What I Read in November
November is one of my craziest work months, but I still managed to get through 19 books (my target in order to stay on track of my 200-book goal for the year). To be honest, I started the month really weary and a little burnt out on reading. I had fallen behind on the pace I needed to keep to hit 200 over the last few months, and that weighed on me more than I realized. After a few really great books, I fell back in love with reading and enjoyed so many of the books I read. I’m on track to hit 200, and more importantly, have begun to enjoy my daily reading habit again. Here’s everything I read this month, including a gem I can’t wait to re-read in the future.
what i read in november
slow productivity: the lost art of achievement without burnout by cal newport
4/5 stars
I loved Cal Newport’s book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, when I read it earlier this year; it’s easily one of the best books I’ve read in 2025). We’ve heard a lot about slow productivity over the last few years, so I was excited to read Newport’s take on it. His writing is methodical yet enjoyable, and very easy to follow.
I liked this but didn’t love it, and probably would have rated it lower if I didn’t enjoy the author’s writing style so much. It’s very much geared towards creatives, entrepreneurs, and academics; the advice is not practical for those who work a 9-to-5 or don’t have autonomy over their schedules. Because it’s so niched, I think it would’ve been better as a long-form essay or blog post.
As a creative entrepreneur, I did find that there are a few good nuggets of information, but some of the advice is contradictory. I found that this made me think and encouraged me to be more mindful and curious about my work style and viewpoints on productivity, but I didn’t walk away from this with a clear plan of action steps to implement.
Favorite quotes and takeaways:
Three key principles of slow productivity: Do fewer things. Work at a natural pace. Obsess over quality. (p. 41)
“Our exhausting tendency to grind without relief, hour after hour, day after day, month after month, is more arbitrary than we recognize. It's true that many of us have bosses or clients making demands, but they don't always dictate the details of our daily schedules—it's often our own anxieties that play the role of the fiercest taskmaster. We suffer from overly ambitious timelines and poorly managed workloads due to a fundamental uneasiness with ever stepping back from the numbing exhaustion of jittery busyness.” (p. 115)
“We've become so used to the idea that the only reward for getting better is moving toward higher income and increased responsibilities that we forget that the fruits of pursuing quality can also be harvested in the form of a more sustainable lifestyle.” (p. 181)
“Slowing down isn't about protesting work. It's instead about finding a better way to do it.” (p. 215)
Read it here.
go higher: five practices for purpose, success, and inner peace by big sean
4/5 stars
This book is part self-help, part memoir. It’s straightforward and approachable, something you could finish in a few hours. The book combines personal anecdotes with self-help practices, and ends each chapter with journal prompts. The five practices covered are accept, strategize, try, trust, and manifest.
What I most liked about this book is that the five key concepts are woven throughout each chapter. Oftentimes life is not so clear cut, and by showing how you the five practices work together more often than not better mirrored the complexities of real-life than other self-help books do.
This book also served as a good reminder that self-help doesn’t need to be complicated to be impactful. While the five practices aren’t new to all, anyone could read this book and benefit from it.
“Your whole life is relationships. And the common denominator in all of them is you. You’re in a relationship with yourself for as long as you live.” (p. 138)
Favorite quotes and takeaways:
“Your window of opportunity is open as long as you believe that it is. You are never too young, you're never too old, you're never washed up. You can always defy the odds. You can always change the game. You can always find a new way to do what you want to do. You have to believe that. Your only task is to strategize how you're going to do it and then try to make it happen like your life depends on it-because it very well may.” (p. 30)
“When we embrace the five practices - accept, strategize, try, trust, and manifest - we gain the capacity to change things. We have to use our power productively and with focus. You can't expect something good to come to you by holding on to the past. Only by moving forward with a clear heart will you reach your full potential.” (p. 76)
“When I walk outside, I ask myself questions: What is it that's stopping me from realizing my full potential? What is it that's stopping me from going higher? What is it that's holding me back when I feel this heaviness? Let it be identified.” (p. 119)
“We need to treat our short lives with appreciation and recognition of how precious each moment is. We are leasing these bodies. They will break down. I don't mean you have to quit your job and travel the world. I mean do what you need to do to create a life you love. Treat people with grace and kindness. Acknowledge everyone as a human being. And when you figure out your purpose in life, you can't waste any time in getting started. It's not depressing - it's motivating. Whatever that is for you, go after it, and treat every day with the reverence it deserves.” (p. 205-206)
Read it here.
the killing plains by sherry rankin
4/5 stars
This is an excellent debut, and a book I’ve been meaning to read for a while. I’m so glad I finally got around to it, and enjoyed it just as much as I thought I would.
