Overview: November 2015

Return Home

My five weeks in Europe came to a conclusion at the beginning of October. I think the amount of time away was exactly right. It would’ve been nice to travel more but I had seen and done enough to feel like I was ready to get back. While I didn’t miss the heat, I did miss sleeping in my own bed. The time spent travelling offered much respite and solitude, so I returned home refreshed and with more positivity.

Oh, and I learnt that travelling west doesn’t cause as much of a jet lag as travelling east. Mostly because flying east results in the loss of a night. When I landed at 7 a.m., my body clock just struck midnight.

What Else Happened

Despite returning home, I was cut off from local civilisation for an additional week. That’s what happens when you send your phone for servicing and your back-up phone is too ancient to read your SIM card. I also dedicated more time again to baking, which has been fun.

Besides that, a close friend of mine got married. My friends and I lost our way to the wedding reception and ended up walking quite a detour in the scorching noon sun. No mean feat in 4.5-inch heels. The things we endure for our friends. Hah. But it was worth it to see the glowing happiness on the couple’s faces.

Books Read

Sorted by date read:

Statistics

Amount Read

Altogether I finished reading 8 books. I listened 20 hours and 27 minutes and read 1700 pages. If I convert the listening hours to pages, then I would've read a total of 2468 pages. This slow-down compared to the previous few months can be attributed to reading Winter. It was such a highly anticipated book of mine that I wanted to savour every moment of the 824 pages.

The books I read had an average of 284 pages and the audiobooks I listened to were on average 10 hours and 14 minutes long. Despite the very thick 824-page book in my pile, the average was dragged down by the graphic novels and even shorter recipe book. Since I was taking my time with Winter, I didn't listen much to audiobooks this month.

Formats

Format-wise, I read 2 paperbacks, 3 ebooks, 2 audiobooks and 1 hardcover. That was some appreciation for every format. Substance over matter, aye.

Targets and Genres

I read, 1 non-fiction book, 4 YA fiction books and 3 graphic novels. The genres were 3 fantasy, 1 mystery, 1 contemporary, 1 historical fiction and 1 dystopian. The non-fiction book was a recipe book.

Sources

The sources of these books were:

• Accessed 2 on Scribd
• Borrowed 2 through Overdrive
• Borrowed 1 from the library
• Acquired 1 from FBM
• Bought 1 from Kinokuniya
• Bought 1 from Audible

Acquisitions

Sorted by author:

Reading Challenges

Goodreads

Tally: 108/100

Compared to 2014, I've been reading a little less this year. Looking at the progress bars though, my reading rate has been fairly consistent, indicating no major slumps. Either way, what matters is that I set myself a goal and stuck to it.

Non-Fiction

Tally: 8/20

I am failing ever so miserably at this, in part because the non-fiction books I am stuck on are a slight bit more challenging than I expected them to be. Perhaps I'll manage to finish at least another one or two before the end of the year.

Adult Fiction

Tally: 18/12

If I include plays and poetry, then the tally is 20.

Classics

Tally: 3/6

German Books

Tally: 4/12

Popsugar Reading Challenge

Tally: 37/50

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What was notable about November for you?