November Wrap-Up and December Goals

November reads

November Wrap-Up

• Finished: 4
• Started but not finished: 2
• Total pages read: 1,791
• Average rating: 4

I didn’t read a lot of books in November as I was focusing on writing a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, but the books I did read were pretty good. I finished three fiction novels and one non-fiction book. Two of them were the first two books of Shadow and Bone trilogy by Leigh Bardugo, Shadow and Bone (4.5/5 stars) and Siege and Storm (also 4.5/5 stars). Click the links to read longer reviews and to find out what I thought about them.

The non-fiction book I read was in Finnish. Sinut on nähty by Anu Silfverberg is an autobiographical essay on gender and gaze.

 

The Court Dancer by Kyung-sook Shin

The third fiction novel I read was a Korean historical fiction The Court Dancer by Kyung-sook Shin (*Amazon affiliate link). The novel tells the story of Yi Jin, an orphan who becomes a dancer in the Korean court in the late 19th century, just as Korea is opening to the world. French diplomat Victor Collin de Plancy falls in love her and gets permission from the king to take her with him to France. In Belle Epoque Paris, Yi Jin lives a free live away from the gilded cage of the court, but even in this new world, sorrows await her.

I didn’t know a lot about Korean history starting this book, and it was an intriguing read. I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style, though. It felt very list-like and “tell-y,” and the constant jumps back and forth in time made the order of the events sometimes difficult to understand. As a result, I had a hard time connecting with the characters. Once I got used to the writing style, the book became better, but it’s not my favorite historical fiction. I’m only giving this book three stars, but I would recommend it to people who love historical fiction and want to learn more about Korean history. If you liked Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, you’ll probably like this as well.

 

December Hopefuls

December hopefuls

I’m planning to read eight or nine books in December. I want to finish Shadow and Bone trilogy and read Ruin and Rising. The other two or three fiction books I want to read I haven’t chosen yet. I’ll pick something up from my mother’s bookshelf when I’m staying at her place during the holidays.

I’ve already started two of the five non-fiction books I want to read. The first is Äidinkieli ja kirjallisuus, my old high school Finnish book. It has been interesting to revisit that book, and I already finished it in early December. The second is It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences by June Casagrande. It’s a hilarious English grammar and writing guide that hopefully will help with the line edits of the fifth draft of Project Prehistory.

The three other nonfiction books are Louise Harnby’s Editing Fiction at Sentence Level (another writing guide for line edits), Suomen ja Euroopan linnut (a handbook about Finnish and European birds), and Walking Paris (National Geographic’s city guide to Paris, France).

If you want to hear more about the books I’ve read, check out my reading wrap-up video below:

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*As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.