It’s definitely more of a more of a mystery than a high-stakes thriller. If you’re used to turn-and-burn 200p thrillers, this will feel slow to you. The author is methodical in her pacing; it’s layered and immersive, and read like a true piece of literature.
While it’s not hard to guess the suspect, the magic of the story is in the details. At first I felt a little bogged down by them, but that was more impatience on my part.
This book is rare in that the middle is the best part - highly recommend!
Read it here (free through Kindle Unlimited).
awake: a memoir by jen hatmaker
5/5 stars
I read a different book by this author last month, and learned after the fact that she recently released a memoir about her divorce. This was shocking to hear based on how her marriage was portrayed in the first book, so I wanted to read this to learn more about her story; I also love her humorous yet heartfelt writing style, so this pick wasn’t motivated by curiosity alone.
I was blown away by this book; it was leaps and bounds better than what I read last month. It’s honest, raw, introspective, still funny (!!), fair, and emotional. This made me think deeply about the relationships in my life, my role in them, my goals for them, and ultimately motivated me do a big check-in. I admire how many close friends the author has, and the love she has for her family and community, and this book made me want more of that.
The storytelling is beautiful, and the author finds the delicate balance between telling her truth and respecting others’ privacy. She provides a critical look at the church and a more graceful perspective on divorce, which I think is severely lacking. Even if you are anti-divorce, I highly recommend this book.
Favorite quotes and takeaways:
“A ship taking on this much water ought to be abandoned and left to sink.” (p. 43)
“Who benefits when we are required to overlook red flags and blindly follow? Who loses? I wonder if identifying the winners and losers tells us something important.” (p. 144)
“You don’t realize you aren’t walking on eggshells anymore until you can’t hear the crunching under your feet.” (p. 156)
“I guess some things are forever outside of marriage. I see my forever people. I see my forever community. I guess that means I see my forever. It’s not incomplete after all… My forever looks different than I expected, but sometimes beautiful things do.” (p. 164)
Be in your life (p. 271). Really be aware and be present; don’t live on auto-pilot.
Read it here.
outwitting the devil: the secrets to freedom and success by napoleon hill
5/5 stars
Written in 1938 but still relevant today, this incredible book will make you think and will change your perspective. It took me a little bit to get into the conversational format, but then I couldn’t put it done.
I’m not sure that the annotations were necessary, but it’s still worth reading.
Favorite quotes and takeaways:
“Do not confuse the word ‘belief’ with the word ‘wish.’ The two are not the same. Everyone is capable of ‘wishing’ for financial, material, or spiritual advantages, but the element of faith is the only sure power by which a wish may be translated into a belief, and a belief into reality.” (p. 46)
“The six most effective fears are the fear of poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love, old age, and death.” (p. 60)
“Habits are contagious. Every habit attracts a flock of its relatives. The habit of doing anything that is useless leads to the formation of other habits that are useless, especially the habit of drifting.” (p. 196)
“There is no human being now living, no human being has ever lived, and no human being ever will live with the right or the power to deprive another human being of the inborn privilege of free and independent thought. That privilege is the only one over which any human being can have absolute control. No adult human being ever loses the right to freedom of thought, but most humans lose the benefits of this privilege either by neglect or because it has been taken away from them by their parents or religious instructors before the age of understanding. These are self-evident truths, no less important because they are being called to your attention by the Devil than they would be if brought to your attention by my opposition.” (p. 197)
Read it here.
4/5 stars
This is a well-researched, cultural analysis that explores how certain shifts (like prioritizing emotional safety) are unintentionally harming young people, particularly on college campuses. The book was originally published as an article, which I had not read, but I think you could get away with reading the article instead.
Topics include concept creep, political polarization, and safetyism. The book is mostly logical, but the authors have a clear bias towards the power of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
Overall, I found the book to be thought-provoking. I think that parents of young children would benefit more from reading it, as I’ve already graduated from college and don’t necessarily have to navigate safetyism in my life to the extent that parents or young children do.
