March Wrap-Up

Happy April everyone!

Did March feel really long to anyone else?

I’m experiencing some big changes in my job, and I think the stress just felt never-ending this month. But oh well! It’s a new month full of new opportunities and new books! Change is always scary but I’m hopeful it’ll lead to some positive things.

Unfortunately March wasn’t my greatest month of reading. My stress led to more TV and videogame time than usual, and there were even two books I DNF (did not finish), which literally never do. I hate giving up on a book before finishing it, but I realized that I deserve to read books I enjoy, and it’s not worth it to spend time reading something that I dread (or end up not reading at all because I dread it that much).

I think part of the reason I wasn’t super thrilled with my March picks was that I chose to focus on middle grade books this month. I took many books home from my classroom to read during quarantine, and I want to be able to read and return them to my classroom before the end of the school year. While I love middle grade books, I tend to get a little restless when I read too many in a row.

I’m excited for my April reads though! I’m planning on reading the next book in the Uglies series (which comes out in less than a week) and I’m also hoping to read The Glass Castle. Other than that, I plan on just reading whatever I’m in the mood for!

Without further ado, here is my wrap-up of all the books I read in March:

Stats and Overall Thoughts:

Books read: 10
Physical books: 4
Audiobooks: 6

Fiction: 7
Nonfiction: 3

Average monthly rating: 4
Top Book of February: Amal Unbound

5-star books:
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed (Realistic Fiction, Middle Grade, Paperback) – Review coming soon!
Authentically Mexican: A Family History in Six Dishes by JP Brammer (Memoir, Audiobook) – Review coming soon!

4.5-star books:
Peak by Roland Smith (Adventure, Middle Grade, Paperback) – Review coming soon!
A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and Vision for the Future by Sir David Attenborough and Jonnie Hughes (Nonfiction, Audiobook) – Review coming soon!

4-star books:
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nonfiction, Paperback) – Review coming soon!
The Dogs of Venice by Steven Rowley (Realistic Fiction, Audiobook)

3.5-star books:
Gimme Some Sugar by Molly Harper (Romance, Audiobook) – Review coming soon!
Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar (Historical Fiction, Hardcover)

3-star books:
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (Classic, Audiobook)

No rating:
You’re Not a Girl in a Movie by Hala Alyan (Poetry, Audiobook)
*I listened to this poetry collection via audiobook while doing chores. I found the poetry to be written and performed in a beautiful and captivating way! I especially loved the one about being “Fragile.” That being said, I didn’t feel comfortable rating this one because I am really not a poetry expert. Maybe if I took the time to sit down and read the poems to really think about and analyze them I would be more comfortable giving my personal opinions, but until then I’ll just enjoy them on a more surface level without giving them any rating!

DNF:
Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender (Fiction, Middle Grade, Paperback)
The Set Up by Falguni Kothari (Romance, Audiobook)

Overall Thoughts:
I love middle grade novels, but I can’t read too many of them in a row. I definitely need to read something more challenging in between to break them up! That being said, there were some really great ones in here.

Amal Unbound was fantastic, and I can’t wait to find a way to incorporate it in my classroom. For anyone inspired by the life and courage of Malala Yousafzai, this would be a great one to check out!

A surprise five-star read for me was Authentically Mexican: A Family History in Six Dishes. This is a short audiobook (just over an hour) that I got for free on Audible, so I wasn’t really expecting much. However, for such a short book it really makes an impact! I love how the author explores his culture and identity through food and discovers what it means to be authentically himself.

As for the books that I didn’t finish, there wasn’t anything wrong for them! They just weren’t a good fit for me as a reader. The writing style of each just didn’t work for me, and I just decided to accept that that was okay and move on to something that I would get more out of.

How did your reading go in March? Any stand-out books to recommend?

Let me know in the comments! And thanks for reading (my blog, but also just in general)!