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 🙂

Too Bloody Busy

So… I did read books in March. I read 4 books, but I honestly have not had the time to write reviews for them. Not even little ones (apart from one… but that was sent promotionally sooo)

Yeah basically my life is a mess rn, I had two presentations in 7 days which both were marked and counted for part of my masters and one presentation also had a poster with it which required modelling of lava flows and I had maaannyy late nights. Luckily my assignment that was due tomorrow has been pushed back by a month cause of Brexit mucking everything up royally, meaning I can actually take a few days to breath, relax and maybe even try and read.

But onto the books I read, no pretty pictures this month:

• First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde. I listened to this on audiobook and these books are always so much fun! I’ll be sad when I reach the end of this series
• Spare and Found Parts by Sarah Maria Griffin. I’m so happy that I’ve finally read this beautiful work of literature, I 100% recommend if you’re a human being
• The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman. Another book I recommend if you’re a human, actually have a full review of this one so check it out here!
• The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom. Last book of the month, enjoyable and a quick read. Glad I picked it up.

 

I’m not making any concrete plans for April, but I am attempting the magical readathon and trying to do my O.W.L.’s so fingers crossed for that. I also have loads of assignments due at the end of April but maybe if I manage to keep track of my time I can be less stressed and keep on top of things? (That’ll never happen but I can still dream!!)

Thank you for putting up with me while I’ve been so MIA everywhere. The books I review will be less frequently posted soon as I run out of my backlogged reviews, but I promise to keep trying to post things. I just need to prioritise my masters’ rn. If you’ve got any questions about anything please do ask in the comments!

March Wrap Up 2018

I am disappointed with how much I read this month, but I shouldn’t be! This was the second to last month where I’ll be working on my dissertation and therefore I couldn’t justify spending too much time leisure reading.

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For those who don’t know, a dissertation is the end project of a degree in the UK. The degrees usually last three years, and most people start at 18 (it’s like our version of the US’ college) and this final paper is worth a huge amount of our grade. The word count varies between 8000 and 11000 and it is really daunting!

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Despite the pressure and the work, I did manage 6 books! For the books that had to be ‘represented’ in the photo, Coffin, Scarcely Used was an eARC from NetGalley, The Call was borrowed from someone who lives in my apartment complex, and Something Rotten was an audiobook.

Books and their Ratings

1. Coffin, Scarcely Used by Colin Watson ***
2. The Call by Peadar O’Guilin ****
3. Inspector Chopra and the Million Dollar Motor Car by Vaseem Khan ****
4. Macbeth by William Shakespeare ****
5. Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde ****
6. Boy Snow Bird by Helen Oyeyemi ***.5

Sadly no 5 star reads this month but some got pretty close! The Call is one that I immensely enjoyed and I will 100% be carrying on with the series. I also really enjoyed Something Rotten and felt that this first section of the series was wrapped up really well, so well in fact that I’m tempted not to carry on with the rest! I don’t want to ruin it! Boy Snow Bird would’ve had a higher rating if it wasn’t for the incredibly… weird… ending and the odd choices Oyeyemi made, which explains the 3.5*s I gave it.

Overall, not my best reading month but I’m glad I managed to keep reading some stuff throughout the month and it’s a huge increase to where I was this time last year and I was barely even reading 2 years ago after a 5-year reading slump! So a vast improvement and I’m really enjoying myself to boot!