What I Read Last Month (October, November, December 2024)

Or is it last quarter?

I will put my hand up and say that the title of this post “What I Read Last Month” is clearly a lie. The end of 2024 was incredibly busy and I spent most of my working days writing and editing up a storm. The bad news? That left me very little time for writing additional Substacks like my regular reading round-up. The good news? I still managed to make time to do some reading.

So what did I get up to over three months? Let’s take a look!

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

I am on a bit of a mission to read some of the VERY popular books of the last ten years or so, so I gave Sarah J. Maas a try for the first time. While this book wasn’t for me, I think I can understand why it grabbed so many readers and has been such a phenomenon.

The Other Half by Charlotte Vassell

I love finding a new detective series early on in the series run, and I’m happy to say I loved this one. Witty and wry, this book delves into the very posh world of a certain type of Londoner, peeling back the glamor to reveal a lot of rot underneath. Add in the fact that I found the lead detective Caius Beauchamp charming, and you can understand why I popped the follow up The In Crowd on my Christmas wish list.

Do Not Cry When I Die: A Holocaust Memoir of a Mother and Daughter’s Survival in Jewish Ghettos, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen by Renee Salt and Kate Thompson

I was asked to read an advance copy of this powerful, heart-wrenching memoir by Kate Thompson, and I’m so glad I did. Here’s what I had to say about this book:

A powerful account of a young girl’s incredible resilience in the face of the unthinkable horror of the Holocaust, Renee Salt’s memoir is needed now more than ever. Interspersed with Kate Thompson’s intricate research, this memoir follows Renee as she is ripped from a happy childhood in Poland and forced into ghettos and concentration camps. However, her story does not end there but follows her liberation and—against all odds—the life she built after the war. A riveting read.

Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Ellie Cosimano

I was looking for a good audiobook to accompany me on cold autumn walks, so naturally I turned to this book narrated by the fantastic Angela Dawe. Tons of fun, with plenty of hijinks and twists along the way.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

I don’t even know where to begin with this book. I suppose I should make it very clear I loved it (the audiobook read by Will Wheeton specifically). It made me absolutely howl with laughter at the absurdity of the entire thing, and I will definitely be looking for more Scalzi audiobooks.

Middlemarch by George Elliot

A rare re-read for me, I decided to pick up Middlemarch on a whim after realizing I read it about twenty years ago. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I appreciated it at eighteen, so I was happy to find that I loved it this time around. It’s prompted several emphatic conversations in my household, which were particularly fun.

Rivals by Jilly Cooper

As an strange hybrid of expat and dual national, I often find myself seeking out pop culture to try to understand all of the references I’m clearly missing in every day conversation. I have long wanted to try Jilly Cooper, and the recent release of the Rivals TV show brought this one to the top of my list. I was delighted to find I loved this book (with the caveat that I had to heavily gloss over some of the very outdated language and scenarios) because it’s a comedy of manners or sorts wrapped in a rollicking good time. I think a lot of it boiled down to the fight for a TV franchise (surprisingly), so I wonder whether the other Rutland books will work quite so well for me.

What are you reading right now? Leave me a comment to let me know!