Here’s what I read in March:
- Did You Ever Have a Family? by Bill Clegg
- The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips
- A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
- Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs
- A Lady in the Smoke by Karen Odden
My March reading was so good, partly because I got tired of reading fluffy books and turned to some of last year’s “best-of” books. I loved all five books read this month, in different ways. Odden’s debut novel is great if you like historical mysteries. A God in Ruins was an incredibly powerful story, and Atkinson’s way of telling it is amazing (she jumps all over time chronologically to tell the life of Teddy Todd, a British pilot during World War II). The Beautiful Bureaucrat was delightfully eerie, short but like reading a Twilight Zone story in a book. Actually it was kind of like reading a dream.
But it was Clegg’s Did You Ever Have a Family? that moved me the most. He tells a story of a woman who loses everyone in her family, and yet instead of relying on melodrama, he creates a story about love, friendship, and even hope – all tied to what it means to be a family.
What’s ahead in my reading month? I’m re-reading Dragonfly in Amber to get ready for the new season of Outlander, and on my Kindle I have Becky Chamber’s A Long Way to a Small, Empty Planet.
What else did I do this month? The husband and I caught up on some of the Oscar-nominated movies we’d been putting off: Room, Brooklyn, Spotlight, and Trumbo. Brooklyn and Spotlight were quite good but Room really stole the show for me. I was so impressed with the way that book was transformed into a movie, and I couldn’t believe how good the kid was. Both the book and movie were powerful in different ways. In the book you see everything through Jack’s eyes, but in the movie you’re forced to confront the ugliness more.
I’ve got Brooklyn the novel wait-listed at the library. If you’ve seen and read it, what did you think? For the movie, I thought Saoirse Ronan was incredible but the love story fell a little flat for me.
What else is making me happy these days? Well, our older cat Harley got a good checkup at the vet. I got a funky Swedish (?) popcorn popper for $20 and it’s my favorite new thing. This weekend the husband and I are meeting friends at an “Escape Room” to celebrate his birthday, and next week I’m taking him to dinner at Ripple, the restaurant of Marjorie from this season of Top Chef.
And, um, it’s spring! How happy does this painting by Winslow Homer make you? Reading outside is one of my favorite things.
Finally, let me just say that I’ve been keeping up (sort of) with posting reviews, but haven’t been able to do most of my other bloggy stuff like commenting and participating in events. I miss it!!! I can’t wait to get back.
That’s my March wrap-up! Happy spring everyone, and happy reading.
For more March wrap-ups, see Feed Your Fiction Addiction.