All About Books discussion

What books are you thinking of reading in March? You can share them here.

TBR:
Spider's Trap
Bitter Bite
A Pirate of Her Own
Dreamfever
Feast of Fools
Magic Strikes
Indelible
Some Girls Bite

New Releases:
Silence Fallen
Immortal Unchained

Read-a-longs:
The Canterbury Tales
Rajmund
Cycle of the Werewolf

Yikes, March looks busy! Already got 2 books done early too!

Pretty sure the list will be:
LaRose
How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World
The Sympathizer
Everything You Want Me to Be
All the Missing Girls

Little Women

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Decoded: The Full Text of Lewis Carroll's Novel with its Many Hidden Meanings Revealed

Ulysses

Live the Best Story of Your Life: A World Champion's Guide to Lasting Change

Dangerous

The Ruling Elite: The Zionist Seizure of World Power

Heidi

Crooked Kingdom

Heartless

The Girl On The Train

Throne of Glass

I'm going to be doing a themed reading month in March: The Irish!
I was inspired to do this because I'll spend my summer holiday on the island, and of course it is St. Patrick's Day in March. So I want to pick up books from my tbr from irish autors. Here's what I got:
- Dubliners by James Joyce (and a potential reread of Ulysses)
- Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
- An Utterly Impartial History Of Britain by John O'Farrell

I might throw in some library books if I'm in the mood.

Probably:

Group Reads:

(finish) The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst
(finish) Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
(re-read) A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
(re-read) 1984 by George Orwell

Readalongs:

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

Drama Theme:

Creditors by August Strindberg

Free Reads:

The Fox by D.H. Lawrence
(re-read) The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Non-fiction:
Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, Russia, 1917 – A World on the Edge by Helen Rappaport 3 stars read
Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities by Bettany Hughes 5 stars read
Black Cloud: The Deadly Hurricane of 1928 by Eliot Kleinberg 4 stars read
Find Me a New Way to Die: Edith Piaf - The Untold Story by David Bret 3 stars read
Rose Kennedy: The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch by Barbara A. Perry 3 stars read

Fiction:
The Temporary Gentleman by Sebastian Barry 4 stars read
Saigon: An Epic Novel of Vietnam by Anthony Grey DNF 1 star
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark 3 stars read
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West 4 stars read
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster 4 stars read

See message 39 for other books read this month.

Finishing The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit and still trying to find my copy of Arctic Dreams

Starting The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny
Coast Range, Essays I am excited about
Moscow Nights: The Van Cliburn Story-How One Man and His Piano Transformed the Cold War, and
Nabokov's Favorite Word Is Mauve: What the Numbers Reveal About the Classics, Bestsellers, and Our Own Writing
At the End of the World: A True Story of Murder in the Arctic.

First off I want to continue -

Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark 2.5 stars
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness 5 stars

Group reads -
Within a Budding Grove Abandoned for now and maybe forever!
The Canterbury Tales 4 stars
Beloved 4 stars

Buddy reads -
Ulysses currently listening
Doctor Zhivago decided to read later
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions 2 stars

Challenge books -
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 3 stars
Tender Is the Night 4 stars

Probably ...

The Living Mountain (reread)
Walking Home: A Poet's Journey
In Pursuit of Spring
Animals Strike Curious Poses
The Hills of Wales

Diane S ☔ wrote: "Coast Range: A Collection from the Pacific Edge, Essays I am excited about"

I'm looking forward to these too! Not published yet in the UK, but coming soon.

I will be finishing up my current books first:
Within a Budding Grove for our group Proust challenge
Night Waking
The Orenda (abandoned)
Howards End

Other than those, I have a few definites:
The Poisonwood Bible
Ennui
The Moving Finger {reread via audiobook}
Eugénie Grandet
The Horse and His Boy {reread via audiobook}

and some maybes:
Empire Falls
The Turquoise Lament
The Zebra-Striped Hearse
and I'd like to read another Discworld book -- maybe Soul Music or Pyramids

Leslie wrote: "I will be finishing up my current books first:
Within a Budding Grove for our group Proust challenge
Night Waking
The Orenda
Howards End

Oth..."

Any interest in a readalong of The Moving Finger Leslie? I could go for a fun mystery on audiobook. Work is so stressful lately!

Sure Greg! I have the audiobook from the library so it needs to be in the next 14 days, but other than that I am flexible about the timing. I expect it to be a fairly quick book to read/listen to...

And if you have any interest in rereading the Narnia books via audio, I can point you to a free set. They are also good listening for when you are stressed as I can attest!

I want to finish:
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower

I will also read:
The Waves which I was supposed to read in February.
If Beale Street Could Talk
The Poisonwood Bible
The Remains of the Day

If I'm done with those I may read:
Sula and/or
Americanah

Here's what I have on the stack for the immediate future:

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis just became available from the library, so I'm starting it today.
Idaho was just sitting on the library's new-releases shelf, so I snatched it up.
1984 is the subject of a group read I'm participating in, so I'll definitely be reading it.

Other likelihoods:

I'll try to finally finish up Swann's Way. I finished Part 1 and set it aside so I wouldn't get too bogged down. Definitely plan to finish it this month.
I expect I'll also get to Book 6 of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, Song of Susannah
I'm thinking I'll also read Stephen Hawking's Universe, which would be the first in a challenge I'm doing this year where I read five books that contain the word "universe" in their title.

