March 2014 Recap - March (Reading) Madness

It’s been a good month, reading-wise. (Can’t say the same for the weather, although the unrelenting lion of a winter seems to be mellowing into a lamb, at least somewhat. It’s supposed to be in the high 50s today. Then freezing again tonight. So, maybe a ferocious lamb.)

During the university’s spring break, I took three days off to read. There’s no better way to use all that vacation than reading days!

I finished 12 books this month. And I’ll likely never do it again!

 

I'll recap each with a one-word review (until the full-length reviews are posted).

 

Nonfiction

Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand
Phenomenal

Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
Friendly

Manage Your Day-to-Day, Jocelyn K. Glei (Ed.)

Sophisticated

Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand

Life-affirming

Growing Up Duggar, Jana, Jill, Jessa, & Jinger Duggar

Approachable

Daring Greatly, Brene Brown

Unnecessary

 

Cookbooks

Sunny’s Kitchen, Sunny Anderson

Yummy

Cooking Comically, Tyler Capps

Edgy

 

Classics

Persuasion, Jane Austen

English-y

 

Children’s

The Year of Billy Miller, Kevin Henkes

Sweet

Clementine, Sara Pennypacker, Marla Frazee (Ill.)

Uproarious

 

Photography

Underwater Dogs, Seth Casteel

Inspired

 

 

My two favorites were both of Laura Hillenbrand books: Seabiscuit and Unbroken. I finished Unbroken before someone told me it was being made into a movie. But I would have expected as much. It’s phenomenal. Although I might have preferred Seabiscuit just because it was more palatable.

 

 

I started and didn’t finish two books: My Life in Middlemarch and Johnny Carson. My Life in Middlemarch wasn’t a bad book, it just didn’t grab me. It was much too academic to be very interesting. Scholars and George Eliot devotees would enjoy the book, I think. I only read 20 pages or so of Johnny Carson before calling it quits. I grew up with Carson, and he was well-respected. I read enough in the first few pages to know he wasn’t such a great guy (I believe the biographer’s words were something to the effect of “he was the meanest SOB I ever met”—and they were friends), so I bailed. I didn’t need examples of the meanness or SOB-ity.

I’m also reading my way through a HUGE stack of picture books from the library. Some great stuff and some really bad award winners.

So, a good month for me.

 

 

Currently reading: Chaser about a Border Collie who knows over 1,000 words, which, up until this point in history, scientists thought impossible. Loving this one. Also reading Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman. I bought my grandson a copy for Christmas and thought I’d read it, too. Also working my way through Barbra Streisand’s My Passion for Design. My goodness is she confidently controlling. It’s not the kind of personality most folks own up to. So I’m as taken by her prose as by the beauty of her home.

 

Look for reviews of these soon. Gotta catch up!