November 2022 Reads

What did you read in November? Always love hearing your picks! Here are my thoughts on the four books I finished—one outstanding pick (#2), the other three I was a bit more mixed on but I stuck with them until the end!

I was reminded in reading "The Forest of Vanishing Stars” by Kristin Harmel how important it is to continue to read and learn about events of the past, and historical fiction can be a helpful opening point. This at times mystical and impossible feeling story is inspired by a part of World War II history (that of Jewish survival in the forests of Poland) that I knew nothing about. I wasn't always a fan of Harmel's phrase choices but still, this was a good read.

Mercy, what an incredible read "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin is—cerebral yet with swaths of levity. As someone who is not into gaming at all, I wasn't sure if I would be able to get my head into it, but the story is about so much more; a deep exploration of relationships, love, and hurt. Also, having grown up with Harvard Square as my backyard, it was fun to read the references to the Harvard/MIT area. This is one of my favorite reads of 2022.

For the most part, I enjoyed "Thank You For Listening" by Julia Whelan, and as a podcaster I enjoyed having a window into audiobook land. That said, I did feel disappointed that I guessed the reveal so early on and I felt that there were some moments where the narrative dragged and I drifted a bit.

"The Fortunes of Jaded Women" by Carolyn Huynh is all about noisy and challenging relationships, patriarchal curses, and women trying to find their way and voice. As someone who grew up in an emotionally repressed Korean framework, the drag out public fights of the Vietnamese American family made me uncomfortable, but I imagine those are my issues LOL.