3/1: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (ebook I own, 1926) - CBBC book. Much more bonkers than I remember it being. 4.5/5 stars
3/1: Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom (library book, 2023) - Riveting book. Lots of hats. 4.5/5 stars
3/4: Starter Villain by John Scalzi (library book, 2023) - Funny little book. I thought it started stronger than it finished. 3.5/5 stars
3/11: Empire of Sand (Books of Ambha #1) by Tasha Suri (library ebook, 2019) - Gorgeous writing with an interesting magic system. It just didn't work for me because it was sort of a slog. 3/5 stars
3/14: The Bee Sing by Paul Murray (audiobook gifted to me by J, 2023) - Slow start, but I was invested by the end. Gloomy listen, though. 4/5 stars
3/15: Here Be Dragons (Welsh Princes #1) by Sharon Kay Penman (library, 1985) - Another book with a slow start, but boy did I want to read to the end! 4.5/5 stars
3/22: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (library, 2025) - I just didn't love it. 3/5 stars
3/22: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman (library ebook, 2019) - No. Just no. 2/5 stars
3/25: Take a Thief (Valdemar) by Mercedes Lackey (library, 2001) - I always enjoy being in Valdemar, but this is a repeat of Mags's story. 3/5 stars
3/26: The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop (university library audiobook narrated by the author, 2024) - I just really love Kelly Bishop. This made me love her more. 5/5 stars
Average star rating: 3.75/5 stars
A really good month, Engie! I loved "Riveting book. Lots of hats." A perfect mini review.
ReplyDeleteMy reading in March has been really stunted due to being on vacation for a big chunk of it. I am nearing the end of The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson, which has been on my list for awhile. It's fine, and I'm curious to see if my prediction for the ending works out, but it's no Bee Sting.
It's funny because vacation does lower my reading, too, although I can sometimes sneak in good audiobook listening if I'm driving/flying a lot. It's no Bee Sting. LOL. They can't all be, can they?
DeleteI had three five star books in March, The Woman Who Stole My Life, Isola and Notes On Your Sudden Disappearance. I'm reading Girl, Woman, Other right now and wow, is it right up my alley - I'm loving it so much! I know you didn't enjoy it but I am blown away by it. So thanks for bringing it to my attention!
ReplyDeleteThree five star reads! Your March was amazing!
DeleteI think I should have read Girl, Woman, Other in a physical form, to be honest. I just got lost in all those characters. Just when I got to know them, it switched POVs!
It seems like ages ago, but Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell was a March read for me, and I loved it. Now I want to read Crow Mary since everyone has liked it so much!
ReplyDeleteI think you would like Crow Mary!! It has wide appeal.
DeleteMy favorite book from March was How Georgia Became O'Keeffe by Karen Karbo. It's one book in her Badass Women series and was informative + delightfully snarky. Highly recommended.
ReplyDeleteHa! Georgia O'Keeffe is from Sun Prairie, WI and they have a museum there. Apparently O'Keeffe didn't care for Sun Prairie and when they wrote her asking for her to donate a painting for the museum, she said no. LOLOLOL. They have a copy of the letter on display at the museum and it makes me laugh that they choose to display it.
DeleteI read The Sinners All Bow by Kate Winkler Dawson (3.5/5). I wanted it to be so much better, but it was written by a podcaster, and it certainly read that way. This book explored the murder case of a young woman in 1832 that was the inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne's book The Scarlet Letter. It wasn't terrible, but it relied heavily on a contemporaneous account, and after a while I felt like I was reading one of my students' research papers.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, I also get The New Yorker magazine, so I could break up my reading with that.
I feel like you could be happy with just The New Yorker, Nance. And that's good because they come out ALL THE TIME.
DeleteI didn't read many books in March - I never seem to read much when we're travelling and life has been hectic. I think I read 6 books total, but my February list (16 books!!) was outrageous and an outlier, so I guess that's fairly representative.
ReplyDeleteThe best book was probably Ultra-processed People. It was non-fiction, but written in an engaging way and has me rethinking some tweaks I want to make in my own nutrition.
I went to a lecture last week about plant-based eating and it was a bit eye-opening about what I'm putting in my body. *sigh* It's hard to do the right thing in this modern world, isn't it?
Delete_Enemy Feminisms_ and Claire Lombardo's _The Most Fun We've Ever Had_ are my current reads. Highly recommend!
ReplyDeleteNoted. I love how these posts just add and add to my TBR.
DeleteWe had 2 books in common - The Bee Sting and The Blue Castle! I also plan to read the Kelly Bishop book and Crow Mary. My best read in March was Broken Country. It was such a page turner for me.
ReplyDeleteBroken Country sounds like too much a downer for me right now. Maybe I'll try it at a later date when things don't seem so dire.
DeleteI just love that cat cover! I continued reading books in series I follow -- another Vera, the newest Louise Penny, another Martin Walker Bruno mystery, plus a couple that were pretty targeted. (If you don't like Stephen Sondheim, you wouldn't like the one I read!)
ReplyDeleteI like to read series, too. I just like that you really get to know characters!
DeleteThat cat cover is pretty great and it's pretty representative of the book, too.
The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune - wholesome and fun. Also Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry, linking the colour blue to Black history - wide-ranging and honestly many stretches in logic, but she writes beautifully and I learned a lot, and indigo blue is my favourite colour.
ReplyDeleteTJ Klune's books are always fun, aren't they? I don't think I'm up for a book with stretches in logic - what if I miss them? Then I'll just take whatever it says as gospel and never realize I should have thought about it harder.
DeleteThe John Scalzi cover alone makes me want to read it! I completed five books in March, which is a crazy pace for me. "I Think We've Been Here Before" by Suzy Krause was probably my favorite. As far as end-of-the-world stories go, this one was surprisingly uplifting.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever read Alas, Babylon? It's another dystopian novel with a surprisingly heartwarming ending.
DeleteI have not, but I'm adding it to my list!
DeleteWe had the same overall rating this month! High five!
ReplyDeleteI also read and loved Crow Mary.
I very nearly purchased Death of the Author at a bookstore in Orlando, but now that I'm seeing a ton of mixed reviews, I'm glad I didn't!
I don't think Death of the Author is a book for you, Stephany. Although the ending is super interesting...
DeleteWhat an amazing reading month. So many high rated books. Well... if you see the average it was just better than ok... mhm.
ReplyDeleteThere were some really good ones in there, though!
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