March Wrap Up

[Rachel]

Goodbye, March! Let us know how your reading went in March, if you had trouble completing this month's task, if you enjoyed the book you read and whether you'd recommend it!

[Rachel]

I only read one book for the challenge, A Head Full of Ghosts. My spoiler-free review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I really loved the book. I'd definitely recommend it!

[Lea]

I learned my lesson not to be overly ambitious with my reading challenge. I ended up having a very busy month and I only read one book recommended by a celeb, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. It was alright, not exactly groundbreaking.

But I do still intend to read a few more celeb-recommended books this year, like The Dry.

[Rachel]

Lea wrote: "I learned my lesson not to be overly ambitious with my reading challenge. I ended up having a very busy month and I only read one book recommended by a celeb, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie..."

OH! I couldn't remember where I had heard of The Dry; now I remember it was in the celeb thread. So I guess I did read two books for March because I ended up reading that one, too! It was really good.

[Lea]

Yeah, that was one of the Reese Witherspoon recs!

[Kat]

I read The Thing About Jellyfish rec'd by Reese Witherspoon and Men Explain Things to Me rec'd by Brie Larson. Both were really good. I tried to read Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype rec'd by Emma Watson but omg just the first 2 chapters were so repetitive and boring. I don't recommend that one.

[Sasha]

This month all of my hold from the library came in, some which were inspired by January's challenge (ex: The Lost City of the Monkey God) and I decided most of my time to them since if I didn't finish, I couldn't renew my check out.

I only managed one book that fit the challenge, Persepolis, this month. It's been in my tbr for a while and I'm glad I pushed through and was able to finish.

[Sam]

I read All Is Not Forgotten rec'd by Reese Witherspoon and I really enjoyed it.

[Keri]

I tried reading The Goldfinch but it was just... boring. So I gave up halfway through. :(

[IMY]

I read The Blind Assassin recc’d by Alan Cumming. I saw a few people on the March thread considering reading this also but am not sure if they did so didn’t start a separate thread. It took a bit for me to be drawn into the story. It’s one of those books that have 2 seemingly separate storylines. The switching back & forth between perspectives was a bit annoying since I found one of the storylines more interesting than the other. About halfway through the book I guessed the twist so it was a bit predictable. And although I can sympathize with the main character, I found her actions or inactions unlikable. But overall I did enjoyed it and would recommend.

[Lucie]

I read 'The Book of Strange New Things' for the March challenge. It is recommended by Sarah Jessica Parker, who I don't really rate personally, but a few others mentioned they were reading it and it was available at my library so I thought I'd give it a go. Not being a SJP fan, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it and would give it 4.5 stars (I rarely give more than 4!). The book is about a pastor's trip to a beautifully crafted fictional alien planet to spread the word of God. It's not something I would have been likely to pick out myself and I'm really glad I ended up reading it. The characters are fully believable and relatable and the story was always interesting without ever feeling contrived. I've given a longer review here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Alyssa]

I also read The Goldfinch and although i finished it i thought it was way too long and bloated, would have been a much better read at under 300 pages. i gave it 2 stars.