March Reading Update

 So once again, I have fallen off the book review bandwagon. And I'm so far behind now, I'm not sure I will ever catch up. I'm not saying the reviews won't come back, but I have a lot of things I need to ponder, including how I come up with my rating. So we shall see if those return.

That said, my numbers for the month just keep going up. So far, the last three months, each total for the month read has been more than the month before. I created a new tracking sheet to compare the numbers month to month and give myself an overall and average number, which only makes that more visually obvious. It's really kind of exciting. 

I have also decided, as of April, I am allowed to start one new series for each series I finish that month. Which means, as of right now, I get to start two new series this month. And I've already got the first of the Simon Snow books on hold at the library. I'm pretty sure I'm going to love the series, so I can't wait to get my grubby hands on Carry On already. I also added Shadow and Bone because I would like to read those before I watch the new Netflix show.

Now on to my update for March. I read a total of thirty-four books, Did Not Finish two, and finished nine series. Twenty-nine of those books were Audio, and five were ebooks. One of the books I DNF'd was the graphic novel I was trying to read, because the binding was so bad it was falling apart. I wanted to read it, but I couldn't in that format, so I'm considering my options on that one, but have moved on to a new graphic novel. My top three genres were Romance, Fantasy, and Supernatural (I read a lot of vampire books last month). Of the authors I read, five were male, and 30 were female. The main characters were about evenly mixed, with 29 guys and 27 girls, with lots of books featuring both guys and girls. Of the books I read, 14 featured some form of LGBT content, and 7 had non-white central characters. I definitely need to up both of those, really. At the very least the first I can push harder for LGBT in June. The intended audience for the books I read: two were kids' books (Alexander for the win!), three were middle grade, fourteen were YA, one was new adult, and seventeen were adult. And that is the first time any of those categories were bigger than YA, which I also find interesting.

I got to several of my new-release books in March, but the newest was one of the two of my most-anticipated that has come out: A Vow so Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer, which came out at the end of January. Short version review: I loved it. I had some quibbles about some of it, but I think if you enjoyed the first two books, it's definitely an enjoyable conclusion. The oldest book I read was the second of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, called Searching for Dragons by Patricia C Wrede, which came out back in 1993. I'm putting this series in my middle grade grouping, as it's very young in feeling, and the romance is minimal at best. It's a very cute series, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in an old middle-grade series centered on dragons and magic.

I actually started March listening to a version of my favorite book of all time in radio Drama format: Good Omens. Not quite like reading the book, but it's great, and has an actor I am particularly fond of as one of the characters. If you're curious, I highly recommend it. But, since I have already read it before, and it wasn't precisely a book, I had to go with the new books I read in March, so my favorite book of the month is another Anne Bishop: The Shadow Queen, which is about establishing a new court in one of the lands after the events of the Black Jewels trilogy. Short non-spoilery review: I love this world. It feels like a place I want to live in, even if I would be a non-magic person in that world. Especially after the events of the Trilogy. Runners up for the month: The King of Crows by Libba Bray (owch), The Chosen by JR Ward (yum), and Lake Silence by Anne Bishop (fun!). I highly recommend them all.

Now on to my current reading:

• Asterix Omnibus #4 by Goscinny & Underzo (19%)
• Dearest Ivie (Black Dagger Brotherhood 15.5) by JR Ward (10%)
• How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air #3.5) by Holly Black (haven't actually started yet, but I will tonight, and it's a short, so it won't take me long to finish, either)
• The King of Forever (Scarlet and the White Wolf #4) by Kirby Crow (10%)

Except for the Omnibus, they're all short, so none of them will take me long to finish, I think. And with the King of Elfhame, I'm done with that series, so I'll get to choose a third to start. I think I'll choose either Space Opera by Catherynne M Valente (comedy/sci fi, I believe), Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake (YA/dark fantasy), or The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher (steampunk). Have you read any of them? Did you love them? Did you hate them? Do you want to read one or all of these? Which would you most recommend?

At the library, my next five books (according to their numbers) are:

• Talking to Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles #4) by Patricia C Wrede
• Carry On (Simon Snow #1) by Rainbow Rowell
• Doomsday Book (Oxford Time Travel #1) by Connie Willis (though this is a first book, I read the follow up book, so it's not a new series to me, but I enjoyed the second so much that I had to read this one, too)
• Twilight's Dawn (Black Jewels #9) by Anne Bishop (I need to remember to buy a fresh box of hankies for this one, I think?)
• Iron Gold (Red Rising #4) by Pierce Brown

Of those, the one I'm looking forward to is Carry On. I know so much and yet nothing really at all about this series. I'm trying to go in as blind as I can. We shall see. Rowell is one of those authors whose books I see everywhere and find that I'm fascinated by her story ideas, so I am hoping she might become a new favorite author. We shall see.

As of this morning, I have finished four books already this month, and by the end of the weekend that might be at six or even seven. We shall see. So what is everyone else reading? Did you have a great book that has become a new favorite this year?