My last round up I noted that we were stamping books for December 1st which was three weeks away. Today (Thursday as I start writing this) is three weeks until Christmas (though we’re not stamping the 25th on loans, that would just be mean as we’re not open!)

What I read

I finished a lot of books in November, quite a few of which were audiobooks. I’m down to my last credit on Audible and that’s to last me until the end of March. I have not rationed them well this year.

Five were BABALs* (Aurora Teagarden is a librarian in the first few of her books but that’s more of a side detail than a main plot, and Lindsay Gordon is a journalist so it’s publishing adjacent, so I’m not counting any of them.)

Two I borrowed from the library as I seem to have sort of forgotten about the whole ‘reading what I already have’ plan. Oh well.

I read:

• How to Kill Men and Get Away With It (Kitty Collins #1) – Katy Brent
• The Pyramid Plot (Usborne Puzzle Adventures, #16) – Somper, Justin
• Much Ado About Murder (Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries, #7) – Steffanie Holmes
• The Bookstore Family (Once Upon a Bookshop #4) – Alice Hoffman
• Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime – Val McDermid
• The London Girls – Soraya M Lane
• A Cornish Christmas Murder (Nosey Parker Mysteries #4) – Fiona Leitch
• The Last Witch – CJ Cooke
• Real Murders (Aurora Teagarden, #1) – Charlaine Harris
• A Bone to Pick (Aurora Teagarden, #2) – Charlaine Harris
• The Lending Library – Aliza Fogelson
• Three Bedrooms, One Corpse (Aurora Teagarden, #3) – Charlaine Harris
• Common Murder (Lindsay Gordon #2)
• The Julius House (Aurora Teagarden, #4) – Charlaine Harris
• Crime and Publishing (Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries, #8) – Steffanie Holmes
• A Cornish Recipe for Murder (Nosey Parker Mysteries #5) – Fiona Leitch

I ended the month still working through:

• Charlie and the Christmas Factory – various authors
• Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret (Ernest Cunningham #3) – Benjamin Stevenson
• The Impossible Fortune (Thursday Murder Club #5) – Richard Osman
• How Heathcliff Stole Christmas (Nevermore Bookshop #3.5 ) – Steffanie Holmes

What I watched

• We have been watching Only Connect and The Simpsons but we finished Taskmaster. We watched a little more of Only Murders in the Building but haven’t finished it yet as we discovered the latest series of Lego Masters Australia (Australia Vs the World) was available (we’d been waiting forever but as it turns out it’s been online since June…)
• I’ve watched a bit more of Byker Grove but I’m still in the early 2000s – [spoilers] Geoff is now dead (sob).
• My sister and I finished Is it Cake Halloween some time after Halloween and turned our attention to terrible Christmas movies. We watched The Princess Switch and The Princess Switch 2 (Christmas is actually rather inconsequential to either of these films hence not making it into the titles but there are a lot of Christmas trees and snow etc.)

What I did

November was pretty dominated by Christmas-themed stuff.

• We went into town to see the Christmas Tree light switch on and see the stalls, rides and ice sculptures.
• We went to another (smaller) Christmas light switch on as Brodie had signed up to sign in the school choir. Turns out I still know all the worlds to all the verses of Away in a Manger, and at least the first verse of some other carols.
• Brodie had to get new glasses (prescription change this time rather than broken glasses) so we fitted in some Christmas shopping when we went to collect them
• We put up our Christmas tree and other decorations
• And we hooley-hooleyed (as Brodie puts it). As in we attended the Hooley, a celebration on St Andrews day with a parade and lots of entertainment. Brodie got hungry not long after we arrived so we tried out Taco Bell for the first time.

How was your November?

*Books About Bookshops and Libraries