On My Shelf: Books I Read in November 2025

First, I have a free post over on my Patreon channel all about a particular four-letter word. (Yes, this is shameless click baiting). I’d love for you to pop over and weigh in.

In this space, I’m talking books!!

I routinely get asked questions about when and how I read so much. (Here’s a whole post about it!)

In summary:

1. Reading is a priority for me. When John travels, for instance, I generally don’t watch any video-based entertainment.
2. I primarily read in the evenings before bed (for at least an hour), but I also try to have a book with me anytime I expect any sort of wait. I’ll read while I’m at Indy’s soccer practice. I’ll read while I wait at the doctor’s office. I’ll read while I’m waiting to pick a kiddo up at school. If no one is eating with me, I’ll read while I have my lunch.
3. I skim. This is the main reason I can/do read so many books in a month. There are certain books and chapters where I read every. single. word, but I would say my rate and type of skimming allows me to consume double the books that I would by reading every single word.

January. February. March. April. May. June. July. August. September. October.

BOOKS I READ IN NOVEMBER — THE SHORT VERSION

• Broken Country — Clare Leslie Hall ★★★★☆
• Gone-Away Lake — Elizabeth Enright ★★★★☆
• The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich — Evan Osnos ★★★☆☆
• Heartwood — Amity Gaige ★★★★☆
• Letter from Japan — Marie Kondo ★★★☆☆
• Joyride: A Memoir — Susan Orlean ★★★★★
• Njuta: Enjoy, Delight In: The Swedish Art of Savoring the Moment — Niki Brantmark ★★★★☆
• The Heiress — Rachel Hawkins ★★★★☆
• The Push — Ashley Audrain ★★★★★
• The Mistletoe Mystery — Nita Prose ★★★☆☆
• The Open-Air Life: Discover the Nordic Art of Friluftsliv and Embrace Nature Every Day — Linda Åkeson McGurk ★★★★☆
• Joy Prescriptions: How I Learned to Stop Chasing Perfection and Embrace Connection — Tiffany Moon *not rated
• What Kind of Paradise — Janelle Brown ★★★★☆
• Gwyneth: The Biography — Amy Odell *not rated
• Audition — Katie Kitamura ★★★★☆
• Victorian Christmas: Traditional Recipes, Decorations, Activities, and Carols — Lucinda Dickens Hawksley ★★★★☆
• Rediscovering Christmas: Surprising Insights into the Story You Thought You Knew — A.J. Sherrill ★★★★★

Broken Country — Clare Leslie Hall (fiction) ★★★★☆

This is a beautiful, haunting book. There were several twists and turns I didn’t see coming, though this is definitely not a traditional thriller.

I dislike plots that involve infidelity (and didn’t realize this book would involve that angle), and that particular aspect of the story impacted how I felt about the whole book.

• Summary. It starts with a dead farmer and a village full of rumours. Beth thinks her life with her husband (Frank) is steady—quiet, safe, and built on leaving the past alone. But everything changes when her brother-in-law shoots a dog that turns out to belong to Gabriel Wolfe. He was Beth’s first boyfriend and the man who broke her heart. Gabriel’s suddenly back in town with his young son, who painfully reminds Beth of the child she lost. Tension builds and secrets leak. Should Beth cling to the life she’s built, or confront the past she’s spent years trying to forget?
• Content warnings. Substance abuse, child loss, some profanity, references to infidelity.

Gone-Away Lake — Elizabeth Enright (YA fiction) ★★★★☆

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I liked this book, but didn’t love it. I think I’d have more attachment to it if I had read it as a child. But I read it to my 10-year-old and he was VERY ENTHUSIASTIC about the book!

• Summary. Portia heads to her cousin Julian’s house expecting a normal summer. Instead, the two of them stumble across a giant boulder with a strange message, push through a swamp full of quicksand, and discover an abandoned lakeside town on the other side. Their “ordinary” summer suddenly turns into a mystery-filled adventure as they uncover the secrets of the forgotten village and the people who used to live there.
• Content warnings. Mild peril? I’m struggling to come up with anything here; it’s a pretty tame book!

The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich — Evan Osnos (non-fiction) ★★★☆☆

Meh. This was a collection of essays about the ultrarich. The ups (yachts), the downs (the sheer corruption and horror that is Facebook), and the downright ugly (white collar crime/Ponzi schemes).

On paper, it sounded great, but I found the collection to be mostly dry, punctuated by a few incredibly interesting chapters/essays.

Mileage will vary on this book depending on the reader.

