What I Read: March 2020
Well, I feel like we can all agree that March was THE ACTUAL WORST month thusfar. Now that we’re clear of that and deeply entrenched into the odd and quietly scary situation we’re facing as a global population, I feel a little bit more acclimated to like than I did last month. I actually read some wonderful things but they were overshadowed considerably by everything else.
Here’s what I read in March:
Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies: And Other Rituals to Fix Your Life From Someone Who’s Been There, by Tara Schuster - This book was huge for me. I enjoyed it so much and learned so much from it. Tara has been through a lot and has paid attention enough through her experiences to come out of them with tools, routines, systems, and habits in place that actually work. Not only does the information she share actually work, she explains and motivates with kindness and encouragement that acknowledges privileges, mental blocks, and doesn’t do any shaming. I need to buy this book so I can read it again and underline it all. It’s one of the best memoir/self-help books I’ve ever come across. I highly recommend it if you’re in the mood to figure out what might help you fix your life.
A Girl’s Guide to the Outback, by Jessica Kate - This is a contemporary romance that was just fine. If you need something light that you don’t have to think about too hard this would be perfect.
The Worst Best Man, by Mia Sosa - I enjoyed this romance more than A Girl’s Guide to the Outback, mostly because the characters are emotionally stable people (for the most part). Often in romances you have situations with people making ridiculous decisions and acting in really unhealthy ways. While there’s definitely drama here the characters discuss actually talk and listen to each other. It was refreshing.
Invisible Women: Data Bias in A World Designed for Men, by Caroline Criado-Perez - This is not an uplifting book but it is highly educational and insightful, especially if you like data. Criado-Perez examines all the design decisions and how they impact day-to-day behaviors. It’s absolutely fascinating to see how the design default of male is a huge economic and health issue. I was riveted listening to this.
Egg Drop Dead, by Vivien Chien - A great next book in one of my favorite cozy mystery series and in this one a great new character is introduced that I enjoyed. If you are looking for something that’s not too violent this series might be a good fit. Start here with the first one, Death by Dumpling.
Don’t Check Out This Book, by Kate Klise - This is a great kids book that I reviewed in this post here for the blog tour last month.
Qualityland, by Marc-Uwe Kling - The setup of this book is either just as weird as you’d wish or weird enough that you’ll skip this one. For me, the weird level was precisely great. Imagine a world where a large online super store has become a dominant world power. The algorithm knows you and everyone else so well that packages arrive before you even know what you want and it never makes a mistake - until one day it does and someone tries to return something. There’s also a super convincing android preparing to run for president, people are ranked and assigned levels based on their jobs, social success, influence, etc, and their last names are based on the jobs. As you can imagine each level (up to 100 in theory) comes with it’s own access to certain perks. This world that combines all the things we fear and joke about regarding targeted ads, having a smart device in your home, and self-driving cars. It’s got a twisty sense of humor and an interesting message about figuring out who you are in a society that tries to prescribe that information for you (sounds familiar?). I loved it and was excited to see that it’s going to be adapted sometime in the future.
Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, by Jia Tolentino - I had heard a lot about this collection of essays and just recently gave it a try. It was better than I had expected and I really appreciated the tone of the writing. It was more of what I had hoped to find in reading Uncanny Valley. I enjoyed this one and would recommend it for anyone looking for essay collections by thoughtful women writers.
An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good, by Helene Tursten - A really short book with a main character who does just as the title indicates. The no good she gets up to is murder for reasons. It’s not creepy but might not be the type of humor everyone will enjoy. I thought it was fine.
Summer Knight, by Jim Butcher - I really like this series. It’s a great escape. In this installment our hero is again in severe trouble that needs fixing in a matter of hours or the world will never be the same. Professional wizard Harry Dresden will take care of it.
Interior Chinatown, by Charles Wu - I read another book by Charles Wu and it’s one that I think about often for the things it accomplishes from a narrative and writing skillset, so I was curious to read this and see what else he could come up with. Interior Chinatown examines stereotypes and tropes in an experimental style and for me it helped that I listened to it as an audiobook. It’s one of those books that I think I am appreciating more for having read it because it’s been thought provoking because the reading was sometimes tough and required attention - which is sparse these days for me and shouldn’t reflect poorly on the actual book.
My April reading has been a little bumpy so far. It’s hard to concentrate these days but I have read some good things lately. My brain’s been turning more to tv and listening to podcasts instead of things that require more mental attention. I really miss it though and am trying to cut myself a break and just start all the books I want until I find something that sucks me in. How’s reading going for you this month? Have your reading habits changed at all with the pandemic’s impact?