In March, I finally started to feel restless with the routines of winter. I found myself looking forward to spring, stepping out to stand in the sunshine during our week of "false spring" weather, and enjoying being warmed. Now I feel it in my bones: winter has gone for long enough and I'm ready for all of the sunny goodness of spring and summer.
With that I have been craving a different kind of reading experience. In winter I tend to reach for slow and quiet; moody and heavy; thought-provoking and deeply-feeling books. To frame it in terms of classics, think "Anna Karenina," "Jane Eyre," and "Count of Monte Cristo." But when the sun is shining, I lean into funny and joyful; adventurous and suspenseful; light and happy books. Think "Anne of Green Gables," "Emma," and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Pretty much anything that gets up and moves.
So that's something I want to consider when I'm making my April TBR. I'm also looking ahead to my summer reading list. Last summer I listened to only one book that would be considered a "beach read" and was so disappointed with the content and unprepared with alternatives that I shied away from the theme for the rest of the year. (Once gardening season begins there is little time for researching book recommendations). I want to look into some fun summer reads and see if I can do better this year.
Without further ado, here are my reviews for the books I read in March. It was a good reading month, for the most part. A good transition month between winter reads and spring. I did have a handful of wintery titles become available from my library holds list, of which I started and DNF'd some and passed on others. If you want to look into any of the titles I read, you can click on the image of the cover and it'll take you to the book's Amazon page.
For reference, a breakdown of my simple rating system:
DNF I didn't finish this book.
1/5 I really disliked this book.
2/5 I did not like this book.
3/5 I liked this book.
4/5 I really liked this book.
5/5 I loved this book.
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Kristin Hannah's newest book, "The Women" is about Francis "Frankie" McGrath, a young woman from an affluent SoCal family who volunteers to serve as a nurse in Vietnam. This coming of age story is beautifully written in Kristin's signature style. Her books are always so easy to read, but never fluff.
As far as content, squeamish readers need not apply for this one. Most of Frankie's experience as a trauma nurse in Vietnam is gruesome. I couldn't help but picture what I was reading, which makes this book a terrible lunch companion, but also made me feel the story more. This book had a bit more sexual and feminist talk than Hannah's norm, but was true to the most prevailing of issues at that time. One other small criticism is that I saw most of the plot twists coming, including the big one at the end. It didn't take away from my enjoyment in reading this story, but I know that annoys some people. I felt that this was a great read at the perfect time for me.
Though I've had a war-ban on my reading list for the past few years, this one was exciting and felt refreshing. I've not read a ton about Vietnam and enjoyed learning more about the war and American culture during that time. But now back to banning the overdone war stories!
My rating: 5/5
I'm chronically sensitive to stories that involve child suffering and knew that this book was likely going to be a difficult read for that reason. To lower the probability of this book giving me nightmares, I went in with a strategy: Read only in the mornings and listen at 1.7x speed while reading along with my print copy. I figured that the audio version would keep things skipping along quick enough to keep me from dwelling.
No two ways about it, this is a very tough book. It drums up many of the innate defensive instincts we have--ones that we don't normally volunteer to experience. None of us wants to think about the things this book talks about. Actually, I think that sometimes it's so jarring to be presented with them that we sort of startle and then refuse to even entertain the conversation. I know I do, anyway. I told Jeff that it feels like Cormac McCarthy came up with the idea for this book by asking himself, "What's every parent's worst nightmare? I think I'm gonna' write that story."
I listened to the Close Reads podcast as they dissected "The Road" and followed the strategy prescribed above, which I think helped me to study the book more than feel it. No doubt it's well written, no doubt it's a compelling story that asks a lot of important questions just by existing, and no doubt I will put it back in its place on my shelf and avoid reading it ever again.
Content warnings: Some language, cannibalism, severe hardship, and end of the world suspense, despair, and suffering.
My rating: 4/5
My second J. Ryan Stradal book. This is the kind of book I've been craving after a winter of slow, moody, and heavy reads. It's not fluff but is easy to read. Most of the subject matter is relatable and the setting and time are unique enough to keep you interested.
Similar to "The Lost Bookshop," this story is centered around place instead of person. In this case, the place is the Lakeside Supper Club, located in Bear Jaw Lake, Minnesota. The story of the supper club is told from multiple timelines over the course of about 70 years. People come and go; they age and marry and move away, but the supper club remains a constant in the community. I enjoyed this one less than "Kitchens of the Great Midwest" but am still very happy to have read it. I'm looking forward to reading Stradal's "The Lager Queen of Minnesota" later this summer.
My rating: 3/5
I've never watched a tennis match in my life but was compelled to listen to Andre Agassi's autobiography,"Open," after hearing from a trusted source that it is the best sports biography of all time. That's high praise!
