Best of November

November was in many ways a not-so-great month: Paris, Beirut, Mali and other locales have been subjected to horrible, terrible acts of death and violence; the United States waved its xenophobic flag in reactions across the country; national headlines spoke of racism on college campuses, at political rallies, and in protests against police shootings. Between staring hopelessly at news reels, running another half, reflecting on (and celebrating) my birthday, co-chairing a charity auction, and prepping for the holidays... I didn't read a lot. The only book I actually started and finished this month, in fact, was H is for Hawk, a contemplative and meditative and truly absolutely wonderful memoir of a woman (who is also a falconer) coping with the loss of her father and her decent into depression and back out again. Although that's oversimplifying the thing. Just: read it. It's great.

Since I don't really have many books to talk about today, here, instead, are some of my favorite things from the internet this month:

• This Muslim man stood blindfolded in the center of Paris and asked for hugs from strangers. I'll be honest, I needed to see this--thanks so much to Emily for sharing on Twitter.

• Patrick Rothfuss revealed a Cards Against Humanity fantasy-themed expansion pack (you know you need this)

• I could spend all day refreshing this site of Tom Haverford themed food names: http://tomhaverfoods.com/ All. Day.

• I wrote about cookbooks for Martha Stewart Weddings; yes, it's called "Cookbooks for Newlyweds," but really, these are cookbooks for anyones.

• There's an early preview of Hulu's TV adaptation of Stephen King's 11/22/63 floating around out there. I loved this book (my first foray into King's work!) and can't wait to see how they adapt it for the screen.

• I'm reminding myself--and the internet, because I wrote about it--why I made my silly list of 30 things to do before I turn 30, especially in the context of this crazy, mixed-up world we live in today.

I'll be back for next month's round-up post with more books to talk about, I promise. In the meantime, may your last few days of November be full of thankfulness and turkey and whatever brings you peace.