Best Books of March
As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she read that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better about doing this.
So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.
These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from March.
Greenwich Park (Katherine Faulkner): This was a super quick read. I figured out the plot early on, but I still had fun seeing it unfold. The best moment is the last line in the book. She totally got me, and it was a great twist.
Mouth to Mouth (Antoine Wilson): I wrote about one of the central questions in the book last month. It was a mindblowingly good read. This is the sort of book you want to read with another person so you can discuss. It asks the question: what makes someone a good person? As humans, should we always help another human? If we do, should we be rewarded? And does the wealth of the individual matter? For instance, if you save someone poor, would you feel like you deserve a reward? What if it was someone extremely rich? A great book asks questions and then steps back and lets you think. This one does just that.
Good Rich People (Eliza Jane Brazier): This book was bananapants in the best possible way. It reminded me of Samantha Downing, so if you like her, you will probably like this. It’s creepy, terrible people doing creepy, terrible things. I was totally glued to the story.
The Paris Apartment (Lucy Foley): I feel the same way about every Lucy Foley book. They are engaging, page turners BUT I figure them out very early on and then feel irritated as they unfold. The opposite of how I felt reading Greenwich Park. So I raced through the last third because I wanted to confirm and move on. Yet I know I’ll put her next book on my to-read list, too.
The Appeal (Janice Hallett): Definitely will be one of my top 5 books from this year. I loved this book so much that I bought it plus her next book before I read one page. You can read it from cover to cover like a normal book, OR you are trying to solve the crime by reading through emails and text messages as the lawyers are doing in the book. It is so much fun to see it come together, and now I want to re-read it to see all the clues that were in front of my face the entire time. Totally brilliant.
What did you read last month?
5 comments
Those sound interesting! March was a pretty good book month for me: 5 books finished, and all of them pretty good. All reviewed on my blog and on Goodreads.
* “Recipe for a Perfect Wife” by Karma Brown. This was a book club pick, although I remember looking at it in the bookstore when it first came out. It was… different. Goes back & forth between the stories of two young housewives, one in 2018 and one in 1958. I wasn’t sure if this was satire, suspense/thriller or…?? There were some vaguely “Stepford Wives-ish” overtones. Kind of unsettling, with an ambiguous ending.
* “All the Queen’s Men” by S.J. Bennett. Second in a new mystery series, with Queen Elizabeth in the role of detective! (aided by her assistant private secretary). Very enjoyable.
* “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt Another book club read. Very LONG and leisurely paced but well written and absorbing.
* “Run Towards the Danger” by Sarah Polley. This was a 5-star read for me — a collection of six personal essays by a well-known Canadian actor, screenwriter and director, each one dealing with a pivotal/traumatic experience from her past — including her high-risk first pregnancy and the premature delivery of her daughter. (Personal note: her ob-gyn was also MY ob-gyn. 🙂 ) Wise, thoughtful and beautifully written.
* “Charlotte Fairlie” (also known as “The Fair Isle” and “Blow the Wind Southerly”) by D.E. Stevenson — a chapter-by-chapter group (re)read with my DES online fan group. Charlotte is the young headmistress of a girls’ school in England in 1953, who unexpectedly gets involved in the lives of her students, with life-changing consequences. As with most DES novels, a pleasant way to spend a few hours.
Ooh, good picks! Glad to see you got to read The Appeal. I have the paperback on order from my lovely tiny independent bookshop, comes just in time for holiday present to myself. She hadn’t heard of it and was like HOW DID I NOT HEAR OF THIS? IT SOUNDS SOOOO GOOD! WEIRD! and then ordered one for herself too. 🙂 You read some good twisties and some good thinkies in March.
March was a slow month for me. I only read 4 books, which is telling for how crazy a month it was!
Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman (so good, so much about pandemic and the state of the country and loss and hope)
The Violence by Delilah S. Dawson (thanks for the recommendation! That was bananapants too, I tried to explain it to someone and she literally laughed in my face but then was like, huh, I’ll have to give it a whirl. It was strange because I didn’t love it at first, but then it grew on me and I became wholly invested in everyone and embraced the crazy.)
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham (good twisty, fast read, enjoyable and unreliable)
Not A Happy Family by Shari LaPena (I am hit or miss with her, but absolutely loved this one. It kept me guessing and felt very Agatha-Christie-like. Fast, fun read.)
Loved your review of the book that annoyed you, yet you’ll still read the next. I know that feeling!
March was a really good reading month for me – considering that last year I was struggling to read more than one book a month.
I wish you were Here by Jodi Picoult was as always, a good read by her, with an interesting concept. Hers dealt with covid, and an aspect of it I hadn’t considered. A bit less believable than most, but definitely thought-provoking.
Open by Andre Agassi, as an audiobook. I enjoyed it, because I love the behind the scenes stories of high-achieving people – how they got where they got, what motivates them, and what destroys their confidence. The latter always surprises me.
No-One is Talking about This by Patricia Lockwood, got five stars on Goodreads from me. By some of the reviews, I thought I might not enjoy it, generally because I dislike gimmicks, but this was very authentic, especially to someone who blogs and has an “internet” life.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig also got five stars from me, though I’m wondering if that was a bit generous. Thoroughly readable, thoughtful, though a little predictable in the end.
Shuggie Bain, by Stuart Douglas, was a Booker Prize winner. I did not expect what I got in the end. Sadly, it was a bit too full of doom and gloom for me to love it, though whenever I was reading it I fell into the story. I gave it only two stars, as a result, which (from me) means that “it was okay.” Oops, I’ve just realised I shouldn’t have reviewed a book I wouldn’t recommend. Too late!
A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny, is the second in the Inspector Armand Gamache series, and is thoroughly enjoyable, if a little predictable. Easy reading, whisks me to a winter wonderland in Quebec that seems so foreign, and I will definitely read the next in the series when I can get my hands on it.
Finally, I read Matrix by Lauren Groff, set in the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine. I found it interesting, and an easy read, but ultimately felt it didn’t really go anyway. If you’re interested in the period, I still recommend it. Three stars from me. (Which means I liked it.)
I’m apparently not as a ferocious reader as others. I only read two books.
Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir) – Everyone has said it was better than The Martian also by Weir, but The Martian felt more believable to me. He is an amazing author and is extremely knowledgeable about space and space travel. If I was in the character’s shoes, I would have made a completely different decision as it relates to the ending of the book.
Rock Paper Scissors (Alice Feeney) – This had a lot of twists and turns. I did not predict the major twist. After it happened, I found myself flipping back to piece it all together. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
Once again, I’ve never even heard of most of your books. So interesting!
Here are two books I read and enjoyed in March. Kind-of a slow reading month for me.
Beloved by Toni Morrison. This is a book I have been intending to read for a long time, and I’m proud to say I finally did. I can’t say that I would recommend it, though. While Morrison’s writing is excellent and almost poetic, the subject matter is difficult, and this story jumps around a lot in time, making it also a somewhat confusing book to read.
A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum. Wow. This was my book club’s March selection, and it was so good. It is a story told from the perspective of a mother, and her daughter, in alternating chapters. Again heavy subject matter, and I found myself continually struck by the fact that the mother in the story is generally my contemporary in terms of age, and yet what different lives we’ve lived.