Favorite Book Read in March 2021

This was the month that many of us received our first Covid-19 vaccines and maybe our 2nd; while some are still waiting. What did we read whilst in the midst of these troubling times? Do you think Covid-19 has affected your reading in terms of rate of reading and selection of reading materials?

I read more and painted more (though I'm not very good, but it's relaxing and gets me in a lovely mental place).

I am always amazed by some of the lists I see of people's reading habits around here. I guess I am a slow, thorough reader, because I don't think I could do a book a week if you paid me! As I've grown older, too, when I sit to read in the afternoon or early evening, it's as likely to make me sleepy as not.

It's the beginning of April and I've read three books so far this year: Gormenghast, second of the Gormenghast trilogy; These is My Words, which was a pretty fast read for me, not particularly deep and I picked off the end; I just finished The Book Thief which was enjoyable.

Though not in this list, I did read more sci-fi in 2020 than usual - fair escapism. John Scalzi is always good for fun and entertaining sci-fi, and I also like Greg Bear - those two writers made up my holiday time.

It all speaks to escapism! My husband has recommended Blowout by Rachel Maddow, and I'm a few chapters in. I find it distasteful in subject matter and peopled by so many bad actors, it may be a struggle to get through.

Try to read a memoir of some sort once a year.

Now reading Scott's Last Expedition the diaries of Robert F. Scott's last trip to Antarctica. Can't put it down, even though I know how awful it's all going to end.

Last year I read A Journal of the Plague Year and was the best read in the last 12 months. Social distancing, quarantining, and disinfecting (as it was understood in the 1600s) were, as now, the mainstays of infection prevention. And human nature and people's response to a pandemic then wasn't much different from now. Lord Mayor John Lawrence was really an unsung saint of that time. He and the city council rode out on horseback nearly every day at the height of the plague to ask people what they needed. Hard to imagine an elected official of any party doing that now.

I don't think the pandemic has affected my reading; if anything, I'm reading more. I would have to say my two favorite reads in March were The Convenient Marraige, my first Heyer/Regency read, The Shape of Mercy (Salem witch trials), and Devil's Brood (Henry II).

Unfortunately, I have been too nervous about work, politics and the pandemic to sit and read. I find that I do mindless things instead with my free time, which just makes things worse. I am still half-way through The Warmth of Other Suns, which I think is a fantastic insight into an important part of American history.

Focus comes and goes in step with boredom.

The best book last month, and probably the only book finished, was Natives : race & class in the ruins of empire by Akala. It's an especially good choice to have been reading when the the Sewell Report was released in the UK claiming more or less that systemic racism is not a current problem there — thereby proving quite the opposite.

On further thought, I also read My family and other animals, which was just as delightful as I remembered it from my childhood.

I read all the time and even more during the pandemic.
In March I finished 10 books.

My best book in March, that is the one I most enjoyed, was
Exit by Belinda Bauer.

Late to the party!

I read 8 books in March and the two favorites (tied at 4 out of 5 stars) were Grass, by Sheri Tepper, and The Toynbee Convector, a collection of Ray Bradbury short stories.