Reading Challenge Series: November

We are officially two months into our reading challenge, in which every month I review the book I read in the previous month and then I choose a theme or genre for the rest of the month to help me pick my next book. If you are reading this right now; I am encouraging you to join in and either pick the same book that I have chosen or use the theme and genres to help you find your preferred book that you would like to read.

If you are interested in the reading challenge series from inception, Click HERE, and if you would like to check the previous month’s reading challenge, Click HERE. If you happen to have stumbled upon this challenge series for the first time, you will find that it is easy to join in whenever you want!

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

During the whole of October, I read How to Stop Time and I could not put it down; I was reading before going to bed, during breakfast, in car journeys, and on the train. Needless to say, I ended up finishing the book very early in the month, so I was left waiting for November to arrive for us all to finally move to the next book. As a historical fantasy, I was already anticipating great things when I started reading from the very first page because this is one of my favourite genres; and by the time I got halfway through the book, I was completely invested. 

The protagonist, Tom Hazard, has been alive since the 1500s and has travelled the world with many different identities, something which I found most interesting as character development can be a hit or miss situation if this is not done right. However, Tom’s adventures and the different emotions he has experienced made his incredible life even better due to the depth of his thoughts and take on what a normal life would be like. The experiences he goes through is very fascinating and moving, as well as lonely and mournful.

Matt Haig’s writing is creative and enjoyable, which is what made me not want to put the book down, and the beautiful story explores various universal themes, making it a global win for bookworms all around the world.

The only downside to this story was the fact that Tom Hazard is very stuck in the past and that can become repetitive and bothersome, though that did not stop me from finishing the book and reading some great scenes of Tom meeting Shakespeare and F. Scott Fitzgerald!

For the rest of November, I have chosen to read Letter from an Unknown Woman by Stefan Zweig; it was published in 1922 and tells the story of an author who reads a letter written by a woman he does not remember and gets a glimpse into her life story. The description is as follows:

A famous author receives a letter on his 41^st birthday. He does not know the sender, but still the letter concerns him intimately. Its story is earnest, even piteous: the story of a life lived in service to an unannounced, unnoticed love.

If you would like to pick your own book for November, then look out for an epistolary novel, which is a story told through a series of documents by characters like letters. Just like last month, find your book or read the same one as mine and spend the rest of the month finishing it, before writing a review if you want or waiting for mine in December.