Heartwood — Amity Gaige (fiction; thriller) ★★★★☆

4.5 stars rounded down to 4.

I listened to this on audiobook and was really pulled in by the story. There were a few plot points and characters I didn’t love, and the intermittent strong profanity (primarily from one character) was a bit of a distraction, but on the whole this was an incredibly engaging read.

• Summary. Valerie Gillis disappears deep in the Maine woods near the end of the Appalachian Trail. The search is on. Alone and fighting the elements, Valerie writes raw, poetic letters to her mother as she tries to stay alive. On the ground, Beverly, a Maine State Game Warden, leads the hunt to find her. And in Connecticut, 76-year-old Lena, a birdwatcher in a retirement community, unexpectedly turns into an amateur sleuth, spotting clues others miss. Chapters hop between Valerie’s struggle to survive, Beverly’s investigation, and Lena’s detective work. Piece by piece, the truth (and the danger) comes into focus.
• Content warnings. Abduction, mental illness, missing persons, profanity.

Letter from Japan — Marie Kondo (non-fiction) ★★★☆☆

3.5 stars rounded down to 3.

This book was…fine. It was an interesting history detailing the impacts Japanese culture has had on Marie Kondo and her tidying method, but it felt too sparse on anecdotes and memoir-type details, while also not really delivering any how-to advice.

Basically this book serves as a guide to Japanese culture. I enjoyed it, but was skimming quite a bit by the end of the book.

Joyride: A Memoir — Susan Orlean (non-fiction; memoir) ★★★★★

I don’t usually rate memoirs (unless they are stand-out to me) and this was definitely a stand-out. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

I really enjoyed behind-the-scenes looks at Orlean’s major stories and the meteoric rise of her career; I thought it was a great idea for her to include some of the essays she talks about researching in an appendix at the end of the book.

What I like most about books—fiction and non-fiction—is when they put words to a sensation or experience I’ve been trying to articulate myself. There was a passage in this book that did just that, as I contemplate the unavoidable decline of my aging parents.

For perspective, here is a quote from The Library Book [a book I loved, incidentally!]:
“In Senegal, the polite expression for saying someone has died is to say his or her library has burned. When I first heard the phrase, I didn’t understand it, but over time I came to realize it was perfect. Our minds and souls contain volumes inscribed by our experiences and emotions; each individual’s consciousness is a collection of memories we’ve cataloged and stored inside us, a private library of a life lived. It is something that no one else can entirely share, one that burns down and disappears when we die. But if you can take something from that internal collection and share it — with one person or with the larger world on the page or in a story recited — it takes on a life of its own.”

She furthered this thought in Joyride:
“There is no pain like losing a parent, however it goes: fast, without a chance to say goodbye, or slow, in bits, where the farewell feels like a lingering ache. Losing my dad was a cold shock. Losing my mom in these tiny subtractions felt unbearably hard.
The book [The Library Book] took on new meaning for me. I now understood why the loss of a library is such a collective sorrow. A library is our shared memory, the shared stories and wisdom of a community. A library isn’t merely a municipal building, although it is that, too, and it isn’t merely a valuable resource for books, although it is certainly that as well. Libraries are something more than that, something essential and emotional, the public soul. Maybe we recognize ourselves in them. The way our mind and memory functions is library-like, a storehouse of individual volumes, each containing a thought or a dream or a sliver of knowledge, and we search through it when we seek to recall something or to savor a thought. I feel this keenly as I’ve gotten older, how sometimes I pull out a favorite recollection, a tidy booklet of a moment in time, and leaf through it, and then, satisfied, place it back on my mind’s shelf, and how, even more vividly, I sometimes have to run my fingers along those shelves to remember something—a lost thought, a wayward word or fact. That Senegalese expression, once so puzzling to me, now seemed vivid and precise. It captured the way a person’s death or memory loss takes with it a vast internal library, and how the disappearance of a library feels like a death to the people it serves.”

Content warnings. Occasional strong language, brief references to substance abuse, infertility.

Njuta: Enjoy, Delight In: The Swedish Art of Savoring the Moment — Niki Brantmark (non-fiction) ★★★★☆

If you’ve read one of these Scandinavian lifestyle books before you know what to expect. They’re all remarkably similar.

It’s light, it’s cozy. There is nothing grand and exciting and there were some parts that I skimmed, but it was a delightful way to spend an hour sipping tea and enjoying a sweet treat. I feel like the author would approve!

The Heiress — Rachel Hawkins (fiction; thriller) ★★★★☆

This was a solid thriller.

