March Wrap Up

This month has been odd. At the start, I read 5 books, but ever since March 17th, I've been self-isolating at home due to COVID-19. One might think that I'd read more than ever, but my anxiety has been too high. I don't think I'll pick up another book until April so I'm going to review the books I read.

The first was Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones. I'd seen the movie before but still really enjoyed the book. It was slightly different but I felt some motivations were not entirely fleshed out. In that respect, I felt the movie was better. I gave it 3.5 stars.

Then I picked up The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. It follows a young girl living in Afghanistan during the Taliban rule. Women and girls are not allowed to be outside until dressed in a full burka and accompanied by a man. After her father is arrested, Parvana cuts her hair and dresses as a boy to earn money to support the family. The writing was engaging and quite illuminating for a middle grade. I gave it 4 stars.

The last middle grade book I picked up was The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix. This was a fun mystery about three children whose mother goes missing after hearing news that children with their same names were abducted. The children pair up with a friend to find out what's going on. This is the start to a series and I enjoyed it a lot. I gave it 4 stars.

After those books, I was ready to get back to the Expanse series. I picked up Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey (the 2nd book in the series) and was enamored with the bad-ass female characters who joined the main crew to save people from twisted bioengineering . The plot of this one would spoil you for the first so that's all I say. I gave it 5 stars.

The last book I read was The River by Peter Heller. To be honest, I was feeling a tad slumpy and thought a fast-paced thriller would be great. But this was not that. Two college-aged friends decide to canoe a river and whilst doing so, they hear a man and woman arguing on the banks. Later only the man shows up so the two friends go looking for the woman. Everything that happens afterward is fairly straightforward, no twists or huge surprises. I guess I'd call it more an adventure story but it was dull. I gave it a generous 2 stars.

Update: I finished an ARC of The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey on the last day of March. I will post a review of that separately.

March TBR

Once again I will be participating in the readathon Middle Grade March. However, I am only aiming to complete 3 of the 5 challenges.

Read a book with a tv or movie adaptation- Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones

Read a book set in another country- The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

Read a mystery- The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Additionally I plan to read:

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey (an ARC)

Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey

Salt House by Hala Alyan

Three Flames by Alan P. Lightman