March Wrap-Up

Hello Again Interwebs,

Here we are with another post. This one is a wrap-up for the month of March in 2020. Another fair reading month with 5 books read. I went through periods of time where I read voraciously and finished a book in a day or so and other periods of time where I read little if anything. This month saw the end of my Thriller/Mystery streak and a couple really great books plus one that was mediocre at best.

So first of all, here's the books I acquired this month. Instead of my typical maybe one book from Book of the Month, I ordered 3: 2 from March's selections and 1 from February's. Plus I did some Kindle shopping and a trip or two to Barnes & Noble.

1. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson (Book of the Month): a nonfiction book about Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz. I don't read a lot of nonfiction, something I'm hoping to change this year but this seemed very interesting, especially considering my recent TV viewing has been PBS's Victoria and Netflix's The Crown. 
   
2. The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver (Book of the Month): an adult romance that involves a pair of soulmates that sees the man die unexpectedly. As Lydia starts to move on she finds herself living a double life where her husband never died and has to choose between the life she has and the one she should have had. 
   
3. Anna K by Jenny Lee (Book of the Month): a Young Adult contemporary retelling of Anna Karenina with a Gossip Girl twist. I love the story of Anna Karenina (and the movie with Keira Knightley) so this was a February selection I had to add to my March box.
   
4. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (Barnes & Noble): a historical fiction novel about orphaned siblings in the Tennessee Children's Home Society during the 30s and the far reaching impact that has on their family. 
   
5. The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (Barnes and Noble): a novel about friends growing up in the 90s in a North Carolina small town and the darkness the town hides. This was written by my two favorite YouTubers Rhett and Link of Good Mythical Morning (seriously go and watch their show) and I have been dying to try this book. 
   
6. House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas (Barnes and Noble): the new adult urban fantasy novel by a well liked author. This is the first in her new Crescent City series and I don't really know much about it aside from it being by Maas. 
   
7.  A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas (Amazon Kindle): my favorite series by Sarah J Maas (I still haven't finished Throne of Glass). I was kind of feeling the urge to reread this series in the future and since I already have the third one on my Kindle I decided to purchase the first and second for the Kindle as well. 
   
8. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas (Amazon Kindle): the second book in the ACOTAR series by Maas. 
   
9. Writers & Lovers by Lily King (Amazon Kindle): A book about a female author recovering from her mother's recent death and a love affair who falls into romance with two very different men and begins a struggle between her creative ambitions and her life. This book was the March selection for the Read with Jenna book club on the Today show and I intended to read it during March but didn't manage it. 
   
10. Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson (Barnes and Noble): a biography about Rosemary Kennedy, the intellectually disabled Kennedy daughter who was lobotomized by her parents and left institutionalized, forgotten for the rest of her life. 
    
11. Eliza Hamilton: The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton by Tilar J Mazzeo (Barnes and Noble): a biography about the wife of Alexander Hamilton, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton who was a powerhouse in her own right and needs to have someone tell her story more often in my option (also I am still super obsessed with anything Hamilton). 
    

So those are the 11 books that I purchased in one form or another in the month of March. I have read exactly none of them so far but I really hope to, especially the biographies. 

So on to what I did read in March. One was a reread, or rather a re-listen, but the rest were first time books for me. I read two physical books, one eBook, and listened to two audio books. 

1. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland: this was an audio book I rented from the library using the Libby app. I own a hard copy of this book and I have read it before. It's a 2018 young adult horror novel where the Civil War ends when the dead rise after the battle of Gettysburg. It follows a young woman, Jane, who is training to be an attendant, a black woman who is trained in the art of combat to protect wealthy white women from the living and the undead alike. Everything gets a wrench thrown into it when she's shipped off to a Kansas frontier town with a dark secret and enmeshed in a nefarious plot by the Mayor of Baltimore. I listened to it again because the sequel came out in February and I wanted the story to be fresh before I read the sequel. Read March 1-3, 2020 and given a 4/5 stars. 
   
2. The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani: this was a paperback book that I rented from the library. It's a 2018 thriller about a seemingly perfect nanny for this couple's two children. It was a very slow moving story that I thought was going to go one way when it took a hard turn to dead children. Since having my son I really don't care for books where the victims are kids, especially babies. This put an end to my thriller/mystery kick I was on and I returned the rest of my stack of thrillers/mysteries I'd gotten from the library unread. Read February 27-March 5, 2020 and given a 2/5 stars. 
   
3. Scythe by Neal Shusterman: this was an eBook I rented from the library app Libby and I DEVOURED it. This is easily my favorite book I've read so far this year. It's a young adult sci fi/fantasy about a future where humans have conquered death itself so to keep things in balance certain people are appointed scythes who kill those who are appointed. There's a big brother type computer network thing called the Thunderhead and it follows two apprentice scythes as they learn the trade and get enmeshed in the power struggles and dark underside of the world. I loved the world built and the concept of the novel as well. I have already put a hold on the ebook copy of Thunderhead and intend to read it as soon as it becomes available on Libby. Read March 9-10, 2020 and given a 5/5 stars. 
   
4. Victoria by Daisy Goodwin: a 2016 fictionalized account of a young Queen Victoria leading from her ascension to the throne to her engagement to Prince Albert. This was another library book and I was interested in it because it was written by the writer/producer of the PBS show Victoria which I recently discovered on Amazon Prime and have powered through (definitely a 5/5 rating for the show as well). I have become fascinated with historical things: shows, books, etc. both fiction and nonfiction. Read March 3-10, 2020 and given a 5/5 stars on GoodReads. 
   
5. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain: this was another Libby audio book, read by the author which I think is the best way to absorb these kinds of books. I have loved Anthony Bourdain since his show No Reservations on the Travel Channel and I have had the eBook version of this for a long time but never got around to reading it until I saw the audio book on Libby. It was funny and crass and I liked it. It wasn't my favorite book and I probably won't read it again but I'm glad I read it. Read March 17-27, 2020 and given a solid 3/5 rating. 
   

So that's my March wrap-up. I am now up to 16 out of 40 books for my GoodReads goal, which is 40% to my goal! So I'm actually ahead for a change. I hope my motivation for reading gets better, especially given the state of the world and the fact that I am not leaving the house except for work currently. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma