November 2018 wrap-up

Books I’ve read this month

So it was Nonfiction November this month but as you can see, I read a non-nonfiction! I did this because I went on holiday this month… more on that later! 😋

Books read: 3
Pages read: 872
Female authors: 0
Male authors: 3

⭐⭐

Snow Blind by Ragnar Jonasson

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay

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Other books I’ve reviewed this month

• Disappearance at Devil’s Rock by Paul Tremblay

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Favourite book of the month

This was a nonfiction read like no other – an absolute corker of a book! It was powerful, emotional & hilarious.

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Books bought or received this month

ARC: 1
Birthday Gifts: 4
From Author: 1
Book Swaps: 2
From Bookstagrammers: 1

Shout-outs to:

• @readingbythelemonmyrtle on Instagram for Wimmera WHICH SHE SENT ALL THE WAY FROM AUSTRALIA!!!
• Keeper of Pages for The Damned, the most lovely thoughtful birthday present
• Work friends for It Devours
• My sister for Elevation
• Nick DeWolf for Pulling Strings
• @evavstheworld on Instagram for The Three
• @beginblu on Instagram for A Gentleman in Moscow & A House of Ghosts
• HarperCollins for The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder

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Book goal update

Still not up to speed with y challenge for this year, oops!

I need to come to terms that it’s very unlikely I will reach my goal this year & I should just be happy with the fact I’ve even managed 45 (or so) books! This long reading slump has been a real pain in the arse, but it happens. I’m hoping I’ll be over this by the beginning of 2019!

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Instagram

Here are the pics I posted on IG this month!

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Music

Nothing again this month, although Mark Ronsons song ft. Miley Cyrus is out today, so we’ll see how that is!

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Personal update

November!!! My favourite month of the year cause it’s birthday month. This month has been INSANE!! I have so much to share about this month – a birthday, a life changing purchase, and a holiday!

Firstly, my birthday! I had a really nice birthday meal with my family the Saturday before my actual birthday day on the Monday. We ate delicious food and then came home and played ridiculous games! Matt bought me the cutest lil birthday cake which had daisies (my fave flowers) and a bee on it, so cute! I got loads of amazing shit for my birthday from family, friends and my colleagues. Plus the wonderful Janel @ Keeper of Pages sent me one of her favourite books as a birthday present too! On my actual birthday I had the day off work and went to go visit my nan. We went out for lunch and it was just a really nice chilled out day.

The Friday of my birthday week I went out with my friends. We spent the evening in the pub, getting merry. If you follow me on IG you probably saw my Stories!

Next, and this is probably the most exciting thing of this month… Matt & I are buying a house?! We put a deposit down on a new build on November 11th and are now going through the process of purchasing! It’s sooo stressful already but we’re beyond excited! When we first started looking at places, we fully expected only to be able to afford a flat – which was fine for us! – but then I found this semi-detached house a little further out from where we were originally looking for cheaper than some of the flats we’d seen. Move that little bit further away from London and things just get so much cheaper! Soon enough we’ll be proud house owners of a 2 bed semi-detached property… with a garden!! Eeeep!!! It’s not been built yet, the build completion date is between Jan and March so we have some more time before we have to move in – which is good as it means we can save a little bit more. Below is the mock-up of what it’s going to look like.

Lastly, we also went on holiday. Matt & I love the Scandinavian life style and we want to visit each country in that region. Sweden’s down, and now we’ve done Norway too! We spent 3 nights in the most beautiful city I think I’ve ever, and will ever, see, Bergen. Words cannot describe just how breathtaking this area of the world is. It might possibly be the most expensive place I’ve ever been to too!

While in Bergen we did lots of walking. There was a mountain train that took you up Mount Floyen which was right near to our hotel. We went up here a couple of times because the views were insane!

They also had their Christmas Lights Festival on while we were out there. Unfortunately we got trapped in a restaurant with no waiters so missed the start of it but we made it to hear some Christmas Carols and saw the fireworks!

On the Sunday we did a fjord tour boat trip. Another experience of the mot incredible sights of all time. The water was so still you can look at some of the photos I took upside down, and it looks the same as it the right way up due to the perfect reflections on the water. There was a point when we went onto the viewing platform on the boat and I can honestly say, it’s the coldest I’ve ever been in my life. My hands went instantly numb and Matt’s eyes started watering without him realising because his face was just too cold to register it!

Bergen was incredible, and if you’re partial to photography, is definitely a superb place to visit, just wrap up warm if you go in December as it was -4 some days.

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That’s a wrap

So that’s it for this month! November has been the most incredible and memorable month for me. I hope you’ve all had a nice November too.

What were some of your highlights of this month?