November challenge

[Sheila]

Sorry I'm late this month. I've been very busy and have not been on the computer much but I have updated everything now.

So on to November's topics:

1. Read a book whose author's surname begins with U.
2. Since it is Veteran's Day or Armistice Day, read a book about WWI.
3. The holiday shopping season will soon be upon us so read a book about shopping.
4. Read a short book.
5. It will be Thanksgiving in the US soon. Read a book about something for which you are thankful.
6. Read a book you haven't read since high school.
7. Elections are coming up in the US (I'm sick of the ads.) Read a book about politics or government.
8. Read a book written by a celebrity.
9. Your choice.

[Sheila]

Here are my read's for November.

3/9, 14 books

1. Read a book whose author's surname begins with U.
2. Since it is Veteran's Day or Armistice Day, read a book about WWI.
3. The holiday shopping season will soon be upon us so read a book about shopping.
4. Read a short book--We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Achide--finished 11/2/16.
5. It will be Thanksgiving in the US soon. Read a book about something for which you are thankful--Eviction by Matthew Desmond--finished 11/20/16 .
6. Read a book you haven't read since high school.
7. Elections are coming up in the US (I'm sick of the ads.) Read a book about politics or government.
8. Read a book written by a celebrity.
9. Your choice. The Right Kind of Guy by Kerri-Leigh Grady--finished 11/2/16

BONUS READS:
Origin in Death by J. D. Robb--finished 11/6/16
Bunny and the Bear by Eve Langlais--finished 11/6/16
A Virtuous Woman by Kaye Gibbons--finished 11/7/16
Bella Should Have Dumped Edward by Michelle Pan--finished 11/3/16
The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan--finished 11/13/16
Thanks for Giving by Abby Klein--finished 11/20/16
I See Kitty by Yasmine Surovec--finished 11/21/16
Words from the Heart by Julia Mishler--finished 11/21/16
A Reason by Leslie Wolf--finished 11/26/16
Warriors: Fire and Ice by Erin Hunter--finished 11/30/16
Orangutangled by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen--finished 11/30/16

[Colleen]

So I read "Star Wars: Outbound Flight". It takes place before the Clone Wars are going in earnest. It combines a search for a Jedi missing from earlier books with the crazy dreams of another Jedi and introduces one of the best, scary characters in the extended universe, Admiral Thrawn. It is fun to see his beginnings. Overall this was a good book but not one of my favorites. I also finished Philip Roth's "American Pastoral". It was a challenging read since the narrator is an author looking at the lives of a family he grew up with. At times, it was hard to determine what was real and what was the author's conjecturing to create his writing. It was a deep book about a family's recognition of the state of their lives. It is almost to me a modern take off of "The Sound and the Fury". Interesting and rather dark.

[Rachel]

-J.R.R. Tolkien 11-2-16
This is the third and final installment of Tolkien's classic fantasy epic, and as such, it is exceedingly well written with brilliantly drawn characters.
Note: I actually finished with the story itself on October 31, but I decided to read the first three appendices at the back as well, which actually still leaves quite a lot of unread pages, but I really didn't feel like reading details about the calendar differences between the Shire and Gondor or about word pronunciation and other details about the languages of Middle Earth. My geekiness only goes so far.

-J.K. Rowling 11-5-16
The second one is more interesting than the first, and since the kids are getting older, the situations get more intense. I really liked it.

-Tamora Pierce 11-6-16
This book like all of Tamora Pierce's fantasy YA novels was well written with well drawn characters, and, as usual, the plot was quite interesting and entertaining. I flew through the novel and look forward to reading the sequel.

-James Conaway 11-9-16
This has to be the oddest book I've read all year. It is basically a mystery novel about wine. The plot itself was interesting, and the book was well written; however, I didn't like any of the characters, and the book has a lot of sex scenes that are completely incongruous with the rest of the story--it even opens with one. Overall, I didn't find it to be that good of a book.

-Lynn Austin 11-14-16
This was a fairly well written historical Christian fiction novel with well drawn characters. I just have never loved reading post Civil War era novels because they tend to be depressing. The Reconstruction period in the former Confederacy is just sad-so much has been destroyed and disrupted, and everyone is struggling with poverty and enmity towards others. However, this book was interesting in that it juxtaposed the viewpoints of some of the former slaves with those of the former owners, and I also really liked how Josephine came back to her faith in God and fell in love with *gasp* a Yankee, one of the few decent men in the whole book as far as I'm concerned. It was also interesting seeing how some of the characters were willing to change their mindsets and to actually deal with how things had to change and how others were not. One big issue I had with the book is that although I really did like the ending, I feel that it was entirely too optimistic and unrealistic for the time period--things just would not have worked out that well between the different factions of people at that time. Overall, I liked it well enough, especially after the first several chapters, so 3 stars.

[Colleen]

Rachel wrote: "-J.R.R. Tolkien 11-2-16
This is the third and final installment of Tolkien's classic fantasy epic, and as such, it is exceedingly well written with brilliant..."

I like your thoughts on Harry Potter. I find that I like each book a little better than the last. I also loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy but like you found the extras a bit much and I'm much more of a geek about that stuff than you.

