March Reading Wrap Up

March Reading Wrap Up

Welcome to my March reading wrap-up:

The total of books I read in March was: 11

Of these: 4 were Library Books, 4 were E-books and 3 were from my physical TBR pile

Then: Out of the books I read I discovered 5 ‘new for me’ authors (i.e. the first time I have read their work).

And: 8 of the books read were written by Australian authors.

Best Book of the month: March was a good reading month for me – not so much in quantity but certainly in quality. I actually had four ‘A’ reads – I give ‘A’s (or 5 stars) to books that regardless of genre are complete page turners for me, that have me reading late into the night, suck me straight into the story and leaves me wanting more at the end; and I utterly recommend it. If I give a high score to a book it means it is a top example of whatever genre it belongs to. The genres that made it into my top 4 were quite mixed and ranged from two edge of your seat Mystery/Thriller and YA Dystopian books contrasted nicely with two settle in with a glass of wine for a fun read Romance and Hens Lit. The books were Tell the Truth by Katherine Howell, The Last Place by Michael Adams, Road to Hope by Rachael Johns and last but by no means least Not Quite Nice by Celia Imrie. All four are top of their respective genre and are all highly recommended as such – but overall my book of the month was THE LAST PLACE by Michael Adams because I expected so much from it being the final book in a YA Dystopian Trilogy and the author did not let me down.

Least Favourite Book(s):

I say ‘least favourite’ because my lowest ‘score’ still means it is very readable, but for one reason or another I found it a bit of struggle to stay focused and finish. I only struggled with a couple of books this month and my least favourite was Lost and Found by Brooke Davis

Having said this, both of the books have received glowing reviews elsewhere, they just weren’t for me at this point of time – and this is just my personal opinion and you may find that they may very well be right for you.

General Summary:

Because I am an eclectic reader I read many different genres, sometimes at the same time! This month the different genres covered were Young Adult, Romance, Hens Lit (chick lit but with older more mature women playing the starring roles), Mystery, Dystopian, Historical (set over 50 years ago), Contemporary Fiction (set in the last 50 years) and non-fiction. Some of the books were a blend of two or more genre.

The 8 Australian authors for March were 4 of the new-for-me authors Brooke Davis, Meredith Appleyard, Suzanna Clarke and Tammy Calder; along with Rachael Johns, Michael Hill, Katherine Howell and Colleen McCullough. Just to clarify an Australian author is defined by me as either an Australian born author no matter where they live and write in the world now, or an author who currently lives and writes in Australia even though they have been born elsewhere.

Finally, the 5 ‘new-for-me’ authors this month were my Aussie authors Brooke Davis, Meredith Appleyard, Suzanna Clarke and Tammy Calder; along with Celia Imrie and I would happily read all of these new authors again.

Interesting book related links that I’ve come across this month:

A question I frequently get asked is ‘Why do you like reading so much?’ And it is actually a hard question to answer because I don’t know – I just do. I can no more not read than I am not able to choose not to breathe. If push comes to shove I would possible admit that it is a form of escapism – relaxing, not work, diverting and distracts me from the sometimes awful reality of event around the planet I have no choice but to live on. I found a few web sites that focus on this subject:

• Adrian from Seekers Portal gives us 10 reasons why he loves reading

• Pew Research Centre tells us that these are the reasons people like to read

• Children from around the world also tell us why they like reading

• Lastly – here are 10 reasons why reading saves your life

Come on now, what more reasons do you need to pick that book up right now!

The List

So let’s get onto what this post is about – what did I read during March? Here is the list of books that I read during the last month (each group is in the order I read them):

A = Excellent Stuff – a real page turner and hard to put down

Tell the Truth by Katherine Howell – Mystery

The Last Place by Michael Adams – YA Dystopian

Road to Hope by Rachael Johns – Rural Romance

Not Quite Nice by Celia Imrie – Hens Lit

B = Really Good Read

The Country Practice by Meredith Appleyard – Romance

The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough – Historical

Possessed: His Ghostly Game by Tammy Calder – Romance

C = Above Average – very readable and enjoyable

Paint by Jennifer Dance – Historical

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler – Contemporary

D = Average – it was OK, a bit of a struggle to finish

Lost and Found by Brooke Davis – Contemporary Fiction

A House in Fez by Suzanna Clarke – Non-Fiction

So onward to April –Woo Hoo! I wonder what book goodies I will discover this month?

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