November 26, 2021

Novellas in November 2021 Wrap Up #NovNov

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***This post contains Amazon affiliate links

As well as #NonfictionNovember, I participated in Novellas in November (#NovNov) this year with Cathy @ 746 Books and Rebecca @ Bookish Beck. Here are the results of my novella reading.

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Novellas I Read:

 Contemporary Fiction

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
3 Stars
(beautifully and lyrically written but I found the second person pov challenging)

Short Nonfiction 

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
3 Stars
(beautiful passages about nature and fascinating descriptions of her childhood and college years)

Literature in Translation (from French)

A Single Rose by Muriel Barbery
4 Stars
(beautifully and quietly written….wonderful descriptions of Japanese gardens, neighborhoods, and culture)

Short Classic

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
3 Stars
(masterfully written but I had a difficult time with the ending…..it seemed contrived and it was difficult to buy into the actions by the characters….a very sad story)

Own Voices/YA

 The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
3 Stars
(I didn’t feel well connected to the main character because the story is more focused on describing her neighbors and her neighborhood than on character development….insightful and poignant descriptions of experiences and poverty in a Hispanic neighborhood)

Christmas/Romance (closed door)/Chick Lit
(mood reading!)

A Vicarage Christmas by Kate Hewitt
3.5 Stars
(light and enjoyable contemporary fiction)

Christmas in Briarwood by MK McClintock
3.5 Stars
(light and heartfelt historical fiction)

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Other novellas I’ve enjoyed in recent years include:

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman (novella in translation)

The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman (although this might be considered a short story)

The Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler

The Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (novella in translation from Japanese)

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

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QOTD:

Did you read a novella in November?
If you could recommend ONE novella title for me, what would you recommend?
If you participated in #NovNov, please leave a link to your post in comments.

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Happy Reading Book Friends!

“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke

“I love the world of words, where life and literature connect.”
~Denise J Hughes

“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.”
~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text

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Unless explicitly stated that they are free, all books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library.

Book Cover and author photos are credited to Amazon or an author’s (or publisher’s) website.

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