November in Books

Spare - Prince Harry

It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother's coffin as the world watched in sorrow-and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling-and how their lives would play out from that point on.

For Harry, this is that story at last.

Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness-and, because he blamed the press for his mother's death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn't find true love.

Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple's cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother...

Interesting read. Could have done without knowing about the frostbite and what body part was affected. I'm glad he found the love of his life.

Read for the Shelf Reflection Reading Challenge.
Prompt 24: A book with a castle.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Like Water for Chocolates - Laura Esquivel

Like Water For Chocolate tells the captivating story of the De la Garza family. As the youngest daughter, Tita is forbidden by Mexican tradition to marry. Instead, she pours all of her emotions into her delicious recipes, which she shares with readers along the way. When Tita falls in love with Pedro, he is seduced by the magical food she cooks. Unfortunately, he's married to her sister...

This book contains some mouthwatering recipes! The story of Pedro and Tita is engrossing, wonderful and magical. Really enjoyed this book.

Read for the Shelf Reflection Reading Challenge.
Prompt 10: A book about food.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

All That Remains: A Life in Death - Sue Black

Sue Black confronts death every day. As a Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology, she focuses on mortal remains in her lab, at burial sites, at scenes of violence, murder and criminal dismemberment, and when investigating mass fatalities due to war, accident or natural disaster.

In All That Remains she reveals the many faces of death she has come to know, using key cases to explore how forensic science has developed, and examining what her life and work has taught her.

Do we expect a book about death to be sad? Macabre? Sue's book is neither. There is tragedy, but there is also humour in stories as gripping as the best crime novel.

Part memoir, part science, part meditation on death, her book is compassionate, surprisingly funny, and it will make you think about death in a new light.

Not macabre at all, it's a very interesting read. Professor Black talks about her own loss, as well as some big disasters like the tsunami that hit Asia in 2004 that had the world watch in horror. Professor Black helped with the identification of victims in said tsunami's aftermath, as well as in Kosovo after the genocide. I honestly couldn't do her job but have so much respect for the people who do.

Read for the Shelf Reflection Reading Challenge.
Prompt 36: A nonfiction book about grief.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Namesake - Adrienne Young

With the Marigold ship free of her father, Fable and its crew were set to start over. That freedom is short-lived when she becomes a pawn in a notorious thug's scheme. In order to get to her intended destination she must help him to secure a partnership with Holland, a powerful gem trader who is more than she seems.

As Fable descends deeper into a world of betrayal and deception, she learns that the secrets her mother took to her grave are now putting the people Fable cares about in danger. If Fable is going to save them then she must risk everything, including the boy she loves and the home she has finally found.

I enjoyed this more than the previous book.

Read for the Shelf Reflection Reading Challenge.
Prompt 38: A book with pirates.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A Haunting on the Hill - Elizabeth Hand

Playwright Holly Sherwin is close to her big break. Having received a grant to develop her new play, all she needs is time and space to bring her vision to life. Then on a weekend away, she stumbles upon Hill House - an ornate if crumbling gothic mansion, near-hidden outside a small town.

Soon Holly's troupe of actors - each with ghosts of their own - arrive at Hill House for a creative retreat. But before long they find themselves at odds not just with one another, but with the house itself.

For something has been waiting patiently in Hill House all these years.

Something no longer content to walk alone.

Excellent read. Kept shouting at the main characters to leave and hope it'd be okay... but no, they didn't leave and it was not okay...

Read for the Shelf Reflection Reading Challenge.
Prompt 12: A book with fewer than 2023 GoodReads reviews.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Anatomy - Dana Schwartz

Edinburgh, 1817.

Hazel Sinnett is a lady who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry.

Jack Currer is a resurrection man who's just trying to survive in a city where it's too easy to die.

When the two of them have a chance encounter outside the Edinburgh Anatomist's Society, Hazel thinks nothing of it at first. But after she gets kicked out of renowned surgeon Dr. Beecham's lectures for being the wrong gender, she realizes that her new acquaintance might be more helpful than she first thought. Because Hazel has made a deal with Dr. Beecham: if she can pass the medical examination on her own, Beecham will allow her to continue her medical career. Without official lessons, though, Hazel will need more than just her books - she'll need corpses to study. Lucky that she's made the acquaintance of someone who digs them up for a living.

But Jack has his own problems: strange men have been seen skulking around cemeteries, his friends are disappearing off the streets, and the dreaded Roman Fever, which wiped out thousands a few years ago, is back with a vengeance. Nobody important cares - until Hazel.

Now, Hazel and Jack must work together to uncover the secrets buried not just in unmarked graves, but in the very heart of Edinburgh society.

I'll be honest, I got this book because of its spectacular cover! It's simply gorgeous. I like Hazel, she knows what she wants in a professional respect. On the personal note, why did she get engaged to her cousin? Ew!

