enjoy this a lot more. I think I give it four stars, not five, because like, I know a five star Hobb book when I read it and this wasn't it. But this was really, really good and I am very excited to read Blood of Dragons. Next up is the book that I DNF'd and that was This Little Foot by Jenna Rose Netherpot called Got Yeah. I had my druthers about this even when I picked it up and it was just so overwritten and the concept was not that cool and it just felt so try hard. And so like, I am the author addressing the reader and breaking the fourth wall and haven't I done a clever thing here? And if I just put more adjectives in that makes it better writing. And it was just so much, like so much of that with like nothing supporting it, no substance. There's nothing interesting about this plot, there's nothing to hook you. The world does not feel lush. The story does not feel lush and evocative. It feels like a barrage of adjectives with like, where anytime you're reading something and you can like feel the author's hand in it with fuchs. I mean, if it's a memoir then like that's cool. But like if you can like, I could just like, instead of like following the story and imagining the characters of the story, I was imagining the writer at her computer being like, yes, how clever and this would be so literary if I stayed like this and oh, how cleverly I have written. And that's what I was getting out of it not like actually being in the story. So I did enough to it. I was like, there's no way this goes anywhere that I care about. And I don't have enough to say about this to like want to read the whole thing and like post a lengthy rant review or anything for it. I'm just like, I just, no, I do not need this in my life. So I did enough to it. Next up is a book that impressed me even though I didn't like it that much. All right. It benefits a great deal from previous books Stucking and that is The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall. So I actually somehow failed to realize at all until I started reading it that this is fantasy. I thought it would be historical fiction mystery, possibly romance. I didn't really know anything about it except like what the cover tells me and I happily missed this like cosmic horror element on it. But yeah, it's a Sherlock Holmes retelling which I did not know at all. Like I gathered it was a mystery but I thought it would just be in the vein of like historical detective stories. It's actually like a Sherlock Holmes retelling that is an entirely speculative, gender-bent, queer, fantastical Sherlock Holmes. But the reason that it impressed me while also failed to impress me is the writing, the prose. I've read so many books that are written in the present day that are trying to evoke this historical fiction vibe be it in a romance or a mystery or just historical fiction. I've particularly encountered this with anything that's kind of trying to like evoke Austin or something along those lines. I'm thinking like, I read this a couple of years ago, hated it. It was like, it wasn't dangerous liaisons because that's a classic. It was like dangerous something. That's how much it stuck in my memory. But that was like, you know doing that or the vanished bride was like doing like a Bronte mystery. I like after one page DNF mystery that was like supposed to be Katrina Van Tassel. There's just like a lot of books like that where I'm like, okay, adding in more words does not make it old-timey. Like, yes, old-timey writing was more verbose. So that is a part of it, but it is incidental to the writing itself. The writing is just more formal back in the day and uses more formal language and maybe takes longer to say a thing than we would now. But it isn't just the adding of more words that makes it formal or that makes it evoke this older time period. So this book, while all those others fail to do this, the prose, the telling of this story, the Watson voice that's telling you the Sherlock mystery was very much like in keeping with that tone and vibe. And that's what I was like, I was reading it. And if I had not read all those bad books, I would just, this would just be my expectation for this kind of book. So I wouldn't be giving it points for it because I'd just be like, well, this is how it should be. Like, you know, this is my bare minimum bar. But I've come to realize how unfortunately and surprisingly rare that is. How often people fail and by people, I mean, authors fail to actually do that successfully. So I am impressed because I am, I realize that is the exception and not the rule, unfortunately. So I did give it points for that for successfully not only evoking the time period and feeling old timey in that sense, even though this one, it could get away with not doing that because it's total fantasy. There's like magical creatures, the lords of different universe. So if it didn't feel old timey, I'd be like, okay, well, it's not even taking place in the real world. So like, but so it did. So extra bonus points for that. But in addition to just feeling old timey, it was also just a fun, authorial voice because just because something is old doesn't mean it's good. So like lots of classics, you're like, well, this is of its time. So yay, but like it's boring or it's not interesting. It was quite whimsical and amusing and there was a lot of word play and a lot of like, it was that experience of reading a classic where like it is witty, but in a very lengthy involved way where like you kind of have to follow this like tangled sentence to get the joke, if that makes sense, where it's a lot of like doobalund tondras and it takes a little more effort, I guess, to pay attention to it, but it is nevertheless quite witty and amusing. So anyway, that's why I was really impressed with this with the authorial voice, with the narrator of the story, with the prose. The story, the mystery of this book, this Sherlock Holmesian mystery, I don't think is that good and the world building was like kind of vomiting all over the place. There was just like so much magical Spenglose. At first it was like, oh, it's an interesting world. I like some interesting things