Books To Read In November (Updated 2022)

I wrote a list of books to read in November way back in 2019. It’s not a bad list, but I’m a whole new person now if you know what I mean.

Here’s my updated (post-pandemic) list of books to read in November.

Fiction

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - This Jane Austen classic is really underrated. It’s funny and Catherine is a heroine you can relate to and root for. If you’re doing a classics challenge you can’t go wrong with Northanger!

November Road by Lou Berney - Great historical fiction set around the time of the Kennedy Assassination. I loved the characters in this one

Start Without Me by Joshua Max Feldman - One of the few books about Thanksgiving that I know of. This family drama is a good November read.

American Royals by Katherine McGee - A fun contrast to what we go through every two years or so for our elections now. I have enjoyed listening to this series on mammoth cooking sessions in November.

Non-Fiction

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway - Before this my only exposure to Hemingway was reading The Old Man and the Sea in High School and The Paris Wife which angered me so much I swore I would never read his books again. But then I saw the PBS special on his life and decided to give him a chance to redeem himself. I really liked this book, but I re-read The Paris Wife right after.

A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter - This is a memoir from a very brave woman who spent a winter in the Arctic in the 1930‘s. I was really impressed by her attitude and resourcefulness.

The Art of Gathering by Pria Parker - The perfect book to read as we think about what we want our post pandemic gatherings to look like. This was great for personal gatherings, and it was surprisingly insightful for work.

Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck - A quick read about the famous author‘s drive around America with his dog in 1960. It‘s surprising how many issues he noticed then are still around today.

Happy Reading!

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REVIEW: American Moonshot by Douglas Brinkley

American Moonshot is a different look at the space race than I’m used to. From World War II until the assassination of President Kennedy so many things had to come together in order to give the moon landing momentum, and this book is a very detailed and interesting look at them. I’ve read many, many books about NASA in the 60’s, but never one that looked at the behind the scenes politics in the way this one did.

Readers should be aware that the astronauts never make it to the moon in this book. It wraps up right around the time Kennedy was assassinated. I did enjoy learning about all of the back channel negotiations that took place in the early years of NASA, but missed the payoff of the successful moon landing. I would recommend this to any NASA fan.

One of my favorite things to do every year is to listen to all of the nominees of the Audie Awards history/biography category. This year’s nominees were:

American Moonshot by Douglas Brinkley Narrated by Stephen Graybill, published by HarperAudio
The First Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch, narrated by Scott Brick, published by Macmillan Audio
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep, narrated by Hillary Huber, published by Penguin Random House Audio
The Queen by Josh Levin, narrated by January LaVoy, published by Hachette Audio
Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense by Dan Abrams and David Fisher, narrated by Roger Wayne and Dan Abrams, published by Harlequin