Hi and welcome to another monthly overview!
Guys, what a month, and I’m sure you’ll understand I mean that in the worst possible way. While the coronavirus has not (yet) struck me or anyone I know personally, it is a constant worry. When shit hit the fan and the country went into lockdown, I found myself unable to relax and unable to read. Instead of being glued to my book on my lunchbreaks, I found myself talking to my colleagues (ugh, the horror 😉). Instead of being glued to my book in the evenings, I was glued to the telly, watching news bulletins, anxious and desperate in equal measure to find out more. So yeah, March wasn’t exactly the best reading month I’ve ever had…
My department at work was split into two teams, which means I have to go into the office every other week, which is quite frankly still quite terrifying and work in the first week after the lockdown was a positively bonkers in every conceivable way. I did have last week off, which was so very welcome because I really needed the breather. And since the weather was on my side for once, I spent many an hour working in the garden, listening to audiobooks, so I did manage to get through more books than I thought I would.
I’m also happy to report that I managed to read another Spanish book, and even though I read a bit less, I did read some really good books.
In figures March looks like this:
March
Novels: 4752 pages over 16 books
Audiobooks: 52 hours over 7 audiobooks
And here’s what I did last month, and some of what I’ll be posting this month:
What I read (full novels):
An Exhibition of Murder, Vivian Conroy
Never Have I Ever, L.V. Hay
The House Guest, Mark Edwards (review to follow)
The Forever House, Tim Waggoner
Rules For Perfect Murders, Peter Swanson
Two Lives (Tales of Life, Love and Crime), A Yi
Schijndood (Burned – Henning Juul 1), Thomas Enger
Little Disasters, Sarah Vaughan (review to follow)
Fantoompijn (Pierced – Henning Juul 2), Thomas Enger
La Cámara Sangriente, Angela Carter
The Mercies, Kiran Millwood Hargrave (review to follow)
Bloedmist (Scarred – Henning Juul 3) – Thomas Enger
The City We Became, N. K. Jemisin (review to follow)
The Passengers You Cannot See, The Behrg (review to follow)
Sister, Kjell Ola Dahl (review to follow)
The Shadows Between Us, Tricia Levenseller
What I listened to:
Forensics, Val McDermid
Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
The Boy On the Bridge, M.R. Carey
Where Roses Never Die, Gunnar Staalesen
We Shall Inherit the Wind, Gunnar Staalesen
The Wives, Tarryn Fisher
Good Girls Lie, J.T. Ellison
What I read earlier but reviewed in March:
Witches Sail in Eggshells, Chloe Turner
Full Throttle, Joe Hill
The Perfect Sister, Sheryl Browne
The Guest List, Lucy Foley
The Creak on the Stairs, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir
The Other People, C.J. Tudor
Last month I also did my very first cover reveal, and shortly after, I did another one, I hosted a message on Soot by Dan Vyleta, I unboxed the FairyLoot February box, I did a blog tour spotlight on Venators and I shared two extracts: Mexico Street and Deep Dark Night.
Despite everything I hope you had a good month and that you are safe and well! Thanks for joining me today and happy reading xxx
Wow! Your ‘slow’ reading month surpassed my fast one. I too have been emotionally fragile throughout this traumatic and unprecedented time. Although not affecting the health of my family, it has certainly affected our emotions and has had a drastic change to our finances and our everyday life.
Stay safe Kelly.
Thanks Lynne. I had a great first half of the month and then a really bad week and in the end they kind of evened out 😄 Strange though it is, I’m slowly getting used to the current situation. I’ve also stopped watching the news, I pick up snippets left and right but I’m no longer glued to the news bulletins and it’s helping, I’m less anxious and I’m feeling a bit more stable and little less fragile, and I’m able to enjoy books again. I’m happy to hear you and your family are still healthy, but yes even so, we’re all taking a hit one way or another. Take care of yourself and your loved ones, Lynne, wishing you all the best xx
Wow. You’ve read so much! How do you do it and work too?
Thank you 😊 I’m usually a fast reader and I spend a lot of my time reading. On average I can manage about 40 to 50 pages on my lunch break at work, and at least that much in the evenings. I read more on my days off and on the weekends. And I’m pretty much constantly listening to audiobooks. But however much I read I never seem to catch up with my TBR 😅
Wow still better than my slow month I’ve only only manged 7 books a mix of audio and print books.xx
I hope you got to enjoy them, Nicki, which is much more important than a number! I’m usually a fast reader but for about a week and a half I felt like I went at a snail’s pace. It took me a whole week to read one book, and it wasn’t even that big a book, that never happens. But I had a few great weeks before that so in the end March was not that bad a bookish month 😊