Favorite quotes and takeaways:
Covers 3 untruths that have spread widely/ are commonly accepted now: “The Untruth of Fragility: What doesn't kill you makes you weaker, The Untruth of Emotional Reasoning: Always trust your feelings., The Untruth of Us Versus Them: Life is a battle between good people and evil people.” (p. 4)
“Young adults are not flickering candle flames. They are antifragile, and that is true even of victims of violence and those who suffer from PTSD… Avoiding triggers is a symptom of PTSD, not a treatment for it.” (p. 28)
“Solidarity is great for a group that needs to work in unison or march into battle. Solidarity engenders trust, teamwork, and mutual aid. But it can also foster groupthink, orthodoxy, and a paralyzing fear of challenging the collective. Solidarity can interfere with a group's efforts to find the truth, and the search for truth can interfere with a group's solidarity.” (p. 108)
“College students today are living in an extraordinary time, and many have developed an extraordinary passion for social justice… But if activists embrace the equal-outcomes form of social justice - if they interpret all deviations from population norms as evidence of systemic bias - then they will get drawn into endless and counterproductive campaigns, even against people who share their goals.” (p. 229-230)
“That is the epitome of safetyism: If we can prevent one child from getting hurt, we should deprive all children of slightly risky play.” (p. 236)
“From our conversations with students, we believe that most high school and college students despise call-out culture and would prefer to be at a school that had little of it. Most students are not fragile, they are not ‘snowflakes,’ and they are not afraid of ideas. So if a small group of universities is able to develop a different sort of academic culture - one that finds ways to make students from all identity groups feel welcome without using the divisive methods that seem to be backfiring on so many campuses - we think that market forces will take care of the rest.” (p. 268)
Read it here.
the night collector by victor methos
4.5/5 stars
I read the first book in this series last year, and could not wait for this one. It was absolutely worth the wait - highly recommend.
It’s gritty, and leans a little more masculine than some of the other thrillers I’ve read. I love that the author includes a guardian ad litem as one of the main characters; this makes it more unique than most legal thrillers.
The author also does an excellent job of exploring the grey area; this is not a book that has a straightforward “good vs bad guy” plot, and it not only keeps you guessing, it also makes you think about your own values (without being too heavy or taxing).
At times, this second book was despondent in tone, but it’s overall a really strong book and I can’t rave about this series enough - anxiously awaiting the next one already!
Read it here (free through Kindle Unlimited).
canyon of hope: from darkness to dawn embracing the light within by eric b. donoho
5/5 stars
This memoir is a quick yet important memoir that I think everyone (especially men) should read as it serves as a catalyst for the deep conversations that need to happen. The “be a man” outlook should truly be a thing of the past, and opening up just like the author demonstrates is key.
The book provides a gritty, honest look at grief, anger, and hardship. The stories are written quite plainly and matter-of-fact, but you can still feel the emotion between the lines and I think the author’s writing style will connect with many.
Ultimately, this is inspirational yet relatable. Not many can claim to have acted heroically or served their country as Donoho has, but we can all serve our community and others, and this book is a strong reminder of how important connection with others is.
Favorite quotes and takeaways:
New mantra to remember: “Commit to presence.” (p. 66)
“My service, both abroad and at home, taught me that serving others is a vital method for coping with personal struggles… In times of personal crisis, becoming a helper myself has been both a lifeline and a pathway to healing.” (p. 122)
“The uncomfortable conversations, the discourse around veterans' struggles, and the vulnerability required to share your truth, can deter others from a path that leads to irrevocable decisions that rob their families of their presence and steal the beauty and purpose of their lives. In these moments of shared truths, the only loser is despair itself.” (p. 128)
“Change, especially the kind that fundamentally alters who we are, requires time and relentless dedication. It's about more than just overcoming bad days or pushing through adversity; it's about a continuous commitment to growth and improvement. Whether it's repairing damaged relationships, building new skills, or reshaping our attitudes, the process is gradual. The spouse we want to be, the parent we aim to model - these roles demand our consistent attention and effort. The most valuable changes are those that are fought for, then painstakingly built with effort, and often, a fair share of failures. My journey has taught me that the path to redemption and personal fulfillment is long and fraught with challenges, but every step forward, no matter how small, is a victory.” (p. 142)
Read it here.
the night watcher by tariq ashkanani
4/5 stars
This was my Amazon First Reads pick for the month. They’re usually a little rough, but I loved this one.
It has a few thriller signatures, but is also unique. I loved the Edinburgh setting, and found the twists to be clever and engaging - consistently kept me guessing!
The characters are interesting and well-written, including a strong (yet slightly unlikeable) female lead.