Right out of the gate, the engaging writing style of the first chapter had me on YouTube, searching for video evidence of what I was hearing. I had to see this match! I quickly located the video of 2006's US Open and skipped along, watching as the book narrated both the clearly seen and the internal dialogue of Andre Agassi. The storytelling here was fantastic! In fact, throughout the entire reading of this story I was googling to find photos of the locations, outfits, and people being described. It's a great insider scoop of the world of tennis.
JR Moehringer, who went on to ghost write Prince Harry's autobiography, "Spare," deserves all the praise he has received for writing "Open." He managed to rope me in--a person who had little interest in tennis--and hold me in the story all the way through. Well, almost all the way. I skipped almost two whole chapters of tennis match play-by-plays toward the end. But otherwise this whole story was interesting to me!
A cool bit of info: Toward the end of this book, tennis star Steffi Graf asks Agassi what his favorite movie is and he says it's this obscure movie called "Shadowlands," and that it's about the love story of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman. Graf is so stunned that she drops her phone. She tells him that "Shadowlands" is her favorite movie as well! This seems to be the coincidence that convinces Graf to finally agree to a date with Agassi. The interesting thing is that the "Shadowlands" story just happens to be the same story covered in the book that our book club chose to read this month, and I had no idea there was a movie adaptation of it! Of course I need to watch it after I finish reading the book. Funny how things in life tie in to one another.
Content warnings: Some language, a mention of drug use.
My rating: 4/5
This book is our March book club pick. It's a fictionalized story that imagines the love story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis, using the framework of known information and the author filling out the rest with her imagination. I don't think I can give a fair review of this book. Believe me, I tried. Then I deleted it after realizing that it was anything but fair. Davidman's story paralleled someone close to me and stirred up some of my biggest past pains. It was well-written as far as fiction goes, though the dialogue was incredibly weak--often cheesy and unbelievable. My biggest gripe with this book is that it presents itself as biographical fiction and then goes on to taint the name and legacy of one of the greatest Christian writers of all time. During our book club discussion we decided that perhaps this one should have been marketed as fan fiction, since the author made up so much of their story. This includes the entirety of correspondence between Davidman and Lewis, the contents of which were troubling from a Christian perspective. As I read through Goodreads reviews, I could see that a large percentage of readers had no idea that the details included in this story were imagined by the author. That's a dangerous game to play with a real person's name and legacy.
Content warnings: There are a few instances of amorousness, a little language, and some feminism.
My rating: 1/5
And now, "Too Many Words About a Book That I Have a Lot to Say About"
This is the story of a plot of land in the north woods of Massachusetts. (My third story in 2024 that's centered around a place instead of people! Must be a popular theme in the literary world right now.) The story begins in the 1600's and takes us through the ages, to present day. We meet all of the land's inhabitants, whether human, animal, or plant. I am being careful to not spoil anything of significance, but I'll say that reading this book felt a lot like piecing together a puzzle. At first I thought it was one thing, but then it was another. This book keeps you on your toes as you quantum leap quietly and gently through time, becoming intimately familiar with this place.
As you go along in time, the story is written in a style that is true to how the people of the time would have written. So spelling, font, structure, and medium change as they actually did change in our American history. That's why the first chapter was a bit of a puzzle. I could say more about the genius way Mason used different mediums to tell this story, but I know this is already going to be a long review so I'll stop at this broad exclamation: Wow! Daniel Mason really came up with a lot of ways to make this book unique and interesting! (Haha.)
Before reading this book I saw review from one of the big name publications which said something like, "'North Woods' does everything a novel can do." I agree. It's a lot of things. However, this book isn't for everybody. Each new section is a whole different ball game, so you have to reorient yourself to meet it where it is. I think this was a fun exercise but could easily see it being confusing or tiresome for some readers.
Last, a warning for sensitive readers: content warnings include murder, suicide, death, slavery, perversion, and sexual content, in addition to covering a lot of other hard topics. This would have been a 5-star book if not for the great amount of content issues that shocked me out of the story. Not that the content is very shocking--only that my mind went, "Nope!" as I skipped past. I skipped over what I could but because of the way it is written, you don't always see it coming. It was enough times to annoy me and created a loss of trust. You can't relax when that's the case. Similar to watching an old movie with your teenagers. One that you think might have a sex scene but you're not sure. So you sit there with the remote in your hand and your mind preoccupied with being ready to skip past if it does end up materializing. Someone will make the argument that this book is trying to capture the realities of life. Each person has to decide for themselves, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who considers themselves a sensitive reader.
My rating: 4/5
Bible reading: In March I read through Deuteronomy and some of Joshua. I got a little behind the one-year schedule because I have been reading three other books about a topic that God has placed on my heart recently.
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And that was it for my March reading! My tentative April TBR is ten books long, which is never gonna' happen. I need to do another pass over it and take out any that seem too heavy. I'm looking for a month of more enjoyable reads, apart from our April book club pick, which I'll talk about in my April TBR post in a few days.
Speaking of book club, do any of my Facebook friends have recommendations for great backlist books for me to recommend to my book club friends?
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