My Reading Month: March
Well, March is (finally) over, and I can’t say I am sorry to see it go. Spring is a necessary thing for my mental health at this point, and while snow will continue to fall for the next few weeks, snow in April never lasts long enough to keep me from hiking!
Social distancing (I would out money on this as the “word of the year” from dictionaries at the end of 2020) continues to be an interesting adventure, as my housemates and I balance our mental health, work and relationships within a limited amount of space.
To say that I have used reading as an escape this month would be an understatement. I have read A LOT in the past two weeks, particularly since I have been dealing with insomnia, and it has been therapeutic, if not the best for my productivity as a housemate.
I was debating what to share for this month, because I read so much, and while I always love sharing favorite, this month it wasn’t easy to figure out what the favorites were, meaning there is just so many books to talk about. I finally decided to play with one sentence reviews and give you all the full list! In order of my enjoyment, here you go:
- To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers – An absolutely beautiful exploration of space travel, the human condition, and the quest for knowledge that wrestles with some big ideas but never loses site of the central story and has some of the most beautiful imagery I have read in science fiction to date.
- Living and Dying without a Map by Nancy Ewert – A beautiful and heartbreaking picture of loss and the many, constantly shifting, layers of grief that are so often destabilizing and unsettling. This gets multiple sentences because it actually about my life and was written by my mom, and you should all go buy it now!
- Emma by Jane Austen – Austen at her sassiest and most comical.
- Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich – A creepy, de-evolution based pandemic book that was a compelling read, but potentially more interesting because of the reader’s current pandemic-heavy reality.
- In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire – A beautiful, short book that follows a young schoolgirl Lundy (part of the Wayward Children series) as she discovers the intoxicating freedom of the Goblin Market and has to make some very hard decisions about where home is and what growing up will mean for her.
- When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams – A beautiful, poetic ode to a mother and a legacy that I found incredibly moving, and want to read again.
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – A funny, incisive and satisfying classic novel that cleverly satirizes Regency social norms while appearing to be a witty romance at the same time.
- Death by Water by Kerry Greenwood – A fun romp of a story that is the 15th installment in the Phryne Fisher murder mystery series and is set on a cruise ship in New Zealand.
- An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield – A competent, if sometimes too simplified memoir written by astronaut Chris Hadfield about is journey to becoming the David Bowie-singing (in space) astronaut we know and love today.
- Mansfield Park by Jane Austen – Austen’s most maligned book is actually a very satisfying story that focuses much more on the economics of life and love in the Regency period than her other books.
- Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin – A well done remake of Pride and Prejudice that manages to keep both the tension and social satire of the original but also throw in some surprises (and lots of chai).
- On Trails by Robert Moor – An interesting, if occasionally uneven look at the ways that humans (and animals) shape the world around them just by traveling through on foot.
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen – Not as strong as Pride and Prejudice and not as sharp as Mansfield Park, this story is nonetheless a good coming of age novel that makes some good points about the ways that society can punish women for being both too passionate and too reserved.
- If Women Rose Rooted by Sharon Blackie – An interesting, if academic look at Celtic tales and how they can guide women towards a meaningful existence that aptly looks at how “white” people can find meaning and land ethic in their own cultures as well.
Stay well, and I will talk to you all soon – hang in there, and please reach out to people you love!