[Colleen]

So I finished "Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil", the final book in that trilogy of Star Wars books recently. It was an excellent way to end that trilogy. That is probably one of my most favorite trilogies in the Star Wars universe. It resolves the master, apprentice relationship well. I also finished "The Lady and the Mountain Promise". It was a cute Christian romance book but it was predictable through a lot of the book. I also read "The Space between Us" by T. Umbargin. She wrote about the relations between two women in India, one a servant and the other a Parsi wealthy woman. The book was interesting but challenging. It is a very realistic look at life in modern India, which made me appreciate what I have more. I also was impressed by what these main women carried in their lives and how they handled family, loss, work, and truth. Very well written book. I will read the next book in the Warriors series next and then maybe do some Christmas reading.

[Rachel]

-Sarah Addison Allen 11-16-16
I really enjoyed this novel despite it being in a genre I don't particularly like, magical realism. It was well written with interesting and well drawn characters, and the plot was entertaining and even a little thought-provoking in its own unique way. It was a fun read.

-Kathleen Grissom 11-19-16
This was a well written historical fiction novel set in the southern United States long before the Civil War, and it is written mainly from the perspective of Lavinia who is a white indentured servant who works and lives in the Kitchen House with the slaves there. She grows up caught between two worlds and learns slowly the terrible affects of both racial and class divisions. The book is quite interesting, but it's really sad, and the story begins in medias res so that you spend the whole time you're reading the book knowing that one of these characters is going to die towards the end but unsure of which one--it wasn't who I thought it was though, so at least it wasn't completely predictable. I'd give the book four stars if only it weren't so depressing.

-Kiera Cass 11-20-16
This was a fun YA novel. I'm not entirely sure what to call it in terms of genre although if there were such a thing as a positive dystopian world, this book, the start of what looks to be a rather cute series, takes place there, not that everything there is perfect but it's certainly no Hunger Games. The book is mostly a written version of the Bachelor where the Bachelor is in fact the crown prince of the country. The characters are well drawn, and the plot was entertaining and even included some political intrigue and some rebel attacks so that the book wasn't completely sedate. Anyway, I enjoyed it, and I plan to read the rest of the series.

-Cornelia Funke 11-23-16\
This was a fairly decent juvenile fantasy novel. It's written well for a children's novel even with it having been translated and the characters are rather interesting if a little flat. The concept of the plot is interesting, and it made a fun movie but not a spectacular book mainly because the story progressed at such a slow crawl; it took more than the first hundred pages before I felt any true interest in the characters and what was going on with them, which is just too long to take to hook your audience.

-Jenn McKinlay 11-24-16
I really loved this cozy mystery. It was well written and entertaining, and the characters were well drawn. I am loving this series.

-Caragh M. O'Brien 11-25-16
This was one of the most interesting sci-fi/dystopian YA novels I've read this year. The characters were well drawn, and the plot was entertaining and thought-provoking; it ended with a crazy cliff hanger as well, and I definitely plan to read the rest of this series. This book has earned its place on my ever growing favorites list.

-Elizabeth Camden 11-27-16
This was a fairly well written historical Christian romance. The characters were interesting, and I liked learning more about the Chicago fire and about watch and clock making through their eyes. However, ultimately this was one of those romances where the couple ended up estranged for most of the book mainly due to a lack of real communication and trust, and there are better ones, so this was a 3 star book for me.

-Susan McBride 11-28-16
My husband accidentally requested this book from the library while trying to request a movie, and since he thought it looked like one I might like, he suggested I might as well read it. I'm so glad he made this mistake! This was a hilarious while thrilling mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Even though I guessed that it was part of a series based on a few lines here and there, the book stood alone very well, and I didn't feel lost at all. The book was written well even though it had too much cursing and innuendo for me to call it a cozy mystery, and I really enjoyed it. The characters were well drawn--some of them were also highly entertaining. So, I will eventually track down the beginning of this series.

-Heather Anastasiu 11-29-16
This was another great sci-fi dystopian YA novel. It was written well and had great characters even though it took a while for personalities to truly show up being as the novel focuses on a community of drones even though the first person protagonist is a truly intriguing character even before she begins to glitch more often. The twists and turns of the plot were interesting and thrilling as the protagonist grew into a more real person and learned who to trust and the truth about her world. This book has earned its place on my favorites list, and I look forward to reading more of this series.

[Sheila]

Well, I didn't read many of the theme books but I did read some good books. If you are looking for non-fiction I would recommend EVICTION by Matthew Desmond. He follows 6 tenants and 2 landlords in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He tells their stories but allows the readers to reach their own conclusions. I believe there needs to be a minimum standard of housing that landlords must follow to be able to rent out an apartment. Many of these places were slums.
If you are looking for children's books, I recommend ORANGUTANGLED by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallec. It's a cute story about orangutans who want to eat mangoes. The illustrations are wonderful!
If you are looking for poetry, I recommend Words from the Heart by Julia Mishler. These poems are very easy to identity with. They are of love, looking for love, and heartbreak. Not all in the same poem.