Thursday, April 15, 2021

Books Read in March


Before I jump into my March summary of books read and progress in reading challenges, be sure to also check out my March Reading Wrap-Up on YouTube. It's not a duplicate of this post, but a brief summary of the books I read last month and what I liked about each one. It's meant to complement this blog post and provide a little something extra, in case you want to know more about these great books.

And now, here are the books I finished in March:

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne (Ireland) - adult fiction

Heart Spring Mountain by Robin MacArthur (VT) - adult fiction on audio


My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares (VA) - adult fiction

All Together Now by Hope Larson (CA) - middle-grade graphic novel


Whisky for Breakfast by Christopher P. Mooney (UK) - adult fiction/short stories

Rabbit, Run by John Updike (PA) - classic adult fiction



The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart (WA) - middle-grade fiction on audio

Twins by Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright - middle-grade graphic novel


March was an all-fiction month for me! I read four adult novels and one collection of short stories. I also read three middle-grade novels, two of which were graphic novels. I listened to two books (one adult novel and one middle-grade novel) on audio. So, despite it all being fiction, there was a whole lot of variety! My favorite book of the month--and added to my list of favorite books ever--was The Heart's Invisible Furies, a novel that stole my heart, making me laugh and cry. I absolutely loved it and rated it a 10 in my book group, which is rare for me. The middle-grade runner-up was The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, which is now my favorite Dan Gemeinhart novel and was a delight to listen to on audio.

Progress in 2021 Reading Challenges:
You can see all of the reading challenges I am participating in and full lists of the books read for each at the challenges link above. I have some fun ones going this year!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2021 - Four of my eight books in March were from my own shelves.
2021 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge - March was Countries and Cultures, so The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne, set in Ireland, fit well.
Back to the Classics 2021 - I read my second classic of 2021, Rabbit, Run by John Updike, which I put into the category A classic with an animal in the title.

2021 AtoZ Reading Challenge - It's getting tougher now, with lots of H's, M's, and R's, but I did manage three more letters: A, T, and W. For the March Mini Challenge, a book written by an author of a different race than you, I read Twins by Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright.

PopSugar Reading Challenge 2021 - this is a unique one, with 50 quirky categories. I added another 6 categories to my list this month:
    1. A book about forgetting - My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares
    2.  A book featuring 3 (actually, 5!) generations - Heart Spring Mountain by Robin MacArthur 
    3.  A book that has the same title as a song - All Together Now by Hope Larson 
    4. A book with fewer than 1000 review on Amazon/Goodreads -  Whisky for Breakfast by Christopher P. Mooney
    5. A book everyone seems to have read but you - The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
    6. A free book from your TBR list - The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
2021 Nonfiction Reader Challenge - No new nonfiction last month.
Diversity Reading Challenge 2021 - Three of my books were diverse last month, though I didn't read anything that fit the monthly theme of female authors in male-dominated genres.
Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge - I made another stop in the UK last month and added Ireland to my global travel list.
2021 Literary Escapes Challenge - I added four new states, Vermont, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

And finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month! Stop by to print out this month's Bingo card and play along. In March, I filled 21 spaces on my bingo card:


 

Spaces Filled:

The Heart's Invisible Furies - e-book, Irish/Ireland

Heart Spring Mountain - not in a series, bad luck, audio book, trope (returning home)

My Name Is Memory - book club read, library book, green on the cover

All Together Now - free book, in a series

Whisky for Breakfast - detective, gold or money, new release

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise - empowered female

Rabbit, Run - passion/temper, shelf love

Twins - read a physical book, siblings

Free Space

 

What was your favorite book read in March?

8 comments:

  1. Wow what a month Sue, and a lovely post to go with it.

    You’ve got me intrigued about Whisky for Breakfast and the Easter Bunny bought me a copy of The Heart's Invisible Furies! My list of “can’t wait”s is getting substantial :).

    Happy reading.

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    1. Yay! Wow, that bunny has great taste in books! Hope you enjoy it!

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  2. You did so well on challenges in March. It's satisfying, isn't it. My favorite book from March were Four Winds by Kristin Hannah and Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce.

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    1. Yes, it is satisfying to tally up my challenges each month :)

      Oooh, I want to read both of those!

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  3. Nice reading! I'm tempted by some of your challenges - maybe next year for me. Have a good April!

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    1. I have a lot of fun with the reading challenges!

      If you are interested, I host my own Big Book Summer Challenge from end of May through September each year - super easy-going and chill for summer - you only have to read one book with 400 or more pages (but you can read as many as you want to). Details coming up next month!

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  4. Nice month! I definitely need to revisit Updike

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    1. This was my first experience reading Updike, and I had some mixed feelings about this one but am interested to explore more of his writing.

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