Dear Readers, November was a good month for reading books. I read six books this month. I did read every book but one on my TBR this month.  This year has been a low one for five star reviews and I had three this month my best month so far. My ratings for this month are 3 five stars, 1 four star, 1 three star, and 1 two star.  My job has started 60 hour mandatory overtime days that will last until Christmas so I will not make a TBR list for December.

Five Star Reviews:

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang is a groundbreaking contemporary fiction about a stolen story from a dead Asian writer by a white one. The novel is so much more than its logline about a stolen novel as it is an in-depth look at the good and bad of the publishing industry and analyzes what intellectual property is and whether it can be stolen. The book asks: If I have a conversation with someone and use it verbatim in my story is that theft? Can a person tell a story of a different ethnicity other than their own? If you get a prompt sentence or paragraph that you include in the writing is it theft? Can an ethnic writer branch out and not lose their audience? Kuang asks these questions throughout the novel while answering some of the questions by telling a story from a white woman’s point of view, breaking away a little bit from what she is known for writing heavily ethnic stories. The writing is smart and shows an insider glance at the publishing industry that I have not read before. The book takes an unlikeable character who makes horrible choices and yet humanizes their desperation. Kuang says in the Acknowledgments that this is her attempt at a horror novel about loneliness in a harsh industry, I feel this fits especially what happens at the end. Despite it being a horror story the story is a love letter to writing at its heart and full of deep quotes about writing. The book takes an educational approach to diversity and shows both the positives and the negatives of it. The pacing for this book was perfect, I was pretty riveted in every twist and turn of the story. The ending I found satisfying, it could have gone in a million different ways. 

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann is a harrowing true story of an English ship in the 1700s that is masterfully told. The story of the ship The Wager is interesting, but the way Grann moves events around adds suspense to the story. If the story were written straight it would be just okay. The way Grann writes it he foreshadows the events that are in the title a shipwreck, a mutiny, and a murder, and it is up for you the reader to figure out which character is going to do the mutiny and the murder. The characters are laid out like an Agatha Christie mystery where we learn about their background, what drives them, and how they came to the ship. Just like a good mystery, I was wrong about who the murderer and the mutineer were. The mystery is one aspect of the book the other is sailing and surviving the elements and the diseases. The diseases are the true killer of the story that wipes out half the ship before the shipwreck even happens. The story is told in 3rd person with lots of journal entries to back up the facts.

Goosebumps – Ghost Camp by R. L. Stine is Goosebumps book 45 in the original series. Ghost Camp is scary as it plays with the reader’s mind asking what is real. This book has the fear of abandonment, the fear of fitting in, the fear of ghosts, the fear of possession, and the fear of being trapped. Stine usually lets off the tension by saying it’s a joke and having the kid believe it, but the same thing happens in this book. Still, Harry does not believe it and only plays along so as not to worry his little brother Alex. This book has the strongest brother bonding, the brothers are not annoyed with each other and praise the other’s abilities. The pacing is one of the best, there is tension in the opening scene and doesn’t let up until the end. The final twist wasn’t too surprising but was set up from the beginning and worked well for the story. The side characters were fun and served a purpose. The two ghost stories told within this story are so good and haunting.

Four Star Reviews:

Batman: White Knight Presents: Harley Quinn by Katana Collins is an offshoot graphic novel in the same universe as Batman: White Knight and Batman: Curse of the White Knight by Sean Gordon Murphy. The Murphyverse started when The Joker started to go sane and chastise Bruce Wayne/Batman for never stopping him and not giving the police any of his resources to better protect Gotham City. Batman: White Knight Presents: Harley Quinn is listed as book 2.5 in the Murphyverse series since the creator did not write it. The book keeps the focus on the psychological aspects of its character just like the previous books in the series. Bruce Wayne/Batman is a side character as Harley Quinn takes the lead. Harley Quinn had been a supporting character in the last two books. The story starts a year after the events in Batman: The Curse of the White Knight, where Batman has been outed as Bruce Wayne and just defeated Azrael, upon his victory Batman turns himself in to the police and sits behind bars. He has specifically asked for Harley who is somewhat reformed to be his doctor.

Three Star Reviews:

Stranger Things: Six By Jody Houser is a prequel graphic novel in 1970s Hawkins, Indiana centering on Doctor Martin Brenner and the character Six not featured in the show Stranger Things. Through Six’s eyes, we get to see how obsessive Doctor Brenner is about children’s powers and amplifying them. Six can see a glimpse of the future but not the whole thing, Brenner wants her to see more. At first, I thought this was a novel about Eleven’s mother, but it is quickly shown not to be. A young 7-year-old Eleven is shown briefly but acts as a catalyst for Six to go to the extreme that leads to the finale. We meet other special-ability kids one with the power of suggestion and pyrokinesis. We see a glimpse of the Demogorgon as Six is pushed with her powers to show the future. The graphic novel is a fast read since it was so loosely tied to the show it added that what will happen factor to the book. The climax was good and unexpected. The story is told out of order which worked well and added to the intrigue. The portrayal of Doctor Brenner was intense in his balance of caring and pushing to get results.

Two Star Reviews:

A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand is the first approved return to the Hill House in Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House from Shirley Jackson’s estate. Hill House is a character that Elizabeth Hand respects and adds more mystery to it. No characters from the original The Haunting of Hill House or relatives of characters make an appearance. There is a bit of dialogue that Shirley Jackson had in the original that was used in a cool way. The history of Hill House was glossed over with only a little bit added in the 64 years from the original, which I feel was a wasted opportunity. The book is very female-centric with only one male in the new cast of characters, which I liked since Hill House has had a deeper connection to females. The LGTBQ longing or relationship that was read between the lines in the original The Haunting of Hill House is front and center with a lesbian couple and a bisexual. The narrative is told from the perspective of the four main characters which usually change with every chapter. The pacing of the story is very slow at the beginning, a couple of times I thought about not finishing. The pace finally picks up a little after halfway when the stuff at the house starts happening. The second half is way better-paced than the first half and leads into an exciting climax. The horror aspect is psychological and leans more into the threat of horror that only slightly manifests. This is the same thing I said about The Haunting of Hill House which I found slightly more terrifying than A Haunting on the Hill. I read A Haunting on the Hill thanks to Netgalley and Mulholland Books in exchange for a review. A Haunting on the Hill was published on October 3, 2023.