Paper Puffs (47): November Recap

news Sorry for the super late November recap – I’ve been busy with school, and have somehow caught a very bad cold despite all of my hand-washing and germaphobe behaviors… my brain feels like mush, and mush isn’t really productive. But November was such an awesome book month in the book community, especially with Sci-Fi Month and Nonfic November… my book ratings prove it! During Thanksgiving break, I also marathoned through the Cat Who mystery books like a fiend. I actually got behind in reading/ranting because of school, so I wasn’t present as much as I hoped, but thanks for still stopping by and sharing your opinions about the books I’ve reviewed! 😊

SCI-FI REVIEWS, RANKED

Parasite by Mira Grant (be prepared to be engrossed and grossed out!)
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (the world-building is incredible!)
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (engrossingly vivid, mildly disturbing)
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (kids do WHAT?!)

NON-FICTION REVIEWS, RANKED

Genome by Matt Ridley (more fun than textbooks)
Gulp by Mary Roach (ONOMNOM)
You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney (small chunks of entertainment)

DID NOT (AND WILL NOT) FINISH

I DNF’ed quite a lot of the books this month, and I don’t know if it’s because I was super busy or because I’m running out of patience. I tried really hard to get through Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), but the book version just didn’t do it for me. I might try the audiobook at some point, since I seem to enjoy humor audiobooks more than physical books. And Silver Bells was the holiday book that I started but dropped after reading, like, 5 pages. The writing style was a little boring, and maybe it’s too early to start holiday books… Why Don’t Penguins’ Feet Freeze? was also a no-go, because it seems as though the answers to the questions are provided by readers of the New Scientist magazine, and sometimes one question has multiple readers’ answers/opinions and I don’t know if it’s pure fact or what. Also, this one might work better as a bathroom reader. The Avery Shaw Experiment was a Friday Find, but I just couldn’t stand the oh-so-perfect male protagonist and the why-didn’t-I-realize-how-beautiful-she-was female protagonist.