There was one large reveal that was hinted at multiple times in the book in a way that seemed out of place (coming up multiple times it was like Hawkins was trying to hit you over the head that “x” is important), so when the reveal came for that particular plot point I very much expected it and was left feeling underwhelmed.

That said, it was engaging and entertaining and I would definitely read more books by Hawkins. (It reminded me a bit of 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard.)

My biggest gripe was the language. There was quite a bit of profanity which was wholly unnecessary. I felt like the ending was fitting and very satisfying.

• Summary. When Ruby McTavish—North Carolina’s richest and most notorious woman—dies, her massive fortune and mountain estate go to her adopted son, Cam. But Cam wants nothing to do with the money, the mansion, or the deeply dysfunctional McTavish family. He escapes to Colorado and builds a quiet life with his wife, Jules. Ten years later, a death pulls them back to Ashby House, where Jules starts uncovering the dark secrets from Ruby’s childhood, her four dead husbands, and the real reason she adopted Cam. As the truth comes to light, it becomes clear that inheriting Ruby’s legacy means inheriting money and danger.
• Content warnings. Profanity. (There might have been more, but I forgot to write down content warnings, and the only thing that stood out when I wrote it up in Goodreads was the language.)

The Push — Ashley Audrain (fiction; thriller) ★★★★★

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

This book PULLED ME IN. Such a compelling, creepy read. Some incredibly strong content warnings, though (see below).

• Summary. Blythe is determined to be a loving, nurturing mother—the complete opposite of her own mother. But from the moment her daughter Violet is born, Blythe feels something is off. Violet is distant, unusual, unsettling… and Blythe can’t shake the feeling that her child might be dangerous. Her husband, Fox, insists she’s imagining it, and his constant dismissal makes Blythe doubt her own instincts (and sanity). Is Violet truly different, or is Blythe projecting her own traumatic past onto her daughter? Everything shifts when their son, Sam, arrives. Blythe finally experiences the warm, effortless bond she’d always hoped for, and even Violet seems gentler with her baby brother. But when tragedy strikes, the entire family shatters, and Blythe is forced to confront the darkest, most terrifying truth about her daughter.
• Content warnings. Child abuse, some strong language, miscarriage, child loss (multiple), minor sexual content, mental illness.

The Mistletoe Mystery — Nita Prose (fiction; Christmas novella) ★★★☆☆

Meh. This was an incredibly forgettable book. There were some sweet moments, but there is no mystery! It’s clear from the beginning of the book what’s going to happen. It happens. The end. But it’s light reading and cozy!

I read it. I won’t read it again.

• Summary. Molly Gray adores Christmas—it’s the season that always connected her to her beloved Gran and all the cozy traditions they shared. After a few difficult holidays without her, Molly is finally feeling the joy again, thanks to her sweet and festive boyfriend, Juan Manuel. But when a Secret Santa exchange at the Regency Grand Hotel starts going wrong, Molly senses something is off. She can’t help wondering whether she’s misread the people around her… and whether her charming boyfriend might be hiding something from her.
• Content warnings. Can’t think of any!

The Open-Air Life: Discover the Nordic Art of Friluftsliv and Embrace Nature Every Day — Linda Åkeson McGurk (non-fiction) ★★★★☆

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

There is nothing new or startling, but lots of reminders of the benefits of spending time outside in nature.
The author talks at length about the different elements of friluftsliv, a Nordic way of life that embraces time outside in a variety of ways.

I skimmed parts that weren’t overly relevant to my life (i.e. the many different ways to build a campfire; it was interesting, though).

Some things aren’t very realistic in the context of North American living. For example, she talks about how preschoolers in the Nordics are taught how to light fires and safely do all sorts of things in an outdoor capacity. Our society here (for better or worse, likely worse) DOESN’T function that way. So the main thing missing from this book (in my view) was a discussion of how to incorporate some of these great principles in a different culture. Another example: she frequently talks about the Swedish law that allows anyone to wander freely on all private land. You can forage, camp, swim, ski, etc on anyone’s property. That isn’t the way it works in North America, so it’s hard to reproduce some of the freedom and flexibility she is praising/promoting in my own environment.

Joy Prescriptions: How I Learned to Stop Chasing Perfection and Embrace Connection — Tiffany Moon (non-fiction; memoir-adjacent) *not rated

This memoir was… fine. My favourite parts were her dissections of the academic/socioeconomic drive (internal and external) of immigrants in America which was especially timely because of my recent read of The Joy Luck Club. Moon was on a season of The Real Housewives and that was also interesting as she pulls back the curtain on that brand a bit further (I have never watched an episode of the show, but you can tell she was not an ideal fit for the franchise).