here. And then it just started like, like building and building to where like by the end, I was like, my God, there's so much going on here that's magical that like I have lost track of whatever is going on. So I wish it had like toned down a bit of the magic, I guess. But yeah, I may have a good time reading it. I really, really liked the authorial voice. So like if that's something that matters to you, I would recommend this. But if you're more interested in like a good mystery and you don't care about the prose or the authorial voice, then this is not that good. The world building's not that good and the mystery's not that good. It's just the narrator that I think is very enjoyable. Next up is a book that very much impressed me. I don't remember if I give it four or five stars now. I was definitely considering five if I didn't end up giving it five. And that was The Binding by Bridget Collins, which I am pleasantly surprised by because I got this book when it came out because it intrigued. And because the book itself is absolutely stunning. And then I was very afraid that I wouldn't like it because I feel like I saw a lot of reviews after it came out when it first came out and it was getting kind of buzz and hype from people being like, oh, it's pretty, but like it's really disappointing. It wasn't that good, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, oh no, I was like, but it's so pretty. And like that's the thing, like, I can't keep a pretty book on my shelves if I read it and I don't like it. But if I never have read it, then I don't know yet that I don't like it. I could just stay on my shelves. So anyway, someone very kindly sent me recently, oh, by recently, maybe it's been a few months now. It's not a sequel, but it is another book by Bridget Collins that looks like historical and old-timey and beautiful like this. It was another, it was like a special edition of it. I think it's called The Betrayals. And again, even though it's not a sequel to this, so I wouldn't have to read this first. I already owned this and it was earlier, so I was like, I should read this. I should finally read this. So I did. And I think this is fantastic. I really, really do. There was a review that said something that like, I read the review while I was early on in this book and hadn't gotten to where the reason they said this would be there was part of it yet. And I was like, I don't get why they're saying that. And then I completely forgot about it. And I did not think that when I was reading it. And then I saw that review again when I went to go read it. And I was like, oh yeah, that's right, they said that. Well, now I do get why they said that. But even though I saw them say it, that didn't occur to me when I was reading it. But it is quite accurate to say that. And I don't wanna spoil it because like even though I guess I spoiled myself by seeing that review and I did manage to forget about it myself, I don't know that everyone would. And I don't wanna ruin it for you if that would ruin it for you. So I'm being super vague and cryptic and unhelpful. Anyway, this is kind of like, I thought it'd be historical fiction. It is in tone, it feels like historical fiction, but it is actually speculative fiction. It is a different world, but that does have magic in it. Very low magic. It feels more like magical realism, but it does take place in a different world. Like the place was the names and things and where we are and the holidays. It's not just like magical England. Like it's not our real world. It just feels very much like old-timey England. So I really like the atmosphere and the vibe and the tone of that. It is a queer romance that I found very compelling. And one of the things I really liked about this, which honestly, unlike this, even though I did praise the prose of this, a lot of these types of like historical fiction-esque books, especially that take place in a time period that evoke Victorian or Edwardian eras that are written in the present day. And especially if they have a queer element, which I'm all for, but they often take a very like, I don't know, casual, silly, campy tone. And campiness can work for me. It really can. Some of my favorite things are campy, but I do tire of it. I would like to have books take themselves seriously. It's kind of like the Marvel problem where you're like, can we have a serious moment? Can we let it hit? Can we feel some feelings? Like do we need to like have a joke to ease the tension every five seconds? You know what I mean? So this book is quite serious. It's quite dark. I wouldn't say full on tragic. Well, they'll quite tragic things happen. And animal cruelty, I was not expecting. It's not a lot. There's only really one instance of it, but it was an instance that I was very upset by. So if that's something that's gonna bother you before warned, there is, it's not prolonged. It's not throughout the whole book. There's one instance of it, but it's a harrowing instance of it. So it's much darker than I expected and it's much better than I expected. And I feel like the people who don't like it, I mean, not to speak for people who have written their own reviews and you can talk to them yourselves. I just feel like this book is much more serious and slow and contemplative and does also succeed again in evoking this more old-timey verbose style of prose. And I think the story, I don't know, if people expect the mystery element of it to be what carries it, because there is a mystery component to this. It's sort of a nested storytelling, but that's not really the point of it, if that makes sense. Like there is a mystery to it, but it's not like, oh, I wanna know the secret and I wanna know the mystery, like, oh, secrets, mystery questions. Like it's not that, like there is that, but it's more about the characters journeying the characters' relationships and what all of these revelations mean for the characters, not so much to surprise you or to be a puzzle. That's not the point of it. So like, I feel like if people picked this up expecting like queer romance and a puzzle, it's more like queer tragedy and further exploration of that tragedy