March Reads in Review, 2011

If you look real hard, you can see why I used a firetruck for my March Reads in Review post. Unfortunately, the print is tinier than expected. For those who can't see the itty-bitty print, I took the sign at the bottom of the truck that says "STAY BACK 500 FT." and changed it to "LOOK BACK 1 MONTH". I didn't want to use another cat or rear-view mirror photo, you see. I know . . . silly. But, fun. I never have managed to outgrow my love of firetrucks.

My March Reads (with links to my reviews):

31. The Mental Floss History of the United States - Eric Sass

32. The Butt Book - Bennett & Lester

33. Christian the Lion - Bourke & Rendall

34. It Happened One Bite - Lydia Dare

35. The Mountains Bow Down by Sibella Giorello

36. If I Stay - Gayle Forman

37. Where She Went - Gayle Forman

38. Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese

39. Between Shades of Gray - Ruta Sepetys

40. Staying at Daisy's - Jill Mansell

41. Strangers - Taichi Yamada

42. Home to Woefield - Susan Juby

March was a super month! While I only read a dozen books, I liked or loved every single one of them. This is my goal in 2011 -- to at least like every book I read and love the rest. I've had several Did Not Finish books (recently, not just in March) that I'll describe in another post.

My absolute favorite read in March was Home to Woefield. An ebullient, likable heroine combined with an uplifting theme and a bunch of wacky characters, a compelling storyline, lots of laughs . . . an all-around terrific combination, in my opinion, made the book an easy favorite. I absolutely loved Home to Woefield.

Staying at Daisy's and It Happened One Bite were also delightful, happy reads, as is the children's book, The Butt Book. Christian the Lion was also full of smiles, a tender story about the lion of YouTube fame for the middle-reader crowd.

Besides Christian, The Mental Floss History of the United States was my only other nonfiction read. Massively entertaining and easily digestible, I enjoyed it so much that I spaced the reading out over about 3 months before deciding I probably ought to wrap it up.

I enjoyed the companion YA titles If I Stay and Where She Went. I'd heard If I Stay is "tragic" but I was pleased that it had an uplifting ending and liked the fact that it wasn't intended to spawn a second book so it was nicely wrapped up. Where She Went is similarly emotional and uplifting.

Between Shades of Gray is even more heart-rending, a YA about Lithuanians who were transported to Siberia by Stalin. Harsh as it is, the book is a great addition to WWII fiction and I especially loved the strength and grace of the young heroine's mother. Another very emotional read is The Mountains Bow Down, a mystery set on a cruise ship to Alaska. I'm not a big fan of mysteries, but I love this particular series for its very human heroine and endings that I have not yet come even vaguely close to figuring out before I get to them.

My two most surprising reads of the month were Strangers and Cutting for Stone. I avoided Cutting for Stone for quite some time and was stunned how much I enjoyed it and how engrossing it was. Strangers was fascinating because I've never read an Asian ghost story and was surprised by the cultural difference between Asian and Western tales about apparitions.

Since April is in its final week, I need to crank out a few reviews, this week, and try to get myself caught up. So far, I think I've tied March at a dozen reads, but I'm on the verge of finishing The Winter Ghosts and I'm sure I'll squeeze something else in before the month ends. How is your reading going, this month?

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