March 2026 Reading Wrap Up
Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!
Sooo...March. It was a month. Let's move on.
In March I read a total of 5 (and a bit) books: 3 novels, and 2 nonfiction. Everything was pretty much history or historical fiction, obviously I was in a certain mood this month. 3 were from my physical TBR and 2 were from the library. 2 of the books were translated. Along with these 5 books, I also made progress in Moby-Dick as well as another book that will be carried over into April.
Alright, let's get into the books.
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Novels
1. The Poet Empress by Shen Tao
Format: Physical
Star rating: 4 stars
Page count: 388 pages
Day(s) read: 3.11 - 3.12
Final thoughts: I was very impressed by this debut! Before I say anything else, I just want to say that if you are interested in reading this book, please be sure to look up the trigger warnings and pay attention to the author's note at the beginning of the novel. This is a very intense story and deals with a lot of heavy, serious topics, and graphically at that. This is not a book to be taken lightly.
That being said, I really did like this. It reminded me a lot of June Hur's books (though those are Korean historical mysteries and Shen Tao is Chinese) with the political intrigue and the kinds of topics it explored. I also got Poppy War vibes, more so from the violence and the surrounding storylines, but still remaining true-to-life and not thrown in for violence's sake. I thought the characters were all very well fleshed out, and the writing style was nice, not too flowery but still very descriptive. I wish the magic system was explained a bit more, but I wasn't ever confused by it.
2. The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Translated from the Spanish by Lucia Graves
Format: Mixed Media
Star rating: 2.75 stars
Page count: 531 pages (15 hrs 24 mins audio)
Day(s) read: 3.07 - 3.14
Final thoughts: This...was a let down, to be honest. I had such high hopes, too. This is the sequel to The Shadow of the Wind, which I reread earlier this year for the exact purpose of continuing the series. I will still read books 3 and 4, but I'm not quite as enthused as I was before I read this. I get what Zafon was trying to do with the whole psychological warfare thing happening, but it just didn't work for me. I actually think I would have preferred for the book to end up paranormal, but knowing that this series is just historical really fizzled out that kind of mystery for me. I'm glad that I didn't end up reading this first, because I'm sure it would have turned me off from the rest of the series.
3. Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Translated from the Russian by Larissa Voloknosky and Richard Pevear
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Format: Mixed Media
Star rating: 3 stars
Page count: 136 pages (5 hrs 7 mins audio)
Day(s) read: 3.17 - 3.21
Final thoughts: Unfortunately this was also kind of a miss for me. Definitely my least liked Dostoevsky so far (and I'm really hoping my only one, because the way I've latched onto Dostoevsky in the past couple years needs to be studied, frankly). Though, I can't tell if this is a me problem, or a book problem. I will most likely be rereading this again later on down the line when my brain doesn't feel quite as mushy, and see if my opinion will change. I also think I just need more context about the time period when this was written. I hardly know any Russian history aside from the Bolshevik Revolution, so I think I just need a crash course on 1860s Russia before I reread.
Nonfiction
1. In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
Format: Audiobook
Star rating: 4.25 stars
Page count: 334 pages (10 hrs 15 mins audio)
Day(s) read: 3.03 - 3.04
Final thoughts: This was my hyperfixation of the month. It all started with Moby-Dick (of course). Because I'm reading that, I wanted a little more information about sperm whales and the whaling industry, so I watched a few YouTube videos on the subject. Then a video about the Essex came up in my suggested feed, so I watched that. Which led me to watch more videos, and eventually watch the movie In the Heart of the Sea. And it was only natural to then read the book that the movie was based on, and that's how I got here.
I thought this was an excellent book in all meanings of the word. The writing was great, the narrative was streamlined and efficient, and the actual story of the Essex just lends itself so well to the whole storytelling format. The suffering that the crew went through was so horrific (and described in excruciating detail) and it was nauseating to listen to, but honestly? I'm on the whale's side, not even joking.
2. The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopen
Format: Mixed Media
Star rating: 3.75 stars
Page count: 672 pages (24 hrs 13 mins audio)
Day(s) read: 3.19 - 3.29
Final thoughts: Alright, I kind of feel like I'm cheating with this one because I'll be entirely honest, I did not pay as much attention to this book as I should have. Note to self: don't play word games while listening to audiobooks. Number games are fine! But word games and audiobooks do not get along. So I'd say I probably only retained about 40% of this book, sadly. It just means that I'll need to reread this in the future, again hopefully at a time where my brain is able to focus better.
I was (unpleasantly) surprised when the history started getting into more modern territory, but considering the subtitle of the book is "A New History of the World" I guess I should have seen that coming. But I bought this for the ancient history, and that was only like, a third of the book. Once we hit the British Empire, I kind of just tuned out a bit. And despite the book being called The Silk Roads, which is a term that comes from China and the middle-east (or at least western dealings with those areas), the history felt very Euro-centric to me, especially getting into the more modern history, and that just left a bad taste in my mouth, I suppose.
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Total page count: 2,061 pages (54 hrs 59 mins total audio)
Favorite book of March: The Poet Empress by Shen Tao
No DNFs this month
Unfinished books this month: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
The Blood Countess by Shelley Puhak
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And another month is down. I gotta tell you, I'm getting real tired of this autistic burnout bs. I want to be reading more but instead I feel like my brain has melted into goo and it takes a ridiculous amount of effort to just do the bare minimum every day, let alone exercise my brain through reading. I'm playing a lot of sudoku and solitaire, instead.
Let me know your favorite book of March in the comments below, or DM me on Instagram (link in sidebar under the heading "Socials").
Until next time, friends!
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