Thursday Thirteen 397: Recently Read

Here's a look at what I've read in recent months. Unfortunately, due to working a second job, I have not had as much time to read as I normally would. A couple nights I've nearly fallen asleep on the bus home -- not a good thing -- never mind reading once I get there. Also, I had one book take up almost all of my November. Good thing I had such a HUGE cushion at start of that month, as making my 2015 reading goal will be pretty close now. I went from being eight books ahead to only two ahead by the time I finished that book, and am now three ahead -- but for how long? December be a-dwindlin' fast!

As always, click on any cover or title below for more information. Many of these have also been featured in Teaser Tuesdays, so be sure to check out that tag in the right sidebar as well. Happy reading!
















ABOUT THE BOOKS:

ROW 1: Sheila Connolly is one of my favorite cozy mystery writers, and was the October featured author in the Cozy Mysteries group. Bitter Harvest is book 5 in her Apple series -- I really liked the non-murder threads in this one, especially the stitching and genealogical aspects -- and Called Home was a free related short story. Scandal is book two in her Irish series. I have several more of her books to catch up on, including a museum series I've yet to start.

ROW 2: More cozy mysteries, this group all read for monthly mini challenges. Mr. Monk was also read for the 2015 Ultimate reading challenge (a book based on or that became a TV series), and Mr. Goldberg does an excellent job translating the well-known TV character to the page. I have a couple more of these in Mount TBR.

ROW 3: Yes, more mysteries, and all for monthly mini challenges. Joyce and Jim Lavene were the November featured authors in the Cozy Mysteries group. Sadly, Joyce passed away at end of October, so will be interesting to see which -- if any -- of their series are continued. I have a ton of their books to catch up on in Mount TBR, both older and more recent series.

ROW 4: This row is comprised of classics for group reads. Sons and Lovers was read in September, and also fit an Ultimate challenge criteria of a banned book. It was okay, but had a truly depressing ending, and took longer to get through than hoped. Treasure Island was a much faster read, and also fit a monthly mini challenge (book with a pirate, parrot or ship -- all three of which were found here). I liked Villette, though the beginning third, Book 1, was tedious. Thankfully, the pace picked up in Books two and three. Unfortunately, I spent almost all of November on this one, which drastically reduced my progress in the yearly Goodreads reading challenge. I started out eight books ahead of my goal of 100 and am now only two books ahead. A new part-time job the last couple months hasn't helped, either. I still need five books by end of month, so looks like this will be another close year.

ROW 5: Miss Amelia was a free romance novella downloaded from Barnes and Noble, and was actually pretty good. I could use a few more short, quick reads this month!




LINKING TO: Thursday Thirteen