March Wrap-Up

At the beginning of March, I attended a liberation theology class at my church and borrowed a book from my pastor’s library with every intention of giving it back.

At the beginning of April, I am in lockdown in my studio apartment.

…what the hell happened?

March Happenings

Coronavirus is here and it’s really serious.

Almost every single business in my neighborhood has shut down until further notice.

Surprise! I didn’t get a whole lot of reading done this month, what with daily anxiety and losing my job and all.

Actually, regarding that last bit: I’ve been furloughed and given a return date.

I’m still without an income (aside from unemployment) until then.

I haven’t begun to panic yet. Work for the last few weeks was incredibly stressful, so I’m glad to be away from that stress for now. Financially, I’m okay for the next month at least.

And, to be honest, it’s nice not having the cloud of a potential layoff hanging over me anymore.

Even so, my sleep schedule is all over the place and I’m having nightmares.

I spend most of my days playing video games, knitting, and listening to podcasts, with a little bit of reading squeezed in there if I’m feeling up to it.

All I want to do is reread old books. Nothing else appeals to me.

I am this close to bingeing The Lunar Chronicles and Astro Poets.

Not a lot else has happened. My dad was hospitalized earlier in the month; he’s out now and catching up on The Good Place.

That’s it. That was the entire month of March.

On to stats.

March Stats

In the month of March, I completed 8 books.

Of the books I read,

• 75% were fiction
• 25% were non-fiction
• 87.5% were new books
• 12.5% were rereads
• 25% were Young Adult
• 75% were Adult

SERIOUSLY, THOUGH. WHO AM I?

ALL I DO IS READ ADULT LITERATURE, APPARENTLY.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF THIS.

Here is my genre breakdown for the month.

I CANNOT accept that I dedicated so much of my month to classic, literary, and historical fiction.

WHO AM I??????

Notable Books

I…did not like Little Women.

Like…at all. (Sorry, Mom.)

The things that impressed me – the memorable characters, the (relatively) diverse female cast, the writing style in the first half – were completely ruined for me by the heavy-handed moralism.

Reading this book took me back to the outdated values of my childhood church. Nothing says evangelicalism like traditional gender roles and shame, RIGHT!?

I was LIVID while reading this book. Louisa May Alcott really seemed to despise her characters.

FOR EXAMPLE, she gives Laurie and Amy a sickly child at the end because she feels they haven’t suffered enough.

WHAT KIND OF THEOLOGY IS THIS?

I thought this book was awful and dangerous, so I gave it one star.

I’m not sorry.

 

I ALSO really hated Robin McKinley’s Beauty (though not quite as much as I hated Little Women.)

The set-up takes ALMOST HALF THE BOOK and adds NOTHING to the story.

WHO CARES THAT BEAUTY’S FAMILY LOST ITS FORTUNE AND HAD TO MOVE IN WITH A HORSE?

Then the main relationship, set up as a beautiful love story, checked EVERY SINGLE BOX FOR EMOTIONAL ABUSE.

I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS.

HOW could McKinley have written my favorite book of the year AND this awful horror story?

 

A lot of people didn’t like Red Hood.

I LOVED it.

I am not above a revenge narrative. If I could prevent wolves from attacking girls, I would.

Other readers disagreed, because not all men are wolves.

Your mileage may vary.

The book tackles rape culture and features graphic violence and sex scenes, so proceed with that knowledge.

The only part of this book I didn’t love was the climax. I thought the story was setting up one villain but it went with another one.

That choice took the story from daring to typical.

 

I READ AND LIKED A HISTORICAL FICTION NOVEL. TELL YOUR FRIENDS.

You may remember that I received this book in my Books That Matter March box.

Things a Bright Girl Can Do ended up being more about WWI than women’s suffrage, but I was still into it!

Sadly, I felt like the narrative didn’t adequately call out one of the characters. They were given (in my view) WAY too much slack.

The ending of this book, though, was perfectly hopeful.

I was moved.

Highly recommend this book for light historical reading.

 

On the OPPOSITE END OF THE SPECTRUM, we have Beloved.

Once I finished this book, I felt like the journey was worth it.

However, I never want to read it again.

This is the first Toni Morrison book I’ve read and the horror was masterful.

I’d like to read another book of hers.

Governor Inslee just extended Washington’s stay-at-home order to May 4, so WHO KNOWS HOW THIS MONTH IS GOING TO GO.

I’m hoping to read more books…

…and post more often…

…and respond to all your comments.

Baby steps.

Happy April, all.

We’ll get through this.