It’s Looking Like November | New Books in My Life + 6 Days

Friends, it is nearly November! And as you can see from my opening picture, our maple tree is feeling it. In less than one week, almost all of its leaves have dropped and the world around us is looking like November. The glowing oranges, reds, and yellows are dampening into more muted versions of themselves and the world is preparing itself for winter. And so am I.

Here’s a side by side shot of our maple tree, less than one week apart:

---

It blows my mind how quickly it happens every year. One minute you’re enjoying the foliage and thinking how amazing fall is and the next you’re bringing down the winter gear from the attic, just in case.

But one benefit of this sharper cold is, of course, more opportunities to snuggle inside and read. My local bookstore caught my eye by posting some of their new releases so we took an impromptu jaunt to Concord to pick up a few things for my new book nook:

---

The Wood at Midwinter is a short story set in the world of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel and I gasped at the end when I realized its connection. This hardcover edition is stunning and the illustrations inside are gorgeous. This is a wonderful little book to read at Christmastime so I’m going to try to remember to read it again on Christmas Eve.

Each month my local indie has a “staff picks” competition and this month The Bog Wife was chosen by the staff member who tends to pick my favorites. I’m planning to read it in November and am glad I was able to buy it in October to count towards the book seller’s stats for the month. It’s billed as southern gothic horror, so November feels perfect.

And finally, I picked up Blood Bright Over Haven because the cover was gorgeous and I keep reading good things about this author (ML Wang). “The first woman ever admitted to a prestigious order of mages unravels a secret conspiracy that could change the practice of magic forever” sounds very enticing and a world to get lost in during the colder months ahead! I’ve put this on my December TBR but I might have to start it before then.

---

And despite not finishing my October reading plan, I decided to get a jump on my November list by cracking open The Drownings yesterday. I’m using a Blackwell’s affiliate link for this one because the price is almost $10 less (as of this writing) and there’s free shipping to the US — and that’s where I ordered my copy from! The blurbs on the cover describe this as: “dark academia at its most compelling” and “an extraordinary story of female power and rage.” I’m nearly 100 pages through it and can say that I find it un-put-down-able and totally atmospheric. The opening clause grabbed me as soon as I began and I had a hard time putting this down last night when the real world came to call:

---

And here’s a friendly reminder that there are 6 days until the election in the US. Please make sure you have a plan to vote. Elections matter and so does your vote, no matter what others might say. I hope we are all looking to the future as we cast our votes this go-round.

And with that, I must wrap up this post and get to work this morning! I hope Wednesday treats you well and that I can squeeze in another blog post on Friday. Take good care!