Welcome to our November round up. Hope you had a busy month like we did. As you can see we have complied our exploits for the month. Fiona has been reading like a madwoman and I have been wandering around being busy and making seasonal visits to London’s Hyde Park and Winter Wonderland. Why don’t you tell us in the comments what you got up to?

WHAT I HAVE READ IN SEPTEMBER

• A French Affair – Katie Fforde
• Christmas Stories –  Enid Blyton audio book narrated by Jilly Bond (reviewed here)

And I’m still reading:

• The One That Got Away – Melissa Pimentel
• Going Dutch – Katie Fforde
• A Week in Paris – Rachel Hore

WHAT I HAVE WATCHED

• QI XL –  The new N series with Sandi Toksvig, which is brilliantly done, just as well as it was done last month!
• Me Before You  – I read the book and wanted to see the movie in the cinema but never got chance.
• Various episodes of QI and Mock the Week, as well as Dave Gorman’s Modern Life is Goodish.

WHAT I HAVE DONE IN NOVEMBER

This month has been very busy, I’ve done a lot of my Christmas shopping and sorting out what to make people for the festive period.

At work I’ve worked with my library assistants to get all our Christmas displays up, and start the Winter Reading challenge, to encourage children to read over the Christmas holidays. Basically they have to read three books before the 8th January. During the summer, they do another reading challenge where they read six books through the summer holidays.

I also had a nice day out with my boyfriend to London Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland. We had a fun, if wet day out taking in the ice kingdom and the ice bar, where we were served our drinks in proper thick ice glasses! We also visited M&M world and nipped across the street in Leicester square to Lego World.  We had a lovely, but cold day.

Bring on December!

WHAT FIONA HAS READ IN NOVEMBER

• Murder in the South of France  (Maggie Newberry #1) – Susan Keirnan-Lewis
• Immortal Ever After (Argeneau Vampires #18) – Lynsay Sands
• The Worst Witch Saves the Day (Worst Witch #5) – Jill Murphy
• The Worst Witch to the Rescue (Worst Witch #6) – Jill Murphy
• Dead Man Stalking (Morganville Vampires #4.5) – Rachel Caine
• Welcome to Dead House (Goosebumps #1) – R. L. Stine
• Stay Out of the Basement (Goosebumps #2) R. L. Stine
• Princess in the Spotlight (Princess Diaries #2) Meg Cabot
• Monster Blood (Goosebumps #3) R. L. Stine
• Say Cheese and Die (Goosebumps #4) R. L. Stine
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – audiobook narrated by Stephen Fry
• The Nurses of Steeple Street – Donna Douglas
• Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar – Emily MacKenzie
• One Lucky Vampire (Argeneau Vampires #19) – Lynsay Sands
• The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (Goosebumps #5) – R.L. Stine
• Let’s Get Invisible (Goosebumps #6) – R.L. Stine
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Newt Scamander
• A Woman Unknown (Kate Shackleton #4) – Frances Brody, audiobook
• Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide – J.K. Rowling
• Lord of Misrule (Morganville Vampires #5) – Rachel Caine
• Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists – J.K. Rowling
• Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies – J.K. Rowling
• Operation Goodwood (Mirabelle Bevan #5) – Sara Sheridan

And I’m still working on:

• The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage – Enid Blyton (latest post here)
• The Vintage Fashion Bible – Wayne Hemmingway

WHAT FIONA HAS WATCHED IN NOVEMBER

• Hollyoaks (still haven’t missed an episode, and now I’ve begun recording it instead of relying on catch up).
• Only Connect – moving into the later rounds now, and it is getting harder!
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I thought this was great and I loved how it further explained and built on things we have read about in the books.
• SpongeBob SquarePants. This is on Netflix so when I find myself watching a quick episode or two when I’ve got time to spare.
• The Adventure Series. I watched and reviewed Mountain of Adventure this month.
• Dead Poet’s Society – another classic film I’ve only just watched for the first time
• Maleficent which I thought was a bit disappointing unfortunately
• Dave Gorman’s Modern Life is Goodish

WHAT FIONA HAS DONE IN NOVEMBER

• Missed the fireworks due to working until 7pm on the 5th (and after all the work I put into the post I did about bonfire night) but got home in time for a late Halloween/bonfire party with my family and Ewan’s. We had all the traditional things like dookin for apples and eating party ring (biscuits) from strings and a pumpkin lantern carved by me.
• Went out for an engagement meal and cocktails to celebrate.
• Another display for my library department – this time for the Financial Times business prize.
• Started my Christmas shopping with a trip to the Perth Festival of Chocolate