everything i read in march

reading diary

Three months into these reading dairies, and I’m realizing I’ve subconsciously created a little reading routine for myself. Instead of endlessly adding books to my TBR pile, I’ve been curating smaller piles for each month. I didn’t set out to organize my reading this way, and who knows? Maybe it’ll all fall apart later in the year, but something about having small bite-sized reading goals is currently feeling really cozy.

If you’re new to this series, I’m publishing monthly round-ups of the books I read each month. I’ll link January and February’s round ups at the end.

Did Not Finish (DNF)

April In Spain by John Banville

Let’s start with a book that landed in my DNF pile this month. I try not to have too many, especially if it’s a book I’ve paid money for, but this one was just insufferable. After reading Snow by John Banville (you can read my review here), I thought I’d give the next-in-series a try. Good Lord, April in Spain was a slog.

The way Banville writes female characters is so one dimensional and deeply entrenched in the male gaze. His writing comes across really old-fashioned in general, but especially when he’s writing women. It actually really reminds me a lot of the James Bond women, and now that I’m putting this together, it’s probably where Banville got lots of his character inspiration.

Normally I plow through even when people have more “progressive” critiques of books written in a less culturally current time, but I actually just found it distractingly jarring.

Apart from the that, the plot of the book plods on. I think I made it four or five chapters in, and all the protagonists had done was go to the beach, begrudgingly visit a Spanish cafe for lunch, and have sex in their hotel room about four hundred times because even though neither of them are conventionally attractive, they apparently still have sex drives!!! Who knew that could happen to people who aren’t models!? A real light bulb moment for me. *deep sarcasm*

The main reason I returned to Banville’s writing after having a distinctly middling experience with his last book is that R. F. Kuang raves about his work and cites him as one of her favorite authors, which I find completely baffling.

Anyway, onto brighter subjects!

Books of March

The Writing Retreat, by Julia Bartz

This book has been on my list to read for a while, so I thought, what the heck. The moment is now. Overall I enjoyed it like I enjoy a BBC police procedural thriller— gripping, but not life changing. It was very entertaining, fast paced, gothic and weirdly supernatural.

The premise is about a woman who finds herself selected to take part in a writing retreat at the (haunted?) mansion her literary hero. Along with five other women, our protagonist starts to realize that not everything on this retreat is as it seems. A good page turner. I normally don’t enjoy contemporary lit that is about how the mechanics of the modern publishing world work (ie. The Plot — hated that book!), but this one threaded the needle nicely for me.

Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman

Probably my favorite book of the month. This book is a hilarious story about an Irish family mucking through the surprises and banalities of life. It follows the grandmother, her middle aged son, and his teenage daughter— and despite the three different POVs in the book I felt it read seamlessly! I laughed out loud, I teared up, I loved the ending.

On Goodreads I see they’ve recommended this book for fans of Where’d You Go Bernadette? (which I agree with!) but I’d add to the list any fans of Fredrik Backman’s work as well (hi, it’s me!)

If you need to feel good about the world, people, and just want a good laugh, please read this book.

Madam by Phoebe Wynne

I’m so glad I didn’t see the reviews before diving into this book. I loved it. Gothic, spooky, and immersive, it really reminded me of a modern day Jane Eyre (which I think is entirely intentional). But the reviews are scathing, and ironically, people compare it to Jane Eyre as a negative. So I guess I’m in the minority with this one?

Anyway, I thought this book was great. Set in the early 90’s in Scotland/the UK, this book is about an elite all-girls boarding school that hasn’t had a new faculty member in over a decade, before our protagonist— a young Classics teacher in her mid-20s— is surprisingly brought on staff. She starts to realize the school isn’t what it seems, and that not only are the students’ freedoms strangely limited, but that her own world is also shrinking at a rapid pace.

Everything everyone else seemed to think was “wrong” about this book was what I loved about it. Read at your own risk!

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

This is a great book. I understand why it won so many awards, the writing is propulsive, and the timeline fast-paced however I still feel let down by it. It’s a silly thing really, but when I picked it up I thought it was going to be a mystery-thriller which it’s not. I promise that’s not a spoiler, if anything I think it’s a more honest review than the book synopsis gives us: “A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.”

I thought we were going to be reading about a cold case, but really it’s more about the 50 years after the tragedy and how the family processed their grief. There are still plenty of twists, and it’s a profound commentary how crimes against indigenous peoples of North America are overlooked. Once I had it in the “right” box, I was able to enjoy it.

Murder mystery, it is not.

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

This is going to be one of, if not THE It Girl Book of the Year. I feel it.

I’ve struggled to even explain what this book is about without giving away the twists and surprises, so I’ll just say this: if you’re the kind of person who gets book FOMO, then this is required reading.

Vaguely— it’s about a young Danish woman living in her family home in the country trying to find her place in the world, and often feeling confused by it. Her brother’s girlfriend comes to stay with her for a month, and the story unfolds in perhaps, unexpected ways.

If you’ve read this book, maybe you can help me give a spoiler-free synopsis in the comments.

Non-fiction

Just a quick note to say I’m listening to Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks by Marcia Bjornerud on audiobook and I’m not QUITE finished with it but if you’re someone who enjoyed Braiding Sweetgrass, and other nature memoirs, you’ll love this one.

Alright that’s all from me this month! If you want to read January and February’s round-ups, I have them linked below. I haven’t fully put together my TBR for April yet, so if you have a must-read recommendation please drop it in the comments!