Monthly Wrap-Up

Monthly Wrap-Up: November 2025

Dini @ dinipandareads23 Comments

November… What even happened in November? I honestly can’t tell you! Seriously though, where did the month go? Because it feels like it just started and now we’re already wrapping up. This is the same old song I sing every year but it still boggles how quickly time flies. Here’s (a very boring) gallery of images from November:

Work was busier than usual as we had several events, with one more to go to complete this year! I think that definitely made time go faster because it felt like there was no moment for rest, lol. Aside from that, there really wasn’t much going on. As I’ve mentioned before, I have no social life whatsoever, so whenever I’m not at work, I’m a gremlin in my cave, sitting with my books, refusing to meet people, and being an all-around lazy panda, haha. I didn’t do any baking this month either because I’m nothing if not a professional procrastinator. 😅

November was a much better reading month than October, although I’m pretty disappointed with myself for reading one non-fiction this month. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I had grand plans to read a lot more NF for Non-Fiction November and my brain really deluded me into thinking I’d done so?! Help. 😂 Oh well, I guess there’s always next year… In total, I read 13 books and found two new all-time favourites + two new general faves, so I can’t complain! It was a pretty smashing reading month.

My favourite book of the month is without a doubt ✨The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones.✨ I’ve been talking about this book non-stop ever since because it hit so hard emotionally and really took me through the whole spectrum of emotions. It’s not something I would’ve normally picked up but ever since I first saw the cover, my brain kept prodding me to pick it up and I’m happy to say the book spirits didn’t lead me astray. This was incredibly written and I highly recommend it! 💯

On a different note, did anyone notice anything funky with blog stats this month? I don’t know what happened but about halfway through November, my blog views spiked and I got over 2,000 views, followed by many days of 1,000+ views and even now, the number is still in the high hundreds. This is very unusual for me and it makes me wonder if I’m on some spam or bot list or something? It’d be great to know if anyone else experienced this weirdness too!

It was also another fun month co-hosting the Let’s Talk Bookish weekly meme. You can learn more about it, read all the discussions, and see the upcoming month’s topics HERE.

*TEXT is linked to my review, if available*

5 pandas

The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

4.5 pandas

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah, You, With A View by Jessica Joyce

Book Review: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Book Review: You, With A View by Jessica Joyce

4 pandas

Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

3.75 pandas

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

3 pandas

The Internet of Garbage by Sarah Jeong, The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-Ran, A Worthy Opponent by Katee Robert

Less than 3 pandas

The Scandal You Started by Nylah Monroe, 2043: A Merman I Should Turn to Be by Nisi Shawl

Oh me, oh my. I’m not really doing too hot with these challenges this year! 😂 To be fair, I’m doing better than I’ve ever done with four challenges on at the same time; however, I thought I’d also be slaying a bit harder. It’s OK though! No matter if I do finish or not, I’m happy with where I’ve got. I still have one more month though so I’m not counting myself out just yet!

✔ Goodreads Reading Challenge (Notion tracker): 145/150 books
✔ Beat the Backlist: 📚 7 backlist books // 📱 0 backlist ARCs ⇢ 3 Bingo Spaces
❌ 2025 Buzzword Reading Challenge: November (“never”) ⇢ MISSED
✔ 2025 Year in Aeldia: November (“non-fiction”) ⇢ The Internet of Garbage
✔ 2025 Popsugar Reading Challenge: 3 books

This one’s a bit too wide to see properly… You can click the image to see the wider frame (and all the books)

And that’s it for November! How was your month and what was your favourite book? I hope everyone is doing good and taking care. 💜

23 thoughts on “Monthly Wrap-Up: November 2025”

  1. It looks like you had a great, if busy, month. Yay for finding some new faves! I always notice a spike in views around this time of year that usually lasts through the first couple of months of the new year. However, the amount you described does seem a bit excessive. So, it could definitely be bots. 🤷‍♂️

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  3. Kitty looks so cozy! I also had some weird spikes for a couple of posts with no obvious referrer link, so I’m not sure if it was bots, either. That happened in October, too. Don’t worry, I’m sure google will do an update and we’ll be starting from SEO scratch again. Womp.

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  5. I have had random spikes the last few months, probably since mid-summer. It hasn’t stayed steady, but every week or two I’ll get a huge spike. I also think it may be bots because it’ll show hundreds of viewers, but they also “look” at hundreds of posts. Not like hundreds of viewers all looking at the same post(s). If that makes sense. It would be pretty odd for me to get a bunch of random new people looking at my blog, but they’re all looking at different content.

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    • I’ve been reading up on WordPress chat forums where people have mentioned this same thing happening and unfortunately for me and my little ol’ blog, with the number of views in the thousands coming from one certain country (China) it’s very likely that my blog is being trawled for by AI and being trained on the content 😮‍💨 I don’t get why my blog, lol. I also kinda hate it especially because it literally means nothing that I have views in the thousands every day now—and I mean, I didn’t expect all the views to be bots, but for sure now, it’s almost a confirmation. Especially since a lot of people mentioned that it’s older posts that are being looked at and that tracks with what’s happening on my blog 🥲 Ah well, hopefully it dies down soon and they leave my blog alone!

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      • Oh! That makes sense. Ugh, I hate that. I avoid AI as much as possible. I cannot believe it didn’t even cross my mind. I thought bots, but couldn’t fathom what they would want with my very little blog.

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  6. I have seen bloggers and readers mentioning how they read The Buffalo Hunter. But your review makes me want to read it if it stirs that much emotion. Thank you for sharing your November wrap-up.

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  9. There is nothing wrong with going home and being a gremlin! Home is where my favorite people typically are, so why wouldn’t I want to be there? It’s also where my books typically are, so again, why wouldn’t I want to be there? Can you tell I’m a hardcore introvert? LOL!

    Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!

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    • Hahaha, hardcore introverts unite online! Love it! 😂 I totally relate to that. Being a gremlin is my natural state and I do love spending all my time at home. You really gotta work on shoving me out the door when it comes time to moving at the weekend, haha.

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    • Yay for starting The Thursday Murder Club! I think the books only get better as you go, especially because you get to know the characters and their personalities so much more. And they do have quite loud personalities in their own ways. I love them to bits 🥰 I hope you enjoying the rest of the series if you do continue with them!

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