via a mystery with magic in it. It reminds me more of reading things like Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. Actually, that's the only one that comes to mind. There's other stuff I've read like this too though. I mean, nothing quite like this, but yeah, it's much sadder and more contemplative than I even would have expected. I liked that about it, I was pleasantly surprised by that. But if that's not what people were wanting out of this, then I get why people would find it a disappointment, I guess, but it's very much not my kind of, like I'm the reader that does enjoy this. So all those negative reviews prevented me from picking this up when really this is the kind of book that I would like and would hope that it would be and feared that it would not be. Anyway, I don't know if that's been helpful at all because I've tried to be very vague because it does have quite a lot of twists and turns. And I think it's a book that it's really good to go and not knowing anything. I just kind of let the events and mystery of things kind of wash over you and experience them alongside the character who's experiencing them. So anyway, I do recommend this highly, but again, with all of the asterisks and explanations. So if that sounds horrible to you, then you can all read it. Next up is a book called Double Blind by Edward St. Aubin that I only heard of because Benedict Cumberbatch was narrating the audio book for this. And why did I even look at that? Oh, I knew that Benedict Cumberbatch, wait, no, he didn't. Why did I pay attention to Benedict Cumberbatch narrating something? How did I know that he was narrating something? Did he narrate something recently, something else? I don't know how I figured out that he was narrating this or why I was looking at that, but that is the reason that I picked this up. He must have narrated something recently, but that's why I was, I don't know. But yeah, I think this book is enjoyable, but I don't think it's very good, which I feel like I'm saying a lot. I guess there's a theme. This does not feel like a novel. This is not a story. It feels like a collection of thought experiments that are loosely woven together by a plot because there's lots of instances in this book where we're kind of exploring a theme, a philosophical idea, a troubling concept. And so we're exploring it via these characters, having a conversation about it, via these characters, having it enter their lives and having to grapple with it. But like it's not a story. It's not a story about characters who are going on these journeys where they happen to have these instances of philosophical conundrum come up. The philosophical conundrum is like the point. And I find what he wrote about it quite engaging as a thought experiment, as like the opportunity to engage with these ideas is enjoyable engaging with those ideas. But as a novel, it's almost entirely unsuccessful because it's not a story in my opinion or hardly a story. So if that interests you, just kind of like playing with some ideas via a loosely connected narrative, then yeah, I recommend this. But it's not a story. And Benedict Cumberbatch's narration of it is good. It's not like amazing, but it's good. Yeah, and I also really, really like this cover, just saying. Next up, I read The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by McKenzie Lee, which is the third and I believe final book in the Montague Siblings series, which wasn't really intended to be a series. It was just the gentleman's guide device in which he was quite successful and he has a sister in it. So she wrote a book about his sister and then mentioned in those books was an infant sibling. So now he's all grown up. So this takes place many years after those first two books because he's now grown up and now this is the baby siblings book. And this is by far my least favorite, I think. I liked Felicity, the second book. I liked her book better than the first one and I like this worse than both of the first two. This is also much, much longer than the other two and it's, I could feel the length. And even so, you would think this would give it time to breathe and do character work and also tell a good story, but I swear it didn't feel like the plot had begun for the entire book. I kept waiting for it to actually get going on the plot. It felt like set up the entire time and then it was over. I don't know how else to put it. I feel like it never really got up off the ground and got going. I liked some of the things that it was exploring, some of the issues it was handling. Would all three of these books do each of the Montague siblings is dealing with his or her or their own particular peculiarities that you don't see depicted in fiction that much and especially not historical fiction that much? I just didn't think the story in this one was that compelling. Like I liked reading about the youngest sibling and his relationship with his older siblings, that was handled quite well. I just think this is way too long and I don't think that she really had a plot here, which was she kind of like hid by like not addressing the plot for most of the book and at the end it's kind of like, oh yeah the plot doesn't really matter. Which like, I feel like the first two books like do a lot of character work but also have kind of like an interesting, exciting adventure component. And this just really didn't. I mean, technically there is an adventure component. There absolutely is, but it doesn't feel like one. It feels like we're all, I don't know. I don't know how else to explain it. It just feels very long and like it goes nowhere other than the character stuff. And I am a character driven reader. But yeah, it feels like running in place, honestly. So I do think it's the least compelling of the three. I'm glad to have finished it though and it was nice seeing some of the characters again because they're all back. Percy and Monty and Felicity are all in this and it was nice seeing them and their relationship with their youngest sibling. So it was enjoyable, it wasn't terrible but I do think it is the weakest of the three. Next up, the next three are, I just