wrap up: March 2019

Happy birthday to me!  In honor of turning 27 today here is… a monthly wrap up!  Exciting!

1. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid ★★★★☆ | review
2. When All Is Said by Anne Griffin ★★☆☆☆ | review
3. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones ★★★☆☆ | review
4. If, Then by Kate Hope Day ★★★☆☆ | review
5. The Club by Takis Würger ★☆☆☆☆ | review
6. Color and Light by Sally Rooney ★★★★★ | review
7. Mr Salary by Sally Rooney ★★★★★ | review
8. Troubles by JG Farrell ★★★★☆ | review
9. Young Skins by Colin Barrett ★★★★☆ | review
10. The Killer In Me by Olivia Kiernan ★★★★☆ | review
11. Faith Healer by Brian Friel ★★★★★ | review
12. Ordinary People by Diana Evans | almost done, rtc

Favorite: Faith Healer by Brian Friel
Honorable mention: Sally Rooney!
Least favorite (possibly of my life): The Club by Takis Würger

MARCH TOTAL: 12
YEARLY TOTAL: 36

You’ll notice that everything I read in March fell into one of three categories: ARCs, Women’s Prize longlisted titles, and Irish lit.  Regarding that last one, I just want to give a quick shout-out to Cathy for doing a superb job hosting Reading Ireland Month along with her co-host Niall.  If you’re even slightly interested in Irish lit, there is a wealth of resources over on Cathy’s blog, so do go check out her posts if you haven’t already!

Some of my other posts from the month:

• Women’s Prize 2019 Longlist Reaction
• A post in honor of International Women’s Day
• Man Booker International 2019 Longlist Reaction
• The Highest and Lowest Rated Books on my TBR

My March reading was… okay.  I feel like what’s been missing from my 2019 reading is a novel that I really adore.  All of my favorites so far have been nonfiction, plays, or short stories… which is ironic given that one of my reading goals of the year was to read fewer novels and read more of everything else!  But I’m finding that I’m really craving a novel that just pulls me in and doesn’t let me go, something I haven’t really found with anything I’ve read so far this year.  The Friend by Sigrid Nunez has come the closest, but I’m not sure that’s a new all-time favorite.  What’s the best novel you’ve read recently??

Currently reading: I may move Cleopatra: A Life over to my ‘on hold’ shelf on Goodreads as I don’t see myself picking this back up before May… but soon I will return to it!  Unfortunately, despite being a Lisa See superfan I’m finding The Island of Sea Women to be a bit of a slog – I’m only 20% in but I haven’t touched this in weeks.  I’m hoping to finish it by mid-April though.  And finally, I’m working through Swan Song as one of my Women’s Prize reads.

Finally, I’m having such fun reading through the Women’s Prize longlist with Hannah, Callum, Sarah, Steph, and Naty – if you want to be added to a group chat on Twitter where we discuss our progress on these 16 books, please let me know!  (You do not need to read the entire longlist to join in, this is a very unofficial chat.)

What was the best book you read in March?  Comment and let me know!

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