Monthly Musings: March 2015 (Erin Reads)A year and change ago, shortly after I’d returned to blogging (the time before this one, heh), I instituted something called Monthly Musings. It was meant — as you might imagine — to be a sort of end-of-month summary and reflection. Sadly, I only did one of them.

I like the format, though. Individual reviews help me remember specific books, but zooming out a bit to look at a month (or more) at once gives a different sort of perspective. So I’m giving them another go!

Reading

Here’s what happens when I stop blogging: I forget what I’ve read. Books pass through my awareness without making much of an impression. Or at least, their titles don’t stick. Sad, really. (One of the many reasons I’m back to blogging!) But let’s see if I can remember what got read in March. (Hopefully April will see proper reviews of all of these written up and posted.)

Prodigal Summer and The Gracekeepers (erinreads.com)

I started with Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. I was partway through when March began, and it was a slow (albeit incredibly enjoyable) read for me. I’ve found I can’t rush Kingsolver’s writing. I was a little surprised by how much I liked this novel — though I should’t have been, given how much I liked Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and The Poisonwood Bible (also by her).

Eventually, Prodigal Summer took up residence on my nightstand and my daytime book became The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan, an Early Reviewers ARC from LibraryThing. Review to come, but suffice it to say I was not a huge fan. It was a quick read, though, and therefore a nice complement to the Kingsolver.

Runaway and Desirable Daughters (erinreads.com)

I’ve been trying hard to read from my own shelves, so next I picked up Runaway, a collection of longish short stories by Alice Munro that crossed my path at a semi-recent library sale. It was my first by Munro, and honestly…not my favorite thing. (Why do I feel like I’m supposed to love Alice Munro? Isn’t it weird how we get these ideas stuck in our heads? Or am I the only one??)

I finished Runaway just a couple of days ago and have since been tearing my way through Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee. I didn’t love her later novel Miss New India so much, but I’m liking Desirable Daughters. Lots of culture and family dynamics, plus a bit of a mystery nestled in among all the other bits.

Listening

Audiobooks suffer the same fate as their printed counterparts when I stop blogging. But here are at least a couple of the audiobooks I spent time with in March!

Driving the King & The Count of Monte Cristo (erinreads.com)

I started Driving the King by Ravi Howard on our trip to Hawaii in the first week of March. Actually, to be honest, I drifted off to sleep with it playing in my headphones on the plane — not because the book was boring (far from it) but because I was exhausted (up at 3am for an early flight)! I restarted it when I got home and really enjoyed it. The main character is solid, and the reader is fantastic. Another LibraryThing Early Reviewers book, still to be reviewed.

Then, because my digital hold came in at the library, I started the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo, written by Alexandre Dumas (who apparently had crazy hair) and read by John Lee — all 45+ hours of it! I think I’ve made it a third of the way, perhaps. It’s very good — surprisingly good — but I’ve run out of time on the hold, which for some unknown reason is only two weeks for digital titles. Back on the list I go.

Writing

There hasn’t been much writing on this site lately. The only thing I’ve posted in 2015 was a recent Sunday Salon entitled Why Blog? in which I talked through my own blogging journey and my reasons for blogging. I’d love to hear about yours, if you’d care to share.

I did, however, spend a few days (during Bloggiesta, though I didn’t realize it at the time!) redoing this site. Goodbye, blue and orange. Hello, purple and red and grey!

Miscellany

I love book bloggers and readers. You guys are the best. Thank you for still being awesome, despite my recent blogging flakiness.

Your Turn!

That was my March. How was yours?

Join the Conversation

8 Comments

  1. Belated welcome back to the world of book blogging! I think your design is updated? Maybe? Point being, I love it. I haven’t listened to an audio book in ages. I’ve been much more into podcasts, but I’m not sure why. Something about no sustained attention span, I think.

    1. Thanks! On both counts! Yes, new design. It was way past time 🙂

      I definitely go through podcast phases too. I sort of binge on them, getting my nonfiction fix, then I need to switch gears back to audiobooks (usually fiction) for a while. I’ve been on an audiobook kick lately.

      Any favorite podcasts I should check out? Often my podcast kicks end because I’ve run out of episodes and shows.

  2. The same happens to me. When I do not have lists of the stuff I have read/seen/listened to I can easily forget the names and the authors. I think this is a common problem for all people who are deeply into this process – process of permanent search of new impressions. Recently I started to write about films and books so I understand you absolutely!

    1. Ooh…I love this phrase: “process of permanent search for new impressions.” More and more, I’ve been thinking of writing and sharing thoughts on books as a way of engaging more deeply and making them stick, giving them a shape I can go back to. Capturing those new impressions and preserving them in a meaningful way. Very cool.

  3. My March started strong, but then petered out because I didn’t do my best budgeting, so I’d spent most of the month’s money by the end of the first week, and I had to be extra-thrifty the whole rest of the month. Not a ton of hijinks, therefore! But plenty of reading — when you can’t go out anywhere, it makes it easy to stay in with a book!

    1. I’ve been pleasantly surprised so far! I really liked the part right after he escaped and was rewarding his friends. It’s dragging a bit now, but I’m sure it’ll pick up again. Probably the mandated break forced by the library’s digital loan period is a good thing.

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