Now that March 310th has passed, it seems we’re all looking forward to April 300th, when life will hopefully begin to return to something like normal. For my own part, I’m looking forward to the end of my home city’s directed health measures, which ban groups of more than 10 in any situation, have moved restaurants to takeout or delivery only, and have closed salons and barbershops. These measures are scheduled to end on May 60th.

It’s going to be a long month, y’all. Stay healthy.

 

What I Read in March:

1. The Ruin of Kings (A Chorus of Dragons #1) by Jenn Lyons
2. Seven Deadly Shadows by Courtney Alameda and Valynne E. Maetani
3. Night of the Dragon (Shadow of the Fox #3) by Julie Kagawa, ARC provided by NetGalley
4. The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Steven Pinker, audiobook narrated by Arthur Morey
5. Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo
6. The Age of Witches by Louisa Morgan, ARC provided by NetGalley
7. Ladyhawke by Joan D. Vinge
8. Dragons and Unicorns: A Natural History by Paul A. Johnsgard and Karin Johnsgard
9. Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision by David duChemin
10. The Sagas of Icelanders by various, preface by Jane Smiley

Statistically speaking:

• 60% of the books were written by women, 20% were written by men, and 20% were written by both.
• 80% were written by Americans, 10% were written by Canadian authors, and 10% were written by Icelandic authors.
• 90% of the books were written in English, and just 10% were works in translation
• 70% were physical books, 20% were ebooks, and 10% were audiobooks.
• 40% were fantasy novels, 30% were YA fantasy, 20% were nonfiction, and 10% were sagas
• 70% were from my own shelves, 20% were from NetGalley, and 10% were from the library. Thanks, Covid-19 for shutting down the libraries…
• The original publication dates ranged from the 1200s up to 2020.

In an unusual twist, the YA fantasies were my favorites of the month: Seven Deadly Shadows, Night of the Dragon, and Six of Crows. The worst book of March was The Ruin of Kings, which has aspirations of greatness but ended up being a muddled mess of confusing timelines and long discussions of family lineages.

 

What I Plan to Read in April:

I’m carrying over three books from March: The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel, and The Golden Wolf by Linnea Hartsuyker. Historical fiction is the flavor of the month, and I couldn’t tell you why. Isn’t fantasy usually the escapist genre? And here I am reading about the dramatic lives of the past.

• Hopkins: Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins
• Rilke’s Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy
• Amberlough (The Amberlough Dossier #1) by Lara Elena Donnelly
• The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick

The two poetry books are full of beautiful, melodramatic poems that are pure escapism for me. I’m continuing the historical fiction trend with The Game of Kings, which is the beginning of the Lymond Chronicles, and The Forever Queen. I know I’ve had The Forever Queen on my monthly TBR for the past few months, but I’ll have extra time in April and no library visits, so I’ll at least start it.

About That Writing Thing:

I posted Part 1 of my novella to AO3 on Sunday, and I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from it- mostly people thanking me for coming back to the series, even after all this time. Reading every new comment is a happy-making moment, which just makes me more excited to keep writing. I still have to write Part 5, and possibly a Part 6, but I know exactly where I want to go with them, so I’m not worried about getting them done. Especially now that I have more time than usual on my hands.

While I’m still working through the pandemic (for now, unless the governor puts the state under a stay-at-home directive), I have fewer hours and four-day weeks until we get through this. Fortunately, I have plenty of things to do at home to help keep my mind off all the uncertainty, so as long as I can stop myself from endlessly scrolling through the news on my phone.