As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from November.

The Wood at Midwinter (Susanna Clarke): Super super super tiny story. It was charming. That’s the word that popped in my mind after I finished. I think anyone who has gone through infertility will identify with Merowdis. Anyone who has raised a difficult child will find something in here, too. It’s tiny but will stay with you a long time. I love Clarke’s writing.

We Solve Murders (Richard Osman): Richard Osman, even without the Thursday crew, is still delightful. And a trip around the world? Thank you very much much. I wasn’t thrilled that I figured the ending out pretty early on — that usually never happens for me with an Osman book — but still a super enjoyable read. He writes characters with heart, and I will always buy his books the first day they are out, plot line unknown.

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret (Benjamin Stevenson): Like the other books in this series (this is the third one), super enjoyable and well paced. This one felt a little far-fetched but I was willing to forgive some “I don’t know about that” moments for the enjoyment of the story.

You Are Here (David Nicholls): This is one of the best books I’ve ever read, up there with One Day and Us… wait a second, they are all the same amazing writer. David Nicholls doesn’t really give the happy ending you want, but he somehow always gives you the happy ending you need. Thank you for a gorgeous gorgeous book.

You’d Look Better as a Ghost (Joanna Wallace): This was wonderfully bonkers and super creepy. It reminded me a lot of Samantha Downing’s writing. I tore through the last third because I was desperate to know what would happen. Great writing and pacing.

What did you read last month?

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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I didn’t expect that I would start sobbing as I read this story, and you need to read all the way to the end to get the full impact, but I’ll leave this here if you need a good, hopeful cry this morning (gift link).*

* I call it a good, hopeful cry because some cries just make you sad, and some cries make you feel hopeful that there are good stories in the world.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts connected to businesses or sponsored posts.

The Wolvog told me how to see my year-end wrap-up from Apple Music, akin to the interesting breakdown Goodreads provides for books. I don’t listen to a lot of music, but we took a bunch of long drives, and I have one mix that I keep adding to that received a bunch of plays.

I listened to 2,651 minutes of music, which comes out to about 7 minutes per day. Though I may have left something playing with my computer on mute at some point because I definitely did not spend 4.7% of my yearly minutes listening to Rufus Wainwright. I mean, I love the man’s voice, but there are only two songs from him on that enormous mix. I did not listen to those two songs for 124 minutes.

But what made me enormously amused was when it told me what I listened to (and how much I listened to) in 2023 vs. 2024. Everything in 2024 made sense, but everything popular in 2023 was artists I had never heard of. I was on with the Wolvog when I was looking at the report, and when I said that aloud, he started to laugh.

Years ago, when the kids were little, they were both under my Apple ID. Once we got family sharing, the Wolvog separated out, but the ChickieNob kept using my Apple ID until she left for college. She listens to a lot of Francophone rock because she set her phone entirely to French. I was seeing her Belgian mixes.

Mystery solved.

It’s Friday the 13th, which I always point out when it aligns with the Roundup. It happens at least once or twice per year, or 33 times since the Roundup began. 34 if you count today, which you have to do because it is Friday the 13th; the second one in 2024.

Josh and I are celebrating by getting matching COVID and flu vaccines.

How are you marking the day?

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Advent Calendars” (The Road Less Travelled) — it counts 🙂

Okay, now my choices this week.

Infertile Phoenix sends a preemptive text to protect her emotional well-being. But the kicker is the person’s response the next time she sees them: “She literally said, ‘I know you said you didn’t want to see any newborn pictures, but do you want to see just one’?” Nooooooooo.

Scientist on the Roof made me laugh with her list of things that are never ending vs. things that we wish were never ending. Especially the final point about sleep and the “finale of a romantic-era music piece.”

Lastly, Finding a Different Path has a post about the messaging around ‘giving up’. She points out: “It is so hard to move forward from something when the chanting beat of never NEVER never NEVER EVER give up! Next time will work! You’ll never know if you don’t just KEEP GOING!” She leaves us with a better message instead.

The roundup to the Roundup: It’s Friday the 13th. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between December 6 – 13) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.

Josh received a discount code from my rain boot company. I think of it as my rain boot company because I have taken to wearing my rain boots as my normal shoes. If you’re always in rain boots, you’re always prepared. That may become my new motto.

But I convinced myself that I needed a new pair during Black Friday because I had a discount code and my boots were old and faded. Didn’t I want nice, new, shiny rain boots? Didn’t I deserve nice, new, shiny rain boots?

I went down a rabbit hole of rain boot options. Did I want to switch to a Chelsea boot style? Did I want mid-calf boots? What about the lining inside — how much cold protection did I want so the boot could double as snow boots?

I kept putting off and putting off the purchase because I wasn’t sure. Did I really need new boots? My current boots were fine. They were broken in. I knew I liked them. They made excellent hiking boots. The new boots were a bit unknown. Sure, they would be nice, new, and shiny, but would they be comfortable?

In the end, I realized that not buying the boots was easier than buying the boots. Not buying them took less time, and I ended up richer at the end of the exercise because I hadn’t parted with the money. My boots weren’t amazing, but they were fine. And fine sometimes has more benefits than amazing.

Forget that first motto. Maybe my new motto this holiday season will be not buying it is easier than buying it. It’s a good reminder when you’re bombarded with sales for things you don’t really need.