Read for the Shelf Reflection Reading Challenge.
Prompt 9: A book from Reese's Book Club.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Grownup - Gillian Flynn

A young woman is making a living faking it as a cut-price psychic (with some illegal soft-core sex work on the side). She makes a decent wage mostly by telling people what they want to hear. But then she meets Susan Burke.

Susan moved to the city one year ago with her husband and 15-year-old stepson Miles. They live in a Victorian house called Carterhook Manor. Susan has become convinced that some malevolent spirit is inhabiting their home. The young woman doesn't believe in exorcism or the supernatural. However when she enters the house for the first time, she begins to feel it too, as if the very house is watching her, waiting, biding its time...

I really enjoyed this story!

Read for the Shelf Reflection Reading Challenge.
Prompt 2: A book written with a journalist or therapist.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Museum of Extraordinary Things - Alice Hoffman

New York City, 1911. Meet Coralie Sardie, circus girl, web-fingered mermaid, shy only daughter of Professor Sardie and raised in the bizarre surroundings of his Museum of Extraordinary Things.

And meet Eddie Cohen, a handsome young immigrant who has run away from his painful past and his Orthodox family to become a photographer, documenting life on the teeming city streets. One night by the freezing waters of the Hudson River, Coralie stumbles across Eddie, who has become enmeshed in the case of a missing girl, and the fates of these two hopeful outcasts collide as they search for truth, beauty, love and freedom in tumultuous times.

I enjoyed this but found it hard going. Whereas I normally fly through Ms Hoffman's books, this one took me several days. So that's the reason for the 3 stars.

Read for the Shelf Reflection Reading Challenge.
Prompt 3: A book with 'thing' in the title.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

The Birds - Daphne Du Maurier

How long he fought with them in the darkness he could not tell, but at last the beating of the wings about him lessened and then withdrew...'

A classic of alienation and horror, The Birds was immortalised by Hitchcock in his celebrated film.

I remember watching The Birds for the first time and feeling terrified of birds, me who had grown up with budgies in an aviery - catching and holding them several times a month to ensure their well being.

The novella has the same feel to it, making one feel afraid of birds.

Read for the Shelf Reflection Reading Challenge.
Prompt 19: A classic.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Still Alice - Lisa Genova

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty, she's a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a renowned expert in linguistics, with a successful husband and three grown children. When she begins to grow forgetful and disoriented, she dismisses it for as long as she can until a tragic diagnosis changes her life - and her relationship with her family and the world around her - for ever.

Unable to care for herself, Alice struggles to find meaning and purpose as her concept of self gradually slips away. But Alice is a remarkable woman, and her family learn more about her and each other in their quest to hold on to the Alice they know. Her memory hanging by a frayed thread, she is living in the moment, living for each day. But she is still Alice.

This book is heartbreaking and very recognisible for anyone who has known or knows someone with dementia in their life. Beautifully written from Alice's point of view.

Read for the Shelf Reflection Reading Challenge.
Prompt 5: A debut book.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Shepherd’s Life - James Rebanks

Some people's lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks' isn't. The first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations. Their way of life is ordered by the seasons and the work they demand, and has been for hundreds of years. A Viking would understand the work they do: sending the sheep to the fells in the summer and making the hay; the autumn fairs where the flocks are replenished; the gruelling toil of winter when the sheep must be kept alive, and the light-headedness that comes with spring, as the lambs are born and the sheep get ready to return to the fells.

I love James Rebanks' pictures, especially the ones of his gorgeous dogs, on Twitter, often retweeted by a friend of mine. So when I saw this pop up in my Kindle Daily Deals, I grabbed it. It sat unread in my Kindle for months, and I realised I could use it for this challenge. Thoroughly enjoyed this! Thanks James for showing the world your life on the fells of the Lake District!

Read for the Shelf Reflection Reading Challenge.
Prompt 17: A book about nature.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Sacrifice - Rin Chupeco

Pristine beaches, lush greenery, and perfect weather, the island of Kisapmata would be the vacation destination...if not for the curse. The Filipino locals speak of it in hushed voices and refuse to step foot on the island. They know the lives it has claimed. They won't be next.

A Hollywood film crew won't be dissuaded. Legend claims a Dreamer god sleeps, waiting to grant unimaginable powers in exchange for eight sacrifices. The producers are determined to document the evidence. And they convince Alon, a local teen, to be their guide.

Within minutes of their arrival, a giant sinkhole appears, revealing a giant balete tree with a mummified corpse entwined in its gnarled branches. And the crew start seeing strange visions. Alon knows they are falling victim to the island's curse. If Alon can't convince them to leave, there is no telling who will survive. Or how much the Dreamer god will destroy...

I loved The Bone Witch and its sequels, but this book just didn't do it for me. I chose this as the book of which I don't like the cover because the hand on the cover reminds me of zombies. I hate zombies, they scare me shitless.

Read for the Shelf Reflection Reading Challenge.
Prompt 13: A book with a cover you don't like.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