Show Us Your Books - What I Read in October/November

Hello friends! I'd like to start this out with a dumb complaint: if you're sending me an email with an invoice in it, SEND THE LINK TO PAY THE INVOICE AS WELL. Why are you making me go search on your website for how to pay you? Help me to help you please. I'm feeling very irritated about all of these end of year bills I need to pay and how much work I'm having to do to pay them. Just take my damn money, good lord. 

OKAY so here we go. Let's round up what I read in November! I'm writing this on December 1st and it snowed last night (not okay) and I have 6 books to read to hit my Goodreads goal. Do y'all think I will make it? 

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click through them and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: Y'all, I was Very Upset that they started out trying to get me to like President Snow. So if that's where you are in the book, keep going, it gets better. This was really good. It made me want to read all the books again, and I did end up watching the first movie after I finished it. It's a bit long, but what else do we have to do in the cold months anyways? I definitely recommend it if you enjoyed The Hunger Games. The Games are terrible but it was interesting to see how they really got to where they were by the 75th annual... 

Hercule Poirot's Christmas: A holiday murder mystery! Secret identities!  A granddaughter from somewhere warm and exotic! This one has it all! I know y'all know I've been working through the Poirot stories, and that I love them all. So once again, I didn't guess the murderer, Hercule scooped it! 

Conjure Women: I didn't understand the artwork on the cover of this book until I was about halfway through, and I thought that was really cool. I don't really know how to explain this one, so here's a blurb from Goodreads:

 Like her mother, Rue is an all-knowing midwife, healer, and conjurer of curses on the plantation of Marse Charles. Moving back and forth in time between the years before and after the Civil War, Conjure Women tells the story of Rue, the families she cares for, and the mysteries and secrets she knows about the plantation owner's daughter, Varina.

I enjoyed this because it didn't really follow the stereotypical bell curve most books do, if that makes sense. It wasn't like a slow build to a big climactic event then the wrapping up of a story. It felt more like a chunk out of the middle of a bigger story. I don't know if that makes any sense to y'all. There were big events and drama and mystery and a relatively "neat" ending if you will, but it was a very good read. I am doing a bad job of explaining it.  

Sad Cypress:  BACK to Poirot. We have three in here. Oh man. This one was good. It had a Very Christie twist, but only one you can see coming after it's happened. If you've been here for more than one reading recap, you'll be very familiar with my current task trying to read through every single Poriot novel. I'm making pretty good time, very excited to move onto Miss Marple once I'm done with our mustachioed friend. 

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: For some reason, goodreads was CONVINCED this was an audiobook, it was not, but I thought that was very weird. Anyways. This one was one where I thought I knew who the murderer was at the end of each chapter, which we know Agatha does on purpose. There were more twists and turns than normal in this one and I couldn't put it down! 

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot: I saw a meme the other day about how anti-racism work isn't self improvement for white people & doesn't end when you feel better about yourself. I understand why that was a meme, lookin' at you, white women voting for Trump, but at the same time thought "how do you ever feel better about yourself?" because everything I read and everything I learn and every new thing that I come to understand just makes me more mad. So, now that I've made this review about me, in true white lady fashion, I highly recommend this one. It's informative and connects the dots on a lot of things and made me feel more radicalized and more sound in my understanding of how feminism should work. 

They need feminism to recognize that everything that affects women is a feminist issue, whether it be food insecurity or access to transit, schools, or a living wage.

That's it! I have to read 6 books in December to hit my 2020 reading goal, so wish me luck! Linking up for Show Us Your Books! Tell me what you've been reading! Have you read any of these? I'm currently reading (er, devouring): A Court of Thorns and Roses and I've already borrowed the second book of the series because I am enjoying this one so much.