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February was an awesome reading month for me (I blame it on the relentlessly bad winter weather) and I read 11 books! Here are a few things I learned about myself during that time:
- I can only read so much about World War II at one time. In all, I read four books centered around that time period and it was too much. By the end of February, I was even starting to have strange, slightly disturbing dreams at night! I think these historical books are important and necessary, but I’ll probably go a good stretch before picking one up again.
- This makes me sound like a weirdo, but suspense thrillers are great palate cleansers to read in between heavy books. They’re generally fast-paced and all relatively the same, but entertaining and fun.
- Reading about a deadly pandemic had me taking all the prepper notes. Lots of “What would we do if..?” questions while I read.
I read most of the books I had picked out for the readathons, but I also allowed myself some random choices throughout the month. It was a good mix of structure and mood reading.
With spring on the horizon, bringing my focus and time to things outside, I know my reading will soon slow down considerably. But you know me – I still couldn’t help browsing around for some reading inspiration! I’m sure I won’t get to all of these, here’s what I found for March:
March Mystery Madness
The prompts for this challenge are “Single, Number, Person, Place, Weather, Color, Time and Space” plus a bonus. I found four books from my shelf that fit:
- Person // Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
- Place // Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
- Color // Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
- Bonus prompt is to read something that you picked up just because of the title. // Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger (chosen mostly because of the author vs. the title, but close enough!)
The Irish Readathon
I admit that my knowledge of Irish literature/authors is quite limited, so I’m looking forward to diving into both of these highly recommended works:
- Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
- Light a Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy
Middle Grade March
Except for school read alouds, I don’t read a lot of middle grade, so this wasn’t a challenge immediately on my radar. There are a few exceptions that I’ve had tucked away and maybe this is the time to actually read them? Hoping to read at least one of these:
- Young Pioneers by Rose Wilder Lane (written in 1933)
- Little Britches by Ralph Moody (written in 1950)
- Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen (written in 1956 and a Newbery Award winner)
The Booktube Spin
I still need to read the book from Round One: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, but positive news: I also picked up and read two other books I had on the list.
The Buzzword Readathon
The word for March is “time” so I think I’m going to choose The Time in Between by Maria Duenas. It’s a little intimidating at over 600 pages!
Your turn! I’d love to hear what book is on your nightstand.
{Linking up again with Rosie}
Young Pioneers is very strange!! If you read it, I recommend reading a biography of Rose Wilder Lane as well—she basically took all the exciting/difficult parts of her mother’s childhood/grandparents’ early marriage and made them into a book, but the prose is nowhere near Laura’s style. I read a fairly recent biography of her after I read that book, and she led quite a troubled life, much of which can probably be attributed to undiagnosed mental illness 😔
Okay wait, Prairie Fires is what I read after that book, and it’s really a biography of Laura but with lots of information on Rose. Really interesting!
That is so interesting. I think I’ve seen Prairie Fires before, but will have to pick it up now since you mentioned it. Thanks for the recommendation!