I finished 14 volumes in November. I refer to them as volumes because if you count each novella in the three novella collections separately, I read 19 pieces that could have appeared as separate books. As with the Edward Gorey books I read earlier in the year, it is difficult to decide whether to count each piece as a separate book or not, but in the end I decided to use the same criterion, namely this simple question: Has it been published separately before?
If the answer is ‘Yes’ then it’s a separate book, even if I read it in a collection or anthology. Using that criterion, the Santa, Baby anthology is one book, because although two of the novellas in it have been published before, they both originally appeared in other anthologies. The Debbie Macomber novellas are both still in print as single volumes, and the Nora Roberts volume was originally two books, a novel and two novellas, respectively, so that counts as two as well. That, if my mathematics doen’t deceive me, makes 16 books I read in November.
Out of the 14 volumes, 8 were TBR Challenge reads, one a Top Mystery read and one a Chunkster Challenge read. Of the 5 non-challenge books, one was a re-read and one was supposed to be a Buchmesse Challenge read, but I had faulty information that disqualified it, so I had to review a previously read book to keep my promise of reviewing one translated Icelandic book per month until October 2011.
Here are the books:
If the answer is ‘Yes’ then it’s a separate book, even if I read it in a collection or anthology. Using that criterion, the Santa, Baby anthology is one book, because although two of the novellas in it have been published before, they both originally appeared in other anthologies. The Debbie Macomber novellas are both still in print as single volumes, and the Nora Roberts volume was originally two books, a novel and two novellas, respectively, so that counts as two as well. That, if my mathematics doen’t deceive me, makes 16 books I read in November.
Out of the 14 volumes, 8 were TBR Challenge reads, one a Top Mystery read and one a Chunkster Challenge read. Of the 5 non-challenge books, one was a re-read and one was supposed to be a Buchmesse Challenge read, but I had faulty information that disqualified it, so I had to review a previously read book to keep my promise of reviewing one translated Icelandic book per month until October 2011.
Here are the books:
- Anthology: Santa, Baby. Christmas-themed romance novellas by Jennifer Crusie (Hot Toy), Lori Foster (Christmas Bonus) and Carly Phillips (Naughty under the Mistletoe). TBR challenge.
- Anthology: The Midnight Reader. A collection of chilling short stories by various masters of the macabre, including Algernon Blackwood, J.Sheridan Le Fanu, Edgar Allan Poe, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and F. Marion Crawford. TBR challenge.
- Rhys Bowen: Evans to Betsy. Murder mystery. (TBR challenge.
- John Buchan: The Thirty-Nine Steps. Spy thriller. Top Mysteries Challenge.
- Charles Dickens: The Cricket on the Hearth. Sentimental Christmas story. Non-challenge.
- Alexandre Dumas: The Three Musketeers. Adventure tale, classic historical novel. TBR challenge, Chunkster Challenge.
- Einar Már Guðmundsson: Eftirmáli regndropanna. Literary fiction.Non-challenge.
- Jane Langton: The Dante Game. Thriller. TBR challenge.
- Debbie Macomber: A Gift to Last. Two Christmas novellas (Can this be Christmas? and Shirley, Goodness and Mercy). TBR challenge.
- Ngaio Marsh: When in Rome. Murder mystery. TBR challenge.
- Stephanie Meyer: Twilight. YA vampire fantasy. Non-challenge.
- Terry Pratchett: Jingo. Fantasy. Reread. Non-challenge.
- Nora Roberts: The Gift. Two Christmas romance novellas (Home for Christmas and All I want for Christmas) and one short romance novel (Gabriel‘s Angel). TBR challenge.
- Lynn Viehl: Midnight Blues. Urban fantasy, romantic novella. Non-challenge.
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Around here, there is just frost and no snow, and the streets are so slippery that I an having the nail-studded tires put under my car on Monday.