stuck them here because I finished my classics, the part one of my classics vlog project. So if you missed it, I'll link it down below but I have been working for several months on my Do My Favorite Classics Still Slap vlog project where I'm rereading favorite classics that I regarded as favorites to see if they still actually are my favorites. The ones that I read in November, so I just clustered them all here after I'd finished the last one were Frankenstein which I did read in October as well but I read, in October I read the 1818 one and in November to finish up the vlog project I listened to the 1831 one while reading the 1818 one. So anyway, so I read this again, then Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Ivan Helm by Sir Walter Scott. So if you missed my vlog and when should I talk about these books and whether or not my opinion has changed then I'll leave that link down below. Next up is the book that my patrons chose for me to read and vlog for them which as of the filming of this video I did vlog it but I haven't like edited the vlog so I'm super behind but Mort by Terry Pratchett and I liked this. I really, really like Hogfather much better than this. I feel about this kind of way I felt about guards guards where it's like, I like the style of humor. The style of humor works for me but it's not enough to carry an entire story. I like Hogfather better because I feel like there is more meat to this story. There's more to it than just jokes. So I like the character of death. Overall I like Terry Pratchett's style. It's just, it's too much jokes and too little like substance for me to like latch on to so I just don't feel very much about it but I do love this edition of it. Next up is The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Evercrown. This is my first time rereading it, my second time reading it and we concluded our first law read along on the chapter three podcast with this book. If you missed it, we did that as a live show this time not pre-recorded so if you missed it the replay is available. I'll leave that link down below about Wisdom of Crowds, Chef's Kiss, truly the perfect conclusion although I hope there will be more and there seems indication that there will be more but as it stands as a conclusion to this trilogy and to the 10 book arc of the first law it is like Chef's Kiss sticks the landing 100% so good but yeah, if you missed our chat about it I'll leave that link down below. Next up is Confessor by Terry Goodkind and as of the filming of this video we have not yet had our chat about it on Bethany's channel but I think when this video is going up we will have had our chat about it so I will leave it linked down below even though for me that has not happened yet. This is the conclusion of an arc that's been going on in the sort of truth books for a very long time now so it was good to see it wrapped up finally but I don't think it was a very good conclusion and I gotta say that reading these around about the same time pretty concurrently did this one no favors because I mean most books pale in comparison to Wisdom of Crowds but like cheapest price this is, it was not good. It was not the worst sort of truth book I've read but it was not great. Next up is the book that was the patron buddy read for the month of November and this was a part two of two we did Frankenstein in October to be followed by Dr. Scent of Elizabeth Frankenstein in November. I hadn't read this in a long time and when I went to go read it on Goodreads or Mark it as Reading, I guess I never marked it as read when I read it the first time I read it when it came out and I was like, what do you mean I've never read this before and I don't remember the dates that I read it back then so as far as Goodreads is concerned this was my first time reading it although it absolutely is not don't know what happened but anyway, yeah I read this when it first came out it had been a minute since I read it I was a little nervous I was like am I still I've been hyping it for a long time it's kind of like my classics vlog I'm like is it actually still my favorite I keep saying that it is and I do still think it's quite brilliant in terms of like how it plays with the story of Frankenstein and what new context it adds the way it takes opportunities provided by the original Frankenstein for unreliable narration things like that to like insert a different narrative and to center the characters of Elizabeth well Elizabeth Lavenza and Justine who are kind of like off to the side and I do recommend reading the author's note at the end of this because the book itself is in process but again, seeing kind of like Kirsten White's approach and what she wanted to do with it I think is worth reading but yeah, I think this is a great example of what a retelling can and should be and last but certainly not least is The Wolf by Leo Karoo or Karoo I still don't know this is my seventh time reading this book and it's so good I know this book isn't for everyone but anyway, we are doing a read-along for these books and we will be a bit leaked on the live show for The Wolf because if Alan who else it's always Alan's fault even when it's not it's Alan's fault and then we will be reading The Spider and having a live show with that this rate we're reading in December we'll probably do the live in January but anyways these I hobby I mean I've read this seven times so I love it I get that it's not for everyone but I don't really get it because I think it's brilliant but I get that it's not for everyone but anyway, I look forward to speaking to Alan and Alex about The Wolf whenever we get around to doing a live for it and those are all the books that I read in November let me know in the comments down below your thoughts and feelings if you've read these books if you plan to read these books if you've never planned to read these books if you loved them if you hated them if you agree with me if you disagree with me whatever you're like me know I post videos on Saturdays other random terms will be up on Saturdays so like and subscribe join my Patreon if you're also inclined and I'll see you when I see you