This Week: November 9th

News and Updates

As we near Thanksgiving, you know what that means…the 2026 Reading Challenge Prompt release is nearly here!! I’m so excited to share next year’s monthly and weekly lists with you here and on our new platform where we can read together. Just a few weeks to go till I’ll get them out!

This Week

We are honoring Native American Heritage Month this week with our reading. Did you know this was first designated in 1990 and Native American Heritage Day (the day after Thanksgiving) was only designated in 2009 – that’s very recent.

Reading Challenge: Native American Author

This is a fairly short book at only 64 pages, but is so impactful. Originally released in 1911, the author strives to show the humanity behind what was once called savage – his culture, history, and spirituality.

The audiobook version of this received an Audie Award nomination for Non-Fiction in 2023. I chose the audio version and it felt like these words were being spoken from his soul to mine. It reminded me of a book I read in college – Dine Bihane’, the Navajo creation story. You will not be disappointed with this book!

If you’re looking for other great books for this prompt, try one of these:

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown
Code Talker, Joseph Bruchac (my full review can be found here)
Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich
There There, Tommy Orange

New This week

We don’t have any of our early reads hitting shelves this week, but here’s some great options I have in my preorders you can pick up on Tuesday:

Baby Driver, Jan Kerouac
Exit Strategy, Lee Child & Andrew Child
Girls Play Dead, Jen Percy
Nash Falls, David Baldacci

In Case You Missed It

Last Week’s Prompt

He is a humble man, brought up across the country, but making a living as a cowhand on the frontier for the district judge. Everything from driving cattle to running errands falls in his responsibilities, and he gladly does them. But when the new arrival in town catches his eye, his whole world changes – the school teacher is stunningly beautiful and very charming. Will he be able to win her heart before she decides to return home?

I give The Virginian by Owen Wister 3.45 out of 6 stars. I have always loved the old western TV shows from the 50’s and 60’s – including the one inspired by this novel. I did find the use of vernacular and the switch between a narrator and first person halfway through the novel to be confusing and make it difficult to read. With the inclusion of a lynching and other difficult to read topics, this book should be directed to more mature audiences over 16. If you are a fan of works by Louis L’Amour, I think you will like this book.

Last Week’s Article

November’s monthly theme is the color Brown! We reviewed some of the great books out there with brown covers or brown in the title in this week’s article which also includes the weekly reading prompts for the month. You can get the full list here.

Each month, we also include a link to a new reading playlist based on our monthly theme. Here’s a shortcut to our Spotify list.

Last Week’s Preview

Tame Your Thoughts is the latest book from renown author and pastor Max Lucado. This book focuses on how we can reframe our “troubles” and avoid negative thinking.

I give Tame Your Thoughts 4.1 out of 5 stars. I had challenges with passages in this book around pornography. It also had a air of “just think positive” mentality which, to state plainly, just doesn’t work for people who are clinically depressed or suffering from severe mental illness. I do love Lucado’s works though and did find value in the ideas to reframe how I thought about a problem.

Reading Challenge Prompts

Are you reading along with us for November? Here’s the full list of our upcoming weekly prompts. Not up for reading a book every week? That’s ok – we have a once-a-month prompt, too! Our monthly theme for November is Brown – look for a book with a brown cover or brown in the name.

This Week: November 9th

News and Updates

This Week