November Wrap Up

I'm still feeling a lack of motivation for booktube just now. I'm not sure if it's a mental health slump that's causing it or if I'm maybe subconsciously finding stress with keeping up with it all and need to take a step back. Or maybe I've had a crazy two weeks and just need to get myself back into the swing of things and it'll all be ok. 

Blogging itself isn't quite so difficult - I can make content without much effort at all and it's not as obvious or as "detrimental" as it would be in video form - so here I am, making a blog post in order to feel somewhat more productive. 

The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories
My first read this month was Tim Burton's short story collection. This was enjoyable and I'm kinda sad to find out that Burton hasn't written a bunch more because it was a super quick read and I'd love to have more.

Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy
If you follow me on twitter or instagram then you'll know by now that we brought little Hector home last week. A puppy requires a LOT of work and I wanted to be prepared so I researched some books on training and this one got the best reviews and I can see why. This had a lot of great info and tips as well as being humorous. It was also simple enough that I've not really had to refer back to it much, yet, for basic training. Once we move on to the more advanced stuff - especially things like loose lead walking when he can get out, I'll be rereading it a lot! Highly recommend for anyone looking to train a pup or dog!

The Quick Guide to Cocker Spaniel Puppies
No questions as to why I picked this up. In hindsight, I really didn't need this book. It was pretty much just a rehash of any breed guide you can find online, either through blogs or dog websites or forums. This also contained some training sections that felt a little outdated so would take it with a pinch of salt.

Truly Devious
I cannot even. I'd heard amazing things about this book - we all have. And I wanted to love it, but was scared I wouldn't so kept putting it off but DAMN THIS WAS GOOD. I loved the mystery and didn't find it predictable - although saying that, we are left on a cliffhanger so technically nothing has been revealed yet. I am GASPING to pick up the sequel (I just finished my current read so it'll be my next one!)

Your New Puppy
Listen, I wanted to be prepared ok. I don't feel this book did anything much for me as I'd already read a lot of stuff online, and in another book we'll get to in a moment, by this point so I didn't rate it. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it but I wouldn't tell you not to read it either.

Whisper
This was a Netgalley book that I'm torn over. This dystopian was entertaining and not too cliche, but it was predictable and I definitely called many of the "GASP PLOT TWIST" moments. I think this is a duology, and I can't say I'm planning to read the second book. If it falls into my hands, then sure, but I was pretty content with the story we got. I'm very much the type of person who doesn't need things to get wrapped up. In this instance, we're left off with a "battle" or war of sorts between two sides waiting to happen and for many people this would be an intense cliffhanger and they NEED TO KNOW what's going to happen, but for me, I'm content with snippets of a story, in a sense. I like this idea of diving into a world and experiencing a slice of it and if we're following a small part of the story that gets resolved I'm not fussed if a bigger thing has come up.

The Cocker Spaniel Handbook
This was a heifer (I'm pretty sure that word isn't used in the way I mean outside of where I live so basically I mean chunker) of a book and also a bit of a cheat. I skimmed through a lot of this. This book is exactly what it says - a handbook. It is a full on textbook all about the cocker spaniel breed. I read this for obvious reasons but I also skimmed it because this talks about both English and American cockers as well as working and show type. I didn't need to read about breed history for American or show cockers or the info on picking the right one since we already knew we were getting an EWCS. This was a super detailed book and had lots of great info. I was concerned at first as the author has done the exact same book for pretty much every breed out there but they have interviewed a lot of breeders and put their opinions in - one of the breeders was actually a friend of the breeder we bought from and the breeder that bred the mum of our pup so I knew the author used good, knowledgeable and Kennel Club approved breeders.

How I Broke Up With My Colon
This book has the stupidest title but it was actually really good. This is one of those short story comic strip type books that was essentially a buzzfeed article in book form. The topic was basically stupid medical situations (for example, someone injured them-self trying to cut a hedge by holding a lawn mower sideways and then an hour later someone else came in to A&E with the exact same injury because they saw their neighbour cutting their hedge with a lawn mower lol). This was so fun and would be a great stocking filler at christmas!

Girls With Sharp Sticks
Another Netgalley ARC, I ended up listening to this on audiobook and I'm not sure what to make of it. I like the idea of this and the exploration of feminism or whatever but I don't know. It fell a little flat for me and I was ready to dnf it at first. I'm curious about the sequel though.

The Starless Sea
This was my most anticipated release of the DECADE and it did not disappoint. I'll admit as I got to the end it got a little confusing (even more so than the rest of the book which could definitely be hard to navigate your head around) and almost rushed but overall I found it worked super well and it definitely left me wondering what was real and not. The thing I love most about Morgenstern's writing is the atmosphere's she creates. God I would LOVE to live in the harbour of the starless sea. A cosy room with a kitchen who can provide anything, cats everywhere and ALL THE BOOKS?! YES PLEASE.

And there we have it. I read more than I thought I did, I'll admit. Those dog books and my netgalley arcs helped a lot! I'm only about 5 books out from my goodreads goal so I'm under no pressure for December (not that there's any anyway - read what you wantttttt, she says, being super competitive and then wondering why she finds reading and booktube and all that stressful) .