We’re entering the last month of the year, and that means this is probably the last wrap-up I’ll write during 2023. I’m so incredibly proud of everything our team has accomplished this year, especially in the face of so many traumatic world events that rightfully distracted us and made it difficult to continue on our path. There may have been less writing this year—in fact, November had the fewest articles published since the site started—but the writing we have published has been powerful and fun to read.

For my own part, I’ve been finding it hard to focus on anything that requires true brainpower. The books and movies I watched this month are way up, and that’s because I need an escape. There’s only so much brainpower that can be put towards volunteering, protesting, and worrying about the world before I become incapable of functioning. If you’re reading this, here’s your reminder to take some time for yourself. Read that Book. Watch that movie. And then get right back to fighting for what’s right.

Books I Read

This was a great month for reading for me. I realized I was going to be a bit short of my StoryGraph reading goal of 75 books, so I really had to power through. The 10 books I read this month were overwhelmingly incredibly good. Even the couple that only got three stars were fun reads that I am glad I had the opportunity to read.

• Broken Horses, by Brandi Carlile (5 stars)
• Dykette, by Jenny Fran Davis (4 stars)
• Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate, by Anna Bogutskaya (3 stars)
• The Christmas Swap, by Talia Samuels (3 stars)
• Couplets: A Love Story, by Maggie Millner (4 stars)
• What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez, by Claire Jiménez (4.5 stars)
• The 2000s Made Me Gay: Essays on Pop Culture, by Grace Perry (4 stars)
• 10 Things That Never Happened, by Alexis Hall (3 stars)
• Evil Eye, by Etaf Rum (5 stars)
• No Choice: The Destruction of Roe v. Wade and the Fight to Protect a Fundamental American Right (4 stars)

Movies I Watched

I watched some absolutely HORRENDOUS movies this month. I truly didn’t think it was possible to have this bad of a movie month, especially given how many I watched, but alas I was proven wrong. That being said, there were some good ones! The Hunger Games movie, Quiz Lady, and the documentaries were all well worth the watch. And honestly, if you enjoy Christmas movies, Exmas should be on your list. Other than that, the rest of these are hard passes.

• Karen (1 star)
• One True Loves (2.5 stars)
• Quiz Lady (4 stars)
• The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (4 stars)
• Best. Christmas. Ever! (1.5 stars)
• EXmas (3.5 stars)
• Old Dads (2 stars)
• Black Barbie: A Documentary (4 stars)
• Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul (4.5 stars)
• Beckham (4 stars)

Reviews You Can Use

Sometimes, we publish reviews long after we actually consume the material. Below is a list of all of the reviews we published this month.

Books

• The Christmas Swap, by Talia Samuels
• 10 Things that Never Happened, by Alexis Hall
• The Great Gimmelmans, by Lee Matthew Goldberg

Movies

• Black Barbie

Posts We Wrote That You Loved

Here are the most popular posts of October!

1. I Read the Viral Door Smut Book and I Kind of Enjoyed It? by Maxx
2. 8 November Book Releases, by Jocelyn
3. The Search For Us is Contemporary YA Fiction at its Best, by Maxx
4. Seven TV Shows Premiering in November and December 2023, by Jocelyn
5. The Final Member of the Bright Falls Lesbians Finds Her Happy Ending, by Jocelyn
6. 9 October 2023 Book Releases You Need To Read, by Jocelyn

How was your November? Tell me all about it in the comments!