Due to social activities and overall busyness before my holiday, I did not read as much this month. I intend to read a lot more on vacation especially in early December.

How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur

Narrated mostly by the author with a cast. I listened to this because I really adored “The Good Place”. This was an amusing and sometimes funny overview of the philosophy from the show. It was a decent audiobook. I don’t know if I would have been as engaged if I read it in print. It was a nice way to wake up to for a week.

3.25/5 stars. 1.25x. October 31-November 10, 2023.

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

I saw this book recommended a lot last year and I was able to find a trade paperback copy at the spring rummage sale. I wanted to read this after finishing the other book called The Cartographer. I did not know what this book was about and it had a rather slow buildup for a thriller. I did see the villain a mile away but the other stuff including the magical realism was a nice surprise. This is more of a plot book. There is some good character development and there are a good amount of characters for such a tight plot. I liked it. I think I can recommend this to a couple of people who may even enjoy it more.

3.75/5 stars. November 4-11, 2023.

The Night Eaters, Vol. 2: Her Little Reapers by Marjorie M. Liu and Sana Takeda (Illustrator)

A great second volume to this new series by my favourite graphic novel team. This one is even more Chinese and themed around migration and intergenerational relations. It’s fun.

4.5/5 stars. November 13, 2023.

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben

Narrated by Mike Grady. I have had the hard cover copy from a little library for a couple of years now. I fully intended to read more of it in print. Instead, I only read a few pages from it because I was too busy to pick up the book. The content of this book is very interesting. I like trees a lot and they do almost seem magical in their size and their beauty. I did find it hard to pay attention to this book. It’s not the narrator’s fault. I do wonder if the information was so dense that you can only consume it slowly. I forgot a lot of the information once it was told as well because there was so much of it.

3.5/5 stats. 1.35x. Nov 11-23, 2023.