I wish there was a way to show a grid of what I read on Storygraph instead of having to find each individual book cover, because I read a lot last month... I'm going to skip the covers for now since I know what they look like and I'm the only one who reads this stupid blog.
The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Lara Love Hardin and Anthony Ray Hinton. This is about an innocent man on death row for thirty years, and how he finally was released. Everyone should read this. Also, the state of Alabama :( It didn't really go into a lot of what happened after he finally came home, but otherwise all the stars.
Beat the Backlist challenge: read a book with the word 'lost or found' in the title.
Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly. I really enjoyed this book about a deaf girl who bonds with a whale who is a loner because his whale frequency does not match other whales. I knocked this down a half star because there were parts that were super un-realistic about my home state and travel times. I'm not sure if this is too spoilery but let's just say, if you go swimming in the ocean you're going to get hypothermia. It's 55-60 degrees year round... Otherwise, it was a really great book.
Garlic & the Vampire by Bree Paulsen. Cute graphic novel about a garlic that is picked by the other vegetables to go on a quest.
A Rover's Story by Jasmine Warga. The group-read for Middle Grade March. I really enjoyed this story about a rover being sent to Mars and his mission. A bunch of people didn't "relate to the robot" and thought this was boring (and character driven cue crowd running away from the character driven novel) but I did not have that problem. Middle Grade March prompt: sci-fi or dystopian + written in the last year.
Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff. A story about a foster kid, who likes to draw, and her various placements. Really good.
Phoebe and her Unicorn in the Magic Storm by Dana Simpson. Numero #6 in a graphic novel series we have laying around. Lots of sarcasm and there's a unicorn, I enjoy reading these.
The Stonekeeper, Amulet #1 by Kazu Kibuishi. Graphic novel I borrowed from one of my kids. It was OK but I've already forgetten anything about it.
The Secret History of Food: Strange but True Stories about everything we eat by Matt Siegel. I chose this because it had secret in the title (Buzzword word for March) and it was less footnotey than the first book (also about food) that I was going to read. I think it was the first book that had the story about cleaning the fish section at Whole Foods (barf!) but this one also had some info that made me lose my appetite. This was informative and I enjoyed most of it, although it got a little dry in some places.
The Giraffe and Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl. I'm trying to read/reread all the Roald Dahl books we own, and have never read this one before. Not my favorite, but I can cross it off the list now.
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. This takes place in 1968 in Oakland and has to do with the Black Panther movement. Also, it's part of a series. I liked the sibing relationship, Delphine was great, but her mother I didn't get... I want to read the other books so I guess I liked it.
All that Remains by Patricia Cornwell. Book #3 of my reread of the Scarpetta series. I liked this one, about a serial killer that leaves bodies in the woods in a certain pose.
The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket. Book #3 in the Baudelaire orphans tale. In this one they go to live with Aunt Josephine who is afraid of everything and eat a lot of cold soup (I made gazpacho last summer and can say I don't like cold soup either.)
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai. Novel in verse about a Vietnamese girl making her way in the United States after they are evacuated from Vietnam. Really good. Middle Grade March prompt: sky on the cover.
The Penderwick's by Jeanne Birdsall. A story about four sisters and their dad who rent a house for the summer and their adventures. First in a series, really enjoyed, writing was written in a nostalgic way that I can't explain... wish I could do that. Read Your Bookshelf challenge, book that starts with 'p' and Middle Grade March--award that was not the Newberry.
Fish in a Tree by Megan Mulally Hunt. The story of a dyslexic girl hiding the fact that she can barely read. Some people complained making it to 5th grade barely being able to read was unrealistic, I don't think it is... Middle Grade March prompt a neurodiverse character.
The Return of Zita the Space Girl. A graphic novel. I thought this was book #2 but it's book #3 which might explain why I didn't know what was going on and didn't enjoy this one as much. Middle Grade March prompt: sci-fi.
March 2023 reading statistics, because yes, I'm a nerd.
pages read: 3898/30000
fiction/non-fiction: 14/2
adult/ya/mg: 3/0/13
novels:14
novellas: 0 (and what is a novella anyway, and how does one find them?)
short stories:0
plays: 0
graphic novels:4
physical/ebook/audio:15/1/0
owned versus borrowed from the library:12-4
books that are part of a series: 8
average rating: 4.02
books owned but not read at the beginning of the year 323. Books owned but not read at the end of the month: 312 (yeah, I bought some books this month...)
books purchased in March: 6 or was it 7?
2023 goals tracking:
things read that were not novels: 4 this month, not sure on the entire year at the moment
live, interactive reading "events" I participated in: 3 this month, 7 so far this year?
novels over 500 pages read: 0
books taking place in New England: I think I read one this month,but I can't remember which one it was though... need to work on this.
series finished: 0
most read genres: middle grade (16) although I'll keep repeating this, middle-grade is an age not a genre... (6), mystery (13) fantasy (5) huh?
And that was March. I was not expecting to read that much, but a lot of things were short... I'm not complaining.
