“March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes, and a laugh in her voice.”
Hal Borland
So I’m a little late to the party on my March round up – given that it’s nearly half way through April, but never mind.
Did you know that March used to be the first month of the year? Prior to 150BC, March marked the start of the year, January and February were just wrapped up as ‘Winter’ and the year was only 10 months long! March is also the month for new beginnings as we start to see the first fingers of Spring and feel the tentative hopefulness in the year, so there’s lots to celebrate – St Patrick’s Day, Pi Day, the start of Ramadan and the end of Lent.
Anyway, to books!
At the end of February I had decided on a ‘Springtime in Paris’ theme, but….. I didn’t actually end up reading too many on city of lights. I had a few books that I was unsure about keeping so I decided to reread them to make a final decision. The books I did read, that were set in Paris, have absolutely reinforced my desire to visit!
Five Nights in Paris and The Sweet Life in Paris are two of my all time favourite books about the city – and I may or may not have been inspired to make some Parisian hot chocolate after reading them! Inside the Magic: The Magic of Fantastic Beasts was an unexpected surprise in the mix this month, I often look at this type of coffee table book but I rarely actually read them – what a glimpse behind the scenes of beautifully made movie.
I hate to say it, as I know Colleen Hoover is a favourite online, but I really struggled with It Starts with Us – I just didn’t gel with it at all. It was interesting to revisit the characters, and see how life was panning out for Lily + Atlas, but there were a few times when Atlas’ voice just felt a bit off to me [quoting divorce statistics for example]. Loved It Ends with Us though so that one will be staying on the kindle for the foreseeable. Another unexpected one I struggled with was Scrappy Little Nobody – I love Anna Kendrick, but I found myself switching off as I read her memoir – I don’t always enjoy autobiographies though so this is likely a ‘me’ thing, as opposed to it not being a good read.
Despite not particularly sticking to my proposed theme, March was a good month for reading – there’s fewer books this month, but it was a good reminder of just why I am thinning out my collection.
Books Read:
| Title | Author |
| Five Nights in Paris – After Dark in the City of Light | Joh Baxter |
| The Midnight Library | Matt Haig |
| It Started with Paris | Cathy Kelly |
| The Sweet Life in Paris | David Lebovitz |
| Scrappy Little Nobody | Anna Kendrick |
| The Mortal Instruments – Graphic Novel Part 1 | Cassandra Clare + Cassandra Jean |
| The Accidental Influencer | Bella Younger |
| Food Isn’t Medicine | Joshua Woolrich |
| It Starts with Us | Colleen Hoover |
| Inside the Magic: The Making of Fantastic Beasts | Harper Collins |
Total keeping: 5 out of 10
I don’t often read graphic novels, but The Mortal Instruments was a favourite when I was younger and this version is absolutely beautiful, Cassandra Jean does a great job of capturing the feeling of New York and the characters in it – I’d love to check out more of her work. I’m also keeping The Midnight Library – this is an absolute comfort book of mine, I love going back into Nora’s world as she tries on all the different lives she could have lived, if you’ve never read it – I high recommend it!
Total heading for new homes: 5 out of 10
Half staying, half moving out – I’ll take it. There were a couple that I wasn’t too enamored with this month, but a couple that I really enjoyed too. Food Isn’t Medicine was a great read, I started following Joshua during the pandemic as he sought to provide a medical view of many of the conspiracies doing the rounds at the time – this is a great book that provides actual medical background to many of the common ‘cure-all’ fixes we so often come across online. I would keep hold of this, but I have a friend who would like to read it so I’m passing it on.
There is a cheat book in here – I loved It Started With Paris by Cathy Kelly, she does such a good job of intertwining so many characters in a way that feels like you’re in the heart of things, but I’ve decided to keep a copy on my kindle. It was a beautiful read and I feel certain I’ll revisit it in the future, so whilst the physical book is being donated – the story will be sticking around!
I thought the theme would be encouraging this month, and it sort of worked – but in April I think I’m going to go rogue again and just pick out books that I fancy reading, that being said – we’re two weeks in and I haven’t even cracked my first one!
I feel happy with the books that are leaving this month, and with those that are staying – especially as they’ll be finding a brand new home on my bookcase that arrives next week!
What have you been reading? Have you any recommendations to break the reading funk?
Nx
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