Alessandra is reading…

November Wrap-up

This month I traveled around the world without leaving the state. Reading is beautiful in that way – it provides me with a cheaper way to travel to lands close and far, real and mythical.

Absolute favorites from this month:

• Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Impossible First: From Fire to Ice – Crossing Antarctica Alone

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What made me think this month:

• What We Fed To the Manticore by Talia Lakshmi Kolluri 
• Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

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Also read:

• Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham 
• Trouble by Lexy Timms 
• Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
• Dashing Through the Snow by Debbie Macomber 
• Vincent’s Trees by Ralph Skea

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Currently reading:

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Slowly but surely. I’m taking a long time getting through Great Expectations, but I’ve reminded myself countless times while reading this…who needs me to finish this book in a certain amount of time? This isn’t homework or work – well, kind of. Except it’s work on my own terms, so there’s really no deadlines.

So I should probably explore why I picked up Great Expectations. I’m reading it to explore older fiction; I’ve had such an interest in old books, that I’ve discussed many times on my blog. I want to get through classics, yes, but it’s so much more than that. I want to read and enjoy what my ancestors could not (due to either the language barrier or not having these books available to them at publication). I want to see what made people love books so much a hundred years ago (or more, such as with GE).

And also, I’ve never done everything that’s popular. I won’t read the same books that are super popular – maybe a couple. But I’ve learned my lesson with some of those, to tread lightly and not have great expectations (HAHA! Sorry, I think I’m funny) for those books because most of the mainstream titles that I’ve read have really disappointed me.

But I guess trying any book that you don’t know if you’re going to like or not, that comes with the territory of reading. C’est la vie.

Read on ❤