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It’s almost time for Virtual Book Club again!  As I’m thinking about all kinds of diversity in my reading life, I’m glad to recall I have a thriller on deck very soon.  Are you looking for a reason to add a specific out-of-the-box-for-you-sort-of title to your reading life?  If you’ll join us for Virtual Book Club, we can help with that!  June’s book is selected, but August on is still undecided and we welcome your feedback in the comments and in our DMs.  But for now, please sign up here to join us on Friday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. CDT for a discussion of Alyssa Cole’s When No One is Watching.  We won’t take ourselves too seriously, but we will be watching you…on camera!

Ashley IN MEDIAS RES

• House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2) by Sarah J. Maas
• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
• A Year of Positive Thinking: Daily Inspiration, Wisdom, and Courage by Cyndie Spiegel

Nikki IN MEDIAS RES

• House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2) by Sarah J. Maas
• The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin

Ashley FIN

• Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light: Essays by Helen Ellis
• She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
• Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
• The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
• The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store by Cait Flanders
• Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
• Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

Nikki FIN

• Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light: Essays by Helen Ellis
• The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride (audio)
• She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
• Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
• The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
• Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
• The Toni Morrison Book Club by Juda Bennett, Winnifred Brown-Glaude, Cassandra Jackson, and Piper Kendrix Williams

That’s right readers, we’ve mostly read blog titles for the last month, and as of yesterday, we’re digging into House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2) by Sarah J. Maas.  It’s been taunting us from our Kindles since February and we’ve put it off so we can have time to complete it all in a stretch rather than starting and stopping (like I did with my House of Earth and Blood reread) or having it derail the general reading schedule (see also aforementioned reread).  We’ve carefully navigated busy seasons of life, a reading rut, and crafted the books we’re bringing you to make this happen and we are so pumped!

But alas, to the books we read this month.  I’ve already shared how The Witch’s Heart finally got me through my reading rut, and while I’m not back up to my usual personal schedule quite yet, I’m doing very well, and the books I’ve read since are definitely helping that too.  I didn’t read much else this month that hasn’t been (or won’t be in the future) discussed here, I did finish one and listen to another.  As mentioned in February’s Reading Life Review, The Toni Morrison Book Club is an amazing gift to readers highlighting pieces of Morrison’s books and how they are still impacting readers today.  The second half was just as lovely, and challenging, as the first and I highly suggest it.  

This month’s audiobook (not that I intended to do a monthly audiobook, but here we are) was The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride.  This was my first McBride work and the prose is Just. Glorious!  This is a sort of two-in-one memoir, alternating the story of McBride’s life with the story of his mother, a white, Jewish woman.  McBride was born in the 70s and grew up in New York City in a couple of different neighborhoods.  His mother was born in the 20s in Poland and grew up in the Northeast United States and then in Virginia.  McBride’s mom had no cares to give, except for her family.  She is an amazing, strong, insightful woman, at least as presented by her son.  He’s an interesting man, and not just for how he grew up, but for the interesting careers he’s had from journalism to music and screenwriting, and now to writing books.  This is another title I’m glad I listened to rather than read.  While I’m sure I’d have enjoyed it on the page, hearing the blend of accents for McBride’s mom and the chapters performed by different narrators was a fantastic experience and helped me to be even more interested in McBride’s other books.  

What did you read this month that you really enjoyed?

~Nikki

Looking back at March’s reading life, this is a shorter list than January but will probably be one or two titles longer than February by end of day on Thursday. Do I feel like my reading life is a competition and I am falling behind? Yes to both. Yes, I feel like I need to be more than five titles ahead of my yearly goal according to GoodReads. Do I need to stop thinking about every aspect of my life as a way to become better at something, to excel – more than any words could clearly explain. I have read lots of books for the blog this month and kept up with that timeline as well as possible, better than much of February felt, and that is a major win by itself, even if my list isn’t as long as I want it to be…but what in life is?

The only book that I read this month that was not for the blog was a last minute non-fiction pick. I say last minute because it hasn’t been sitting on my TBR for a long time and I don’t remember where from or how it recently came to my attention. The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store by Cait Flanders drew me in because it is the story of the year in the author’s life where she placed herself on a shopping ban so that she could gain a lot more control over her spending and her goals. Before she placed herself on a complete ban of buying anything, Flanders set specific rules for the experiment. These rules were not meant to be stifling to her life, but to allow her to control the actions that would get her to reach her short and long term financial and personal goals. She was allowed to shop for: groceries and basic kitchen supplies, cosmetics and toiletries (only when she ran out), cleaning products, gifts for others, and items on the approved shopping list. She was not allowed to shop for: take out coffee, clothes, shoes, accessories, books, magazines, notebooks, household items, or electronics. Her approved shopping list included: one outfit for multiple weddings, a sweatshirt (to replace the holey one), workout pants (she was down to her last pair), winter boots (she does live in Canada), a new bed (to replace her 13 year old one), and anything that needed to be replaced but the original item would need to be tossed or donated. The Year of Less was a very quick 197 page read about things the author did not put on her blog as she remained accountable to her readers. Not only did she go July to July without buying contraband, though she was tempted several times, she also slowly divested her life of items that no longer served her. I love and admire how creating and cultivating this control over her life and emotional responses – where she usually went shopping for things she didn’t need. I wish desperately that I was able to significantly diminish the material things that occupy my space. I really enjoyed learning how Flanders did it herself and it has given me a lot of motivation to take baby steps in the same direction.

Did you have a surprise addition to your reading plan this month?

~Ashley

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