I hope to finish both Within a Budding Grove and Her Royal Spyness (this one is a given).

I'd also like to read The Enchanted and perhaps A Town Like Alice.

Leslie wrote: "Sure Greg! I have the audiobook from the library so it needs to be in the next 14 days, but other than that I am flexible about the timing. I expect it to be a fairly quick book to read/listen to....."


Fun Leslie! I'll pick up the audiobook from Audible and can start Monday if that works. :)

Greg wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Sure Greg! I have the audiobook from the library so it needs to be in the next 14 days, but other than that I am flexible about the timing. I expect it to be a fairly quick book to r..."

Sounds great!

Petra wrote: "I hope to finish both Within a Budding Grove and Her Royal Spyness (this one is a given).

I'd also like to read The Enchanted and perhaps [book:A Town..."

I have not read that one by Shute, and I'm curious to see what you think, if you get to it.

My plans for March
1984
Lock In
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

Maybe I will finish the second book of The Complete Maus

Esther, Wild Swans I adored. I read it ages ago but absolutely loved it. For me it is the best of all those historical fiction books set in China. Well it sort of feels that way.

Esther wrote: "My plans for MarchMaybe I will finish the second book of The Complete Maus"

One day into the month and I have thrown my plans out the window. The train station library had Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls> I love Sedaris' readings and have wanted to try his books for ages so I couldn't resist!

Chrissie wrote: "Esther, Wild Swans I adored. I read it ages ago but absolutely loved it. For me it is the best of all those historical fiction books set in China. Well it sort of feels that way."
I have had a mini-obsession with China since the discovery of the Terracotta Warriors in 1974. This year we are taking a trip for our 25th wedding anniversary so I am getting into 'the mood'.

Esther wrote: "I have had a mini-obsession with China since the discovery of the Terracotta Warriors in 1974. This year we are taking a trip for our 25th wedding anniversary so I am getting into 'the mood'. "

Congratulations. You are going to have so much fun! Chinese food is my favorite. I saw the terracotta warriors in Hamburg.

Chrissie wrote: "I have had a mini-obsession with China since the discovery of the Terracotta Warriors in 1974. This year we are taking a trip for our 25th wedding anniversary so I am getting into 'the mood'. "

Congratulations and what a wonderful trip!

About China I loved The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck if you haven't read it yet.
I liked also Life and Death are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan and this was also a funny read. But I liked also a collection of short stories by him, but they weren't funny at all, they were depressing depicting the life of peasants.

(I'm hating GR even more right now seen that they still didn't fix my account so the books I've read in 2016 have still missing ratings and reviews, and aren't yet in the right shelf so I'm getting crazy to find them. Argh!)

dely wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "I have had a mini-obsession with China since the discovery of the Terracotta Warriors in 1974. This year we are taking a trip for our 25th wedding anniversary so I am getting into ..."

I think my mother has The Good Earth somewhere on their shelves but they are painting at present so the books are all over the place!
I also want to find time to read Christians And China, written by a distant relative who was a missionary in China.

Continuing:
Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams byRobert W. Peterson
Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples byFrancis Chan

Next on TBR:
Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

I'm so behind on my reading.

The other morning I wasn't in the mood for humour so I put aside Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls and picked up 1984. It is as good as I remember.

Esther wrote: "The other morning I wasn't in the mood for humour so I put aside Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls and picked up 1984. It is as good as I remember."

I plan to re-read 1984 soon Esther.

Greg wrote: "I plan to re-read 1984 soon Esther. ..."

I read it so long ago when I was so much younger I was worried it wouldn't seem as good. So far I am just as impressed as I was then.

Group reads
The Poisonwood Bible

others planned
The Sandman: Overture - I never got around to reading this when it came out, but I'm almost done rereading the main series, so I hope to read this soon
The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (reread)
Days of Glory by Brian M. Stableford
Everfair by Nisi Shawl
Julius Caesar

Pink, I saw that you gave A Tree Grows in Brooklyn three stars. I loved the book when I was a kid but when I reread it, nope, all I could manage to give it was three stars too.

That's interesting. I loved the first section, when Francie was a young girl, but by halfway something just wasn't working. It had all the right elements, but I wanted the end to hurry up, whereas a good book will have me absorbed and wanting more.

have you read it only once, Pink?

Yes it was my first time. As I said, I loved the start, thought it was a 5 star worthy book, but with the switch to different characters and time periods I lost interest. Then somewhere around the halfway mark I started to think I could see where it was heading and became impatient for it to finish. It's clearly a good book, just something was lacking for me personally. I think it's more of an American school classic, as I'd never heard of it until joining goodreads a few years ago and don't know anyone that's personally read it, but it gets a LOT of love on here.

Pink, it was very popular when it came out. I think it has become dated, but if you remember it as you saw it when you first read it, maybe then a person would still give it high rating.

I will also be reading as many of these as I have time for:

Fiction:
The Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam 3 stars read
I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven 2stars read
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews 5 stars read
Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese 3 stars read

Non-fiction:
The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing 2 stars read
Picasso: Creator And Destroyer by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington 2 stars read
D DAY Through German Eyes - The Hidden Story of June 6th 1944 by Holger Eckhertz 3 stars read

See Message 8 for other books read this month.