What I’m Reading Next: TBR November 2018

Welcome to the TBR Mix n’ Mingle Linkup hosted by the ladies at Literary Quicksand, Rachel @ Never Enough Novels and Allison @ My Novel Life, where we share what we’ll be reading the coming month!

In my October TBR post, I predicted that Voyager, by Diana Gabaldon (Book 3 of the Outlander series) might be the only book I get through for the month. I am proud to say that this was not the case!  But while I love Claire and Jamie, the 870-page tome really tested my reading stamina. For November, I’m going with shorter books!

Here’s my TBR for November:

Nine Perfect Strangers, by Liane Moriarty
Why do I want to read this? Because it’s Liane Moriarty! I’ve loved almost all her other books (wasn’t crazy about the last one) and actually got my hands on a 7-day loan copy from the library on release day (11/6)!

Summary: Nine people gather at a remote health resort…Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic owner/director of Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances didn’t even know she was seeking? Should Frances put aside her doubts and immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer – or should she run while she still can?

It’s not long before every guest at Tranquillum House is asking exactly the same question.

 

The Killing Floor (Jack Reacher #1), by Lee Child
There’s a lovely retired couple that comes into my library on a regular basis looking for fast-paced audiobooks to accompany them on their drives to golf tournaments up and down the east coast. They are completely obsessed with the Jack Reacher series and the husband made a strong case for my reading it. I have to please the library customers, so that’s why I’m reading it this month 🙂

Summary: Ex-military policeman Jack Reacher is a drifter. He’s just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour, he’s arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. All Jack knows is that he didn’t kill anybody. At least not here. Not lately. But he doesn’t stand a chance of convincing anyone. not in Margrave, Georgia. Not a chance in hell. ~ From the publisher

 

The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss
The History of Love is this month’s pick for the Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club, but it was also recommended to me by an old friend. She considers the opening of the book to be one of her absolute favorites. I trust her readerly judgement, so I’m really looking forward to digging into the story.

Summary: Fourteen-year-old Alma Singer is trying to find a cure for her mother’s loneliness. Believing she might discover it in an old book her mother is lovingly translating, she sets out in search of its author. Across New York an old man called Leo Gursky is trying to survive a little bit longer. He spends his days dreaming of the lost love who, sixty years ago in Poland, inspired him to write a book. And although he doesn’t know it yet, that book also survived: crossing oceans and generations, and changing lives… ~ From the publisher

 

My Year of Rest and Relaxation, by Ottessa Moshfegh
This is the Forever35 Book Club Facebook group’s fall read-along. There’s going to be a spoiler-filled discussion on November 26, so I better get started soon! I’ve never participated in the Forever35 read-alongs before and since I already had My Year of Rest and Relaxation on my Goodreads TBR, it seemed like the perfect time to read it. I’m curious to see how the story unfolds since the main character is supposed to be asleep or drugged out for most of it…

Summary: Our narrator should be happy, shouldn’t she? She’s young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn’t just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It’s the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?

My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. ~ From the publisher

 

Hey, Kiddo, by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
As a children’s librarian, I am very familiar with and enjoy Krosoczka’s Lunch Lady graphic novel series, but I’m excited to see how he’s taken his art to a new level for this memoir. Plus, it’s a National Book Award finalist!

Summary: Raised by his colorful grandparents, who adopted him because his mother was an incarcerated heroin addict, Krosoczka didn’t know his father’s name until he saw his birth certificate when registering for a school ski trip. Hey, Kiddo traces Krosoczka’s search for his father, his difficult interactions with his mother, his day-to-day life with his grandparents, and his path to becoming an artist. ~ From the publisher

 

What will you be reading in November? Please share in the comments below!

4 responses to “What I’m Reading Next: TBR November 2018”

  1. Allison Avatar

    I’m eager to learn what you think of The History of Love. It’s been on my shelf for over a year and I’ve heard such great things–I need to finally pick it up!

    I haven’t, however, heard great things about the Moshfegh book. I’ll be interested in your thoughts.

    1. Kristen Avatar
      Kristen

      I’ve heard mixed things about the Moshfegh book too. Fingers crossed that it’s good! I’ll definitely report back.

  2. Patricia Anne Bryan Avatar

    Read The Killing Floor for Book Club.Have read all of the Reacher books except this,the first!It’s basically a template for the twenty or so to come and I made the point if I had read KF first might not have ready any more..seriously depriving myself because most of them have been brilliant.Really looking forward to the latest…

    1. Kristen Avatar
      Kristen

      I have high hopes for the series!

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