March 2024 Reading Wrap Up
Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!
March was the slumpiest month for me. I know I said that I was really struggling in February, but I was really struggling in March. I don't think I picked up a single book in the middle of the month for like, a week and a half.
One good thing to come out of March is that I went back to the gym! Well...I went twice, but I did sign up for a membership! In April I'm going to be making exercise a priority, I even added it as a habit tracker in my bullet journal and everything. I'm really hoping that it won't make my chronic illness worse, because that can happen sometimes, but mainly I'm sick of feeling so gross in my body. I know I don't talk about body image on my blog, but I definitely struggle with it. If I can make just a tiny bit of progress, it will be a victory.
Anyway, let's talk about my reading. In the month of March, I read 9 books: 4 novels, 2 novellas, 1 poetry collection, 1 play, and 1 manga. There are a lot of shorter books in this month since I was really slumpy. Nothing really blew me away either, but I didn't hate anything, so I'll take it.
Okay, let's get into the wrap up!
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Novels
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Genre: Dark Academia, Historical Fiction, Horror, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4.5/8.61
Page count: 352 pages
Day(s) read: 3.02 - 3.04
Final thoughts: It seems like I'm the only one who was impressed with this book, but I'm sticking to my original impression. Nearly every one of my friends who read this this month said that it was a let down after Gibson's masterpiece, A Dowry of Blood. And while I agree that this book is not on the same level, I don't think it deserves the harsh treatment that it's getting. I thought the writing was sharp and simple (maybe that's why people don't like it; they were expecting a more flowery writing style) and the characters quickly became real in my mind. I could relate to Laura in more ways than one, and I appreciated the social commentary this novel offered. It was also nice to see a familiar face show up, which I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks so. Overall I enjoyed it, but I don't think I'll ever need to reread it.
Genre: Science Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4.5/8.25
Page count: 443 pages
Day(s) read: 3.05 - 3.06
Final thoughts: I thought this was the perfect breath of hope-filled air that I needed after all of the horror I read this month. While I'm definitely more of a "doom and gloom" sort of reader, I appreciate Becky Chambers' writing for it's warm and whimsical atmosphere. Not everyone can pull off hope-punk sci-fi, but she sure can. I do own the sequel now, and I'm hoping to read it soon (May if not in April). I really love these characters and I'm excited to see where their adventures will take them next.
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Genre: Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4/7.50
Page count: 325 pages
Day(s) read: 3.13 - 3.16
Final thoughts: This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024, despite it being war historical fiction, which is famously one of my least favorite genres. It helped that it was WWI and not WWII. The main selling point for me was, of course, that it was written by Katherine Arden. I've read everything she's published and will continue to pick up her books, because I'm absolutely obsessed with her writing and her creativity. And I love how clearly her passion shows through her writing. You could tell while reading this book that she spent hours upon hours researching everything in this plot. It's absolutely something that should be praised.
Genre: Literary Fiction, Coming of Age, YA
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4/7.05
Page count: 298 pages
Day(s) read: 3.07 - 3.28
Final thoughts: It took me a very long time to get through this novel, but that's just due to my slump that happened in the middle of March. I read this book for Emma's World Tour Book Club on Fable. I never would have read this otherwise, as I hadn't even heard of it before it was assigned. And now I have the sequel on its way to my house right now (it will be mentioned in my quarter 2 book haul since it won't arrive until well into April). I really enjoyed the writing style of this novel, it read like I was Tambu's friend, and she was filling me in about everything going on in her life. I wanted to help her and Nyasha so badly. I'm not at all educated on Zimbabwean history, but I will definitely be looking up some things to help me better understand this time in history.
Novellas
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE: 3.5/6.50
Page count: 165 pages
Day(s) read: 3.10 (ONE DAY READ)
Final thoughts: The first time I read this novella was back in 2022, and I even wrote a review for it. It was creepy and dark and made me question every mushroom I saw for the next few weeks. At the time it was a standalone, but last year T. Kingfisher announced that it was actually the first in a series, and the sequel was coming out in March 2024. So naturally I had to reread it so I could go into the sequel with clearer memories. I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time around, but it's also hard to reread horror since you know how it's going to end up. I'm glad I reread it though, because there is absolutely no way I would have remembered anything about the main character's fictional country. T. Kingfisher is so good at packing so much information into such a tiny story.
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4/7.00
Page count: 151 pages
Day(s) read: 3.10 (ONE DAY READ)
Final thoughts: And of course I picked up the sequel the second I finished book one. I wasn't sure what this novella was going to do, since What Moves the Dead was a retelling of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, and it had clearly wrapped up that story. Instead, the sequel pulls from Germanic folklore and legend, which you know I'm always a sucker for. The monster actually reminded me a lot of Laini Taylor's Strange the Dreamer, specifically the character Sarai. I don't want to venture into spoiler territory, but if you're familiar with that book, then I think you'll understand the connection I made. I feel like this novella really opened up the gates for a potentially long series, following our MC Alex as they travel the world and stumbling across all the monsters of lore.
Poetry
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Genre: Nonfiction, Poetry, Feminism, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE: N/A
Page count: 96 pages
Day(s) read: 3.28 - 3.30
Final thoughts: I don't have much to say about this poetry collection, other than it was sharp and poignant. Warsan Shire is clearly a talent and I hope to see more poetry come about.
This is actually the second time I've read this, technically. I flipped through my copy last year but never put it in my spreadsheet, but this time I really took my time and savored every poem. This collection fills you with a divine feminine rage, which I love. It also inspired me to look for more Somali literature. There's so much I don't know about the world and I really want to rectify that.
Plays
Translated from the Greek by Joel Agee
Genre: Tragedy, Classics, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE: 3.5/6.57
Page count: 64 pages
Day(s) read: 3.24 - 3.28
Final thoughts: While this is technically the first time I've read this play, I have seen it preformed live as well as videos of it. I know this seems like a pretty random read, but it was the only thing on my physical TBR that fit the Buzzwordathon prompt for March, which was character names in the title. I studied this play (and many others) in college, but only certain scenes, so it was cool to read the whole thing through and it even got me to watch a couple of YouTube videos on Greek history, which is always something I enjoy though rarely do.
Manga
Translated from the Japanese by Yuji Oiniki
Genre: Horror, Seinen (Adult)
Star rating/CAWPILE: 3.5/6.00
Page count: 653 pages
Day(s) read: 3.08 (ONE DAY READ)
Final thoughts: Honestly, I didn't love this. It's probably my least favorite Junji Ito that I've read so far. I haven't read a ton of his work, though, so that's a pretty loaded statement. I definitely prefer both Tomie and Gyo to this, though. I liked that it was one story split into tiny fragments, but some parts were just too gross for my liking (which I know is one of Ito's signature things, so who knows if I'm going to continue reading his work) and it just wasn't all that scary. But you should take that last statement with a grain of salt since this year has just been one disappointing horror read after the next, for me.
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Total page count: 2,547 pages
Favorite book of March: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
No DNFs this month
No unfinished books this month
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Alright, that's it for March! My quarter 1 book haul will be up very soon, so keep an eye out for that. I'm excited to see how this new haul format will work for me.
What was your favorite book of March? Leave me a comment below, or DM me on Instagram (link in sidebar under the heading "More Media").
Until next time, friends!
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