March was a stellar reading month quantity wise. Quality wise it was a really mixed bag with some really strong reads mainly during the middle of the month, but quite a few ‘meh’ reads as well.
Anyway, let’s balance things up, shall we?
PHYSICAL TBR:
Start 2023: 343
1 Feb: 339
Acquired: 14
Read: 11 + 1 DNF (+ 2 extra unhauls)
Balance: 339
DIGITAL TBR:
Start 2022: 175
1 Feb:179
Acquired: 5
Read: 6
Balance: 178
I bought way more books than I meant to this month. More than the five I was allowing myself in any case. There were a few special edition pre-orders for a start… I read two of the books that came in March and I hope to make a dent in April. I planned in time to read these books, so fingers crossed I can justify these purchases. I read the first in a series of which I had the first three books. I did not like it enough to continue, and I have unhauled all three books, which luckily meant I was able to balance those books! There was also DNF right at the start of the month.
As for digital books, I read one more than came in (though one of them I also owned in physical form, so it was a double whammy). I did request a couple of NetGalley books, but neither of them are due this month. I am enjoying getting back into NetGalley, but I am careful not to overdo it. I spent €2 total on three Kindle books, all of which I am excited about!
I am ok with things this month.
MARCH READING REVIEW
I read 16 books! That is a lot for me. To be honest, I did a lot of reading to alleviate stress this month, and I have never been more grateful for my books. As usual I read quite a variety of books across March. I am enjoying my fantasy at the moment and I actually read two books from the same series, which is something I rarely do in one month. I also read some sci-fi, some romance, some natural science non-fiction, some classics and some excellent literary fiction as well.
- Zofloya, or the Moor (Charlotte Dacre) 8.43 (4.25*) audio/paperback
- The Little Book Café: Tash’s Story (Georgia Hill) 8.07 (4*) eBook
- The Elves of Cintra (Terry Brooks) 7.71 (4*) paperback
- To The River (Olivia Laing) 6.57 (3.25*) audio/eBook
- Coraline (Neil Gaiman) 9.00 (4.50) paperback
- Alone With You in the Ether (Olivie Blake) 9.43 (4.75*) hardback
- Violets (Alex Hyde) 9.43 (4.75*) eBook
- A Fortune for Your Disaster (Hanif Abdurraqib) 8.50 (4.25*) paperback
- An Immense World (Ed Yong) 9.86 (5*) audio/hardback
- Skyward (Brandon Sanderson) 9.14 (4.5*) paperback
- My Grandmother Sends her Regards and Apologises (Fredrik Backman) 7.64 (3.75*) eBook
- Daggerspell (Katharine Kerr) 6.57 (3.25*) audio/paperback/eBook
- The Gypsy Morph (Terry Brooks) 8.43 (4.25*) paperback
- Fictions (Jorge Luis Borges) 7.57 (3.75*) paperback
- The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame) 8.00 (4*) audio/hardback
- Ship Wrecked (Olivia Dade) 5.64 (2.75*) eBook
I also DNFd one book 150 pages in, which was An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears. It wasn’t bad, but it just was not for me. I unhauled four books in total.
I continue reading several audio books a month, usually once that are on my shelves and utilizing the books that included in my Audible Membership. For example The Wind in the Willows, To The River and Daggerspell were all included. I used credits for Zofloya, or the Moor and An Immense World.
Using my TBR game to read a wide variety of books from my shelves has been very helpful. There was one book from my March TBR I did not get to, but I plan to read that one in April or May, depending how things go. I am ok with that. I read a couple of other books instead. I am doing ok with my 2023 TBR, so I am not feeling any pressure. It helps that I am genuinely excited about the books on that TBR.
BOOK OF THE MONTH
An Immense World by Ed Yong was incredible – loved it! So educational and yet very easy to understand. Fascinating stuff. A shout out to Alone With You in the Ether and Violets as well. I loved both of those so much!
LOOKING FORWARD TO APRIL
I have started three new books today, all of which will roll over to April of course. First of all my main read is Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco. It’s been a while since I read a vampire book and this one I have seen highly recommended. Besides, I was sold by the cover!
My first NetGalley ebook of the month is a little quaint book called Second Star: and Other Reasons for Lingering by Philippe Delerm. It has little musings on every day things and I am hoping it is my kind of thing. It’s only short, but I hope I will get something out of it. It’s one that has been translated from French.
Finally, I picked up Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Mind & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake. How The Last of Us is that? Anyway, I have the lovely hardback of this one, but decided to listen to it on audio, whilst leafing through the hardback to look at the illustrations. After that one I will probably pick up a classic of some sort on audio.
Apart from that, I have a small TBR for April that leaves room to get to some of the books that have come into my home in the past couple of months. I am looking forward to all of those. I do have Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb on my TBR in April as well and that one is a 900 page book, so I may not have as much time as I think I have.
I am excited about April. Are you?
Lola Et La Vie 