Action packed with short chapters, this is perfect for a quick weekend read and provides quite a promising start to a new series - can’t wait for the next one.
Read it here (free through Kindle Unlimited).
the night of the crash by jessica irena smith
4/5 stars
This was an impulse purchase when Amazon put it on sale. My track record with lightning book deals isn’t great, but this book was a total winner.
A genuinely good thriller, the story is convoluted and keeps you guessing. My biggest complaint is that the dual timeline is confusing at times, but reading it in two longer stretches rather than short 30-minute bursts helped me keep track of the narrative.
The last twist got me; I really enjoyed this and would love to go back and re-read it to see the details come together a little more.
Read it here.
This month I also read…
First Witch of Boston by Andrea Catalano - 3/5 stars, free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
This was an Amazon First Reads option a few months ago, and I meant to read it for Halloween but didn’t get around to it. I’m not one for historical fiction, but have always been curious about the Salem Witch Trials and was excited to jump into that world for a little bit. Unfortunately, I didn’t love it. While the historical aspect added an element of uniqueness, the plot was mundane and lacked tension or excitement.
Unmissing by Minka Kent - 3/5 stars, free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
This held my attention from start to finish and was hard to put down, but it started promising and ended flat. The twists are jarring in their delivery, yet ultimately predictable.
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen - 4/5 stars, free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
Eerie yet engrossing, fans of The Girl on the Train will love this. I expected a little more from the final twist, but for a thriller over 350 pages, I couldn’t put it down.
Run on Red by Noelle West Ihli - 3/5 stars, free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
This author writes pretty dark, anxiety-inducing thrillers so I had high hopes for this. It started out really promising, but the second half had me thinking, “That’s it?” Still, it wouldn’t be a bad choice if you’re spending a weekend in.
Next-Level Decision Making: Unlock the Hidden Power of Intuition to Think Faster, Lead Smarter, and Win Bigger by Fenton Moran - 4/5 stars, free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
This was pretty good but I don’t think it’ll make my Best Kindle Unlimited Self-Help Books list. The author provides lots of examples and there were a few key insights, but it was receptive at times and could’ve been condensed down quite a bit.
Favorite quotes and takeaways:
“Decision-making is an art, execution is a science, and adaptation is a survival skill. The world belongs to those who take decisive action, learn from experience, and continuously refine their approach.” (p. 162)
“Here's a simple test: if your gut feeling is rooted in experience, it's intuition. If it's rooted in fear, it's probably hesitation. Learn the difference, and you'll never second-guess yourself again.” (p. 255)
The Vacancy in Room 10 by Seraphina Nova Glass - 3/5 stars, free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
I really liked a different book (On a Quiet Street) by this author, so I was excited to see The Vacancy in Room 10 was available with Kindle Unlimited. It was intriguing, but the main twist was too similar to her other book, and I preferred that one more. A decent read and I enjoyed the run-down apartment setting, but not my favorite.
The Polygamist’s Daughter: A Memoir by Anna LaBaron - 4/5 stars, free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
This was interesting, and I never want to critique someone’s memoir as it’s their story, but I felt like there was a little bit of context missing with this one. It’s very much a first-person account, but as someone who didn’t know much about her father beforehand, I needed to do a little Googling for the whole picture.
Favorite quotes and takeaways:
“But rules and regulations, laws and teachings, didn't save my life that day; breaking the rules set me free from the bondage of depression. Sometimes breaking the rules is necessary. (p. 241)
“Women who live in a polygamist culture can't possibly bear up under most of what they have to endure without shutting down emotionally.” (p. 255)
Love, Pamela: A Memoir by Pamela Anderson - 4/5 stars, free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
This was truly compelling, and I loved how the author included her poetry throughout. I do feel as though there was more to be said, and while we got to learn more about the author, I felt like there were a few more layers still left unsaid.
Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen - 4/5 stars, free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
Twisty, but the main suspect was slightly obvious from the start. However, I do love when thrillers add a little heart to them, and this was cheesy enough to be cute without going overboard. If you like a suspenseful book that leans towards charm instead of gore, you’ll enjoy this.
The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez - 4/5 stars, free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
Not my typical genre, but I read this for a post I’m working on. It was a little long and repetitive at times, but the last third really packed a punch and was more emotional than I expected. There was just enough depth to keep this book from reading like a Hallmark movie, but it’s still a sweet, feel-good story.
