November was an average reading month with five books. There were a couple of surprises in there - books I hadn't planned to read, but that I stumbled across and decided to pick up on a whim. One of them ended upbeing a favorite read this month, and I love little surprises like that. Here were my two faves of the month...
The Southern Bookclub's Guide to Slaying Vampires - Hendrix
I fully expected to enjoy this one, and I was not disappointed! I became a fan of Hendrix after reading his very funny take on a haunted IKEA-like store, Horrorstor. Since then, I've read all of his fiction and he just gets better and better.
I'd intended to do a lot of "light" reading in November, anticipating that I'd be experiencing a lot of election stress. So I grabbed this thinking it'd be perfect, but it was much darker and more intense than I'd anticipated. Don't get me wrong, it's still fun. But Hendrix packs a lot of social commentary into this one, so if you're looking for purely light and fun book, I'd recommend holding off a bit until your mind is ready!
This book's title is misleading. It isn't really a "How to..." in the most traditional sense, so if that's what you're looking for you'll walk away disappointed. But it is a WONDERFUL book that talks about how what social media wants, more than anything else these days, is our attention. Why? Because more clicks = more money from advertisers.
Odell takes examples from numerous sources (seriously, she is one smart woman and I was left amazed at how she was able to move from line of thought to another effortlessly) to discuss how we can regain a sense of autonomy and agency in a world that is increasingly clamoring to for our time and energy. My favorite parts were where she discusses bioregionalism as a form of resistance, but this is the type of book that I want to read again and again because despite its short length, it is suuuper rich and full of things to muse on.
Also read: The House in the Cerulean Sea - Klune, Lair of Dreams - Bray, Confessions - Minato
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