My March Hopefuls!

I struggled to narrow down my TBR this month, I wanted to put so so many books on the list! But eventually I managed to narrow it down so let’s dive into the list.

First up I of course will be carrying on reading my chapter a day of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas along with Olivia from Olivia’s Catastrophe. We’re both really enjoying our read of this (although a little less so in recent days) and we’re excited to see where the story goes next.

Then I am finally going to finish Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. I started this damn book in 2018? 2019? I can’t remember, but it’s taken me an age to get through. I really struggled with big books back then and it shows. But now I don’t have much issue with them so I want to get this finished off! I’ve got about 150 pages of this to read (at a guess) and hopefully that’ll be it finally done and dusted!

Of course I’m wanting to do my Skulduggery Pleasant reread of Dead or Alive by Derek Landy. This is the most recent Skulduggery novel and due to Until the End having its release date pushed back the Dead Famous Readalong has matched up nicely.

I always read the Illumicrate book of the month before too. I won’t say what it is here cause spoilers, and truth be told I’ve not gotten the box yet as I write this. But I think I know what the book is and I’m excited to read it along with the Discord group at the end of the month.

Next up I want to read Super Volcanoes by Robin George Andrews which is a non-fiction book. As you might know I adore volcanology (and focused on an aspect of that for my MSc thesis) so I’m super excited to delve into this book that was gifted to me by my MIL.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab has been on my physical tbr for a few months and my overall tbr since I heard about it. So it’s high time I finally read it! I’ve heard very mixed things about this one and I’m still undecided about Schwab from the other writing I’ve read so it’ll be interesting to see with this one.

Another long time tbr-er is The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. This YA fantasy with ghosts and friendship is one that’s been raved about for years online and it’s time for me to delve in and see what I think.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman is one that I’d been putting off for a few years because of how big it is (600+ pages) but I’m vastly better with longer books now. Also I’ve heard mixed things, with some in my “real” life stating that this is a brilliant book, and some of my online bookish friends saying it’s one of the worst things they’ve ever read. Might as well dive in while the intrigue is hot!

Then I’m wanting to finally finish up a series with Cathy’s Ring by Stewart, Weisman and Brigg. This is a series I bought way back when (no seriously, in like 2013 or earlier) and I want to be able to tick off! It’s a fun series too with immortal beings and doodles on every page. This should be a nice quick read.

Second last and we’ve got I Am A Cat by Natsume Soseki which was one of the books my boyfriend got me this past Christmas. It’s the first “Japanese cat book” and he bought me three of the other books that were inspired by this one so I’m wanting to read the original first! It’s reasonably long which is a little intimidating for a translated book but I’m hoping that I’ll love it.

And finally. I own this book in paperback but I think I’m going to read it via audiobook, and that’s Champion by Marie Lu. Another finishing book in a trilogy, it would be nice to cross this one off the list and seeing as I have it on audiobook I can listen while I work.

And that’s the stupidly big tbr I’ve made for myself for March! Do you think I’ll manage it? Have you read any of these? What books do you want to read in March? Let me know in the comments!!

Revisiting my March 2020 tbr: did I read them?

March last year. Well, that was a helluva month that still seems to be going on. But regardless, I thought that today we could take a look at the tbr I set myself back then and see if I’ve managed to read all the books! (you can see my original tbr video here).

At first glance, I’ve only set myself 5 books to read, so fingers crossed! (although with me that means literally nothing lol).

First up, The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland.

This is the first book in an Arthurian retelling and it was a re-read for me. I read it!! This was a fun MG/YA fantasy, I remember wanting to read the sequel then and I still want to now!

Good start!

Book two on my tbr was An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir.

Another one I’ve read! This one I buddy read throughout the month with Caitlyn from Mad Cheshire Rabbit. She’s went on to finish the series already, as she adored the books. I found it fun but I wasn’t enamoured in the same way. I’ll definitely continue with the series though!

Book three was Nevernight by Jay Kristoff.

This one I most definitely did not get to in March, I did, however, finish it up in October last year and it was one of my favourites of 2020! It’s a slow book to get through but so well written and I adored being in the world.

Book four was Without You There Is No Us by Suki Kim.

I read this one too! I actually picked this one up on the first of t

he month and finished it on the same day. It was incredibly engaging and was enraptured learning about the vast differences in these children’s lives.

And finally. The last book on this months tbr…

Book five was City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare.

And somehow(?) I’ve read this one too!! I didn’t read it in March, I actually ended up picking this one up in July and reading it as well as City of Glass. But it’s still read so it still counts!

Well that was unexpected!!! I may have only read 3 of these actually in March last year, but they’re all off of my tbr at least! Definitely not what I was expecting to happen (and a wee bit more boring that I’d been hoping for) but I’ll have to keep popping in to do these every now and again and see if things change!

I’m going to be slowing down on my blog posts again for a wee while, going back to one a week rather than two. I know most of you won’t notice or care, but just thought I’d “announce” it somewhere. I’m active over a lot of bookish platforms, as well as having a 40+ hour a week job, job hunting, and also attempting to give myself some breathing space! (for me it’s a lot) so I’m dropping back on the blog posts a wee bit. If you want to see more from me then check out my BookTube where I post each Sunday (and at the beginning and end of each month for a wrap up and tbr) and on my bookstagram where I post every day at 4pm UK time 🙂