Books Read in March

Yes, this is what March looked like here this year!

Oh, yeah, look at me! Summarizing last month, and it's only the 13th! Woohoo! Don't worry - I will get behind again soon when I go on vacation for a week. For now, I will bask in the glow of accomplishment.

March was an excellent reading month for me, with a bunch of review books and the beginning of my reading for Booktopia Vermont 2018 - just a few weeks to go! Here's what I finished reading in March:

• We Own the Sky by Luke Allnut (UK) - adult fiction, reviewed for Shelf Awareness
• Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (Canada) - adult historical fiction
• Freakling by Lana Krumweide - middle-grade/teen fiction on audio

• The Optimistic Decade by Heather Abel (CO) - adult fiction, reviewed for Shelf Awareness
• Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy (MS) - teen/YA fiction on audio
• My Ex-Life by Stephen McCauley (MA) - adult fiction, reviewed for Shelf Awareness

• Graveyard Shakes by Laura Terry - middle-grade graphic novel

I finished seven books in all in March, all fiction, but a nice mix of ages and genres and types. I finished two audio books (my listening had been kind of slow this year before this). Notice that three of the books I read are for review for Shelf Awareness - that's unusual. I normally just review one book a month for them, but The Optimistic Decade and My Ex-Life were special add-ons because I also interviewed the authors and will be meeting them both in person at Booktopia next month! I will link to my reviews and the author interviews when they are published on Shelf Awareness. Alas, that is probably the real reason why I was ready for my monthly summary so much earlier than usual - fewer blog posts to write! I enjoyed all of these books - some very much - but Ramona Blue really stole my heart. I fell in love with the novel and with its protagonist.

Progress in 2018 Reading Challenges:
This is my favorite part of my monthly summary - updating my Reading Challenges, though I didn't make much progress this month. With all those review books, I read only 1 book from my own shelves for my Mount TBR Reading Challenge, bringing my first quarter total to only 8. Since my annual goal this year is 36, I have a long way to go! For the Monthly Motif Reading Challenge, March was Travel the World, so Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood fit, with both a Canadian setting and author. Nothing new for the Back to the Classics Challenge or the 2018 Badass Books Challenge (not very badass of me).  I added Canada and another UK for my Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge. For my 2018 Literary Escapes Challenge, I added three new states - CO, MA, and MS.
 
Finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month. I filled in 19 squares in March: 

Spaces filled in:

We Own the Sky - pastel colors on the cover, luck - good or bad, wedding, made you cry
Alias Grace - dual POV, historical, shelf love (TBR), woman on the cover
Freakling - in a series, audio book
The Optimistic Decade - read a physical book
Ramona Blue - LGBTQ, bad weather, young adult, empowered female
My Ex-Life - free book, secrets
Graveyard Shakes - magic

Free Space

What was your favorite book read in March?