March 2024 Recap

Blog Posts:

• When You Wish Upon a Lantern by Gloria Chao: A Review
• Mall Goth by Kate Leth, Diana Sousa (colorist), and Robin Crank (lettering): A Graphic Novel Review
• The Curse of the Mummy: Uncovering Tutankhamun’s Tomb by Candace Fleming: A Non-Fiction Review
• Harvest House by Cynthia Leitich Smith: A Review
• The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen: A Review
• Crumbs by Danie Stirling: A Graphic Novel Review
• A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft: A Review

Read:

1. Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly (audio) (TBR since Jan. 2022)
2. What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez (TBR since May 2023) (owned)*
3. The Notorious Scarlett and Browne by Jonathan Stroud (TBR since May 2023) (audio)
4. All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir (TBR since March 2022) (audio)*
5. The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst (TBR since Oct. 2023) (ARC from publisher)
6. The Dark Fable by Katherine Harbour (ARC from publisher)
7. Why She Wrote: A Graphic History of the Lives, Inspiration, and Influence Behind the Pens of Classic Women Writers by Lauren Burke, Hannah K. Chapman, Kaley Bales (TBR since Jan. 2024) (owned)
8. Whiteout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon (TBR since Jan. 2024) (audio)*
9. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (from publisher)
10. Hide by Kiersten White (TBR since Jan. 2024) (audio)

Project Zero TBR:

TBR at the start of the month: 192
TBR at the end of the month: 187
Owned books at the start of the month: 374
Owned books at the end of month: 377
Books Bought: 0
Books Gifted: 0

TBR at the start of 2024: 195
Owned books at the start of 2024: 365

Find more details on @princesschapters‘ Instagram.

Diverse Baseline Challenge:

3 books by BIPOC authors read in the month (minimum 3)(indicated by *)–>This was a weird month because while Anna Dressed in Blood is by a BIPOC author, the characters are not. Similarly one of the authors for Why She Wrote is BIPOC and some of the authors featured are but not all.
Find the full challenge details including monthly prompts on Instagram thanks to @bookish.millennial and @themargherita.s.

How My Month Went:

Guys. March was so bad. I’m going in and revising this post on April 1 because the entire month has been triage. As some of you might know, my mom has been dealing with an unpleasant skin condition and a leg scrape that wouldn’t heal since January. She also fell in early March and cracked two ribs which was quite awful but thankfully a lot of the care and diagnostic work for that was able to be done at home. Unfortunately, the skin condition got worse and my mom also had to be admitted to the hospital for a few days to be examined, diagnosed, and to start a course of treatment. It was a terrible month with a lot of stress. I was able to use the leave time I was just approved for but it was a chore staying on top of that with HR at my place of employ and the company who administers leave claims while being out for most of the month. Aside from being worried about Bella who missed Mom’s calming presence and taking care of my mom.

I thought I’d be more eloquent about all of this but the truth is it was just hard and scary and tiring.

I was able to read a bit which was a welcome respite but it’s also hard to get out of survival/triage mode and get back to “normal” with going back to work and trusting that my mom will be okay when I’m not home and everything else.

Anyway, playing a bit of catch up here but hopefully 2024 will start going a little smoother now because I could really use a break.

You can also see my recap from last month.