RTW--Best Book(s) of November

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic is: What's the best book you read in November?

Okay, I added the s to the "book" for my blog post, because I read/listened to 3 books that went really well together. Of course, if you read them back to back, you might end up with a slightly twisted mindset like I exhibited in my previous post. BTW, I showed those figurines to my hubby and he didn't think they were interesting or amusing AT ALL, just grotesque. He liked the Humanimals, so I thought he'd go for them. No accounting for tastes.

Anyway, the first book up was The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan on audio. For a book with zombies, the writing was very lyrical in spots. The focus was on the love triangle between Mary and two brothers from her village, and the Unconsecrated (zombies) were almost another aspect of the scenery. Except when they're attacking of course. Without being spoilery, one scene was truly heartbreaking, almost unbearably so for me.

I read the companion book, The Dead-Tossed Waves, on my Kindle in just a few days. Again, atmosphere and mood as an aspect of setting was so well done. A love triangle figures in this one also, and it felt so similar to the setup in the first book that I was almost annoyed, but the author pulls it off. This book was also more layered than the first one, and it seems like she'll need to do another book to pick up some dropped storylines. But still a good read, even with less focus.

The last book was The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman on audio. It's actually Neil Gaiman on the audio, and he does a stellar job. It doesn't hurt that I'm a sucker for British accents ;) This is a more quiet book, sort of a series of adventures that eventually tie into a greater story arc. A great winter CD, it's perfect to listen to on gloomy days. Don't worry, he story itself is not overly gloomy--in fact it ends on a really hopeful note.