NOVEMBER 2024 READING LIST
November was a month of travel and recovery. I was literally on planes, trains, cars, and even a bus or two. In all that traveling, I found time to journal, but I did not read as much as I thought I would. I continued the Gaslight Mystery series and tried a Regency writer I had only just discovered.
When I travel, I tend to lean into my nonfiction reading list or pluck something off my shelf that I will finally commit to reading. I chose a book about introverts, and it blew me away. I also brought along a memoir by an author for some writing inspiration.
Here are the books I read during the busy month of November:
MURDER ON ST. NICHOLAS AVENUE BY VICTORIA THOMPSON
I listened to this book through Libby. This is book eighteen in the Gaslight Mystery series.
With Frank and Sarah on honeymoon, this story focuses on the rest of their household and their endeavor to save a woman who was found cradling her husband's dead body. The book was an easy read and still kept up the pace I am familiar with when it comes to Thompson’s writing. Without the main characters, it felt a bit like a spin-off. I liked the ending to some degree. I like mysteries where the guilty are not just thrown away in prison but when there is a sort of poetic justice, a personal punishment fitting toward the perpetrators. This book had a little bit of this and some disheartening parts, but it was a good book to listen to during any plane and bus rides I had during my travels.
I still like this series and plan to continue reading through book twenty-seven and beyond. Although some of the books in the series have some difficult content, the writing has been excellent and the right kind of mystery. Not too gruesome or sensational. The books are mysteries that lean more toward the historical than the thriller, which is why I have enjoyed reading them.
3.75/5 Stars
QUIET: THE POWER OF INTROVERTS IN A WORLD THAT CAN’T STOP TALKING BY SUSAN CAIN
I had Quiet on my shelf for a while and never found time to really dig in. With an overseas trip and a lot of solo time, I decided it was time to pull this one off the shelf, and I am so glad I did. To start with, Cain explains that at least one-third of the people we know are introverts. At least. And some of these introverts have made significant contributions to society.
What was so profound to me in this book was the societal emphasis on the extrovert in our education, conversation, politics, social lives, and even infrastructure. I was blown away by the small ways our culture steers the populace into pro-extrovert positions. The idea of desks in a classroom being grouped in fours for better “group think” opportunities versus individual desks facing the teacher. I had never thought of the significance, but I looked back on my years in school, and I can recognize the difference. There was less room for personal discovery and pace. Although I am not a promoter of homeschooling because I believe in community at a young age, I have to admit that one positive was my freedom to learn with limitations when working alone.
Another point that Cain brings up is the evangelical movement. She spends little time on this point, but her observations were so profound as to change how I look at my faith's commissional aspect. She explains that going door to door, talking to the barista, and handing out tracts was a redirecting turn in the late 20th century that geared Christian faith to better suit extroverts. What! All this time, the shaming, the questioning of faith, and the demand by Christian leaders was a personality preference. I breathed a huge sigh of relief in reading about how introverts go about their faith compared to extroverts, and the reading was a great comfort.
Another way Cain expresses her idea well is through the examples she gives to explain different aspects of introverted behavior. She talks about a high-energy public speaker, a New York City classroom, a determined salesman, and great innovators of our age while weaving together the argument of the power of being an introvert. I greatly enjoyed this book and marked little along the way, or else I would have marked every section. I hope to reread the book before long to retain more of Quiet and its message for introverts.
5/5 Stars
ARABELLA BY GEORGETTE HEYER
Still recovering from some of my darker reads from earlier in the year, I found the works by Georgette Heyer at my local library and decided to give them a go. The first book I picked was Arabella, the name of a penniless young woman who stays in London during the season with her godmother. She encounters the socially distinguished Robert Beaumaris and, disliking his arrogance in thinking of her as a fortune hunter, pretends she is an heiress of great wealth and has no interest in him. What follows is the lovely dance between two headstrong characters who believe the worst of each other. However, as their escapades continually cross paths, a new appreciation, perhaps even love, develops.
Strikingly similar to an Austen tale, Heyer sets her story in the Regency era. The characters have similar motivations: The women want to marry well, and the men either want excitement or do not want to marry at all. The book was amusing, and I liked the main characters. The split between each point of view also added to the delight of knowing what other characters did not know and provided wonderful intrigue.
It was not the most in-depth book, but it was entertaining, light, and quick to read. There is less dialogue than in other Regency-era books I have read. Some of this I enjoyed because it made the reading faster, while other times, I wished there were more conversations to learn more about the story. There were several areas where much was summarized.
3.75/5 Stars