Overall I would say the book is highly forgettable. I didn’t take anything grandiose away from it and she speaks a lot about her financial privilege (which she worked very hard for!), but I also don’t regret the time spent reading it!

What Kind of Paradise — Janelle Brown (fiction; thriller) ★★★★☆

This was a good novel. (Almost immediately I started drawing links to Ted Kaczynski and then in the afterword the author confirms this book was modelled, in part, off that story.)

Some of the prose felt overwritten and stilted, but the story pulled me in. I stayed up past my bedtime one night finishing it. Gold star to the author. Demerit to me.

• Summary. Jane has spent her whole life isolated in a remote Montana cabin with her father, eating a lot of oatmeal, reading philosophy books, and being fed a carefully edited version of their past. As she grows older, she starts questioning the limits of their off-the-grid world—until she discovers she’s been unknowingly helping her father cover up a terrible crime. Shocked and betrayed, Jane goes to San Francisco to uncover the truth about her mother and her own identity. In a city transformed by the early Internet boom, she’s forced to confront everything her father tried to shield her from.
• Content warnings. Extremist views, occasional strong language (mostly from one character who has a minor role), some discussions of substance abuse.

Gwyneth: The Biography — Amy Odell (non-fiction; biography) *not rated

If you enjoy behind-the-scenes biographies of celebrities and wanted to know more about Gwyneth Paltrow in particular, here is a book for you.

I’ve seen some reviewers mention it is basically a very detailed Wikipedia entry and I can see where they’re coming from. There isn’t much emotion conveyed in the book (and I would say Odell is definitely NOT a personal fan of Paltrow). But I found the whole thing fascinating. Her rise to fame, paved by her parents’ own fame. The many layers of privilege. The absolutely crazy (and widely panned) suggestions via Goop which were, in a way, the first major vein of online influencing.

Not incredible literature by any means, but an interesting look at celebrity life and the many pitfalls of being famous.

• Content warnings. Intermittent profanity.

Audition — Katie Kitamura (fiction; novella) ★★★★☆

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. This book will leave you scratching your head. It reminded me a bit of The Swimmers and The Anomaly.

Reality is blurred and it’s hard to know whether the narrator is unreliable, willingly playing a role, or may be legitimately suffering from cognitive decline.

There are no concrete answers to ANY questions and it’s all mind-bending and puzzling. I didn’t enjoy reading it, per se, but it was skillfully written and felt like peeling back successive layers of an onion only to get to the centre and find there’s another onion…

I can see why it was nominated for The Booker Prize; mileage will vary on this one.

• Summary. An accomplished actress meets a much younger man for lunch in Manhattan—and nothing about their relationship is what it first appears to be. As each of them tells their version of events, the story keeps shifting, revealing competing truths about power, artistry, and the roles people perform in life and in love.
• Content warnings. Several instances of strong language (very infrequent), non-descriptive references to infidelity, abortion, and miscarriage.

Victorian Christmas: Traditional Recipes, Decorations, Activities, and Carols — Lucinda Dickens Hawksley (historical non-fiction) ★★★★☆

This book is compiled by the great (x3) granddaughter of Charles Dickens. It’s a very accessible reference book. There are recipes (including “original” guidelines, along with modernized versions of the same recipes). There are carol lyrics with little snippets of background.

This isn’t deep reading, but a cozy Christmas book to flip through. The quality of the paper was high and I really enjoyed the aesthetic of the book.

Rediscovering Christmas: Surprising Insights into the Story You Thought You Knew — A.J. Sherrill (religious non-fiction) ★★★★★

First, a confession. I have been savouring this book and have not fully finished it by the time I’m publishing my book reviews. That said, what I’ve read so far has been wonderful.

It’s a simple (yet profound) reflection on the Biblical Christmas story with unusual angles that gently encourage Christians to think more closely about the historical and cultural context of Christ’s birth, while also bringing experiences (Mary, Joseph, shepherds, Herod) to life in a more vibrant way than any other book I’ve read on the topic.

I was able to get this book through my public library, but I think I’ll buy a personal copy to have for next Christmas. I’d love to be able to highlight and make notes in the margin!!

And that’s a wrap on my reading in November.

Your turn.

• Any feedback on the books I read in November?
• Do you skim when you read, or are you a read-every-word type?
• Did you have any five-star reads in November? I’d love to hear about them.