March 2024 Reading Recap
Celebrating a more balanced reading month!
March is usually my least favorite month of the year, but this year was not as bad as I always remember it being. It’s probably a combination of reasons — the weather was generally very mild, I consistently walked on our treadmill, and I focused on not overscheduling myself after the mess that was February.
The result, in addition to just feeling pretty good, was a generally great month of reading! I finished nine books with a great balance of genres, a mix of backlist and frontlist titles, and a variety of authors. I’m also still on track to meet my single goal of the year — read 24 backlist titles I already own (yay!). But enough preamble, on to March’s reads!
📘 This American Ex-Wife: How I Ended by Marriage and Started My Life by Lyz Lenz
After 12 years of marriage, journalist Lyz Lenz told her husband she wanted a divorce. But rather than follow the traditional narrative about divorcées, Lenz rewrote her own story, focusing instead on everything that letting go of her marriage finally allowed her to have. In this book, she explores marriage as a (flawed) cultural institution and argues that divorce can help women take back power in their own lives. I loved the exuberance and joy of this book, how Lenz wrote unapologetically about female independence and never settling for relationships that make you feel any less than your full value. I thought it was really, really good.
📘 Oak Flat: A Fight to Sacred Land in the American West by Lauren Redniss
Oak Flat is a natural wonder in the Arizona desert. It’s a holy and religious site near the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, and sits very close to a vast, untapped copper reserve. This book follows two families – one Apache, and one White – battling with the government and two mining conglomerates over the fate of the land. This book is beautifully illustrated, and I think does an excellent job situating this conflict in the much larger story of western expansion and exploitation of natural resources in the name of progress, while also being generous to all of the individual people involved. It gave me a lot to think about!
🎧 The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
In this book, economist Heather McGhee makes a compelling case that the reason the American economy consistently fails many people is the racism embedded in our politics and policymaking. And while Black and Brown people are often the most hurt by these policies, White people also lose when inequality grows. There’s so much in this book that I can’t even begin to do it justice in a paragraph, so I’ll just say that if you are a person (like me) who has ever said, “I am socially liberal but fiscally conservative,” then this is a book you need to read.
📘 The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake
This is the second book in Olivie Blake’s Atlas Series, about a group of six magicians competing for five places in a mysterious magical society. I liked the dark academia vibes of the first book, but I thought this one was a slog. It suffered a lot from middle book syndrome, where it felt mostly like a bridge between two other stories rather than a compelling book on its own. I started the third book, The Atlas Complex, but didn’t finish it – the characters weren’t compelling to me anymore, and the philosophy around magic in this world was just too dense for my tastes.
📘 From Blood and Ash and A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout
My romantasy era continues – this time with vampires! Poppy is the Maiden, a revered but isolated young woman hoping to be found worthy by the gods to help lead her people into a new era. But Poppy chafes at the position's requirements, rebelling in small and secret ways… like catching feelings for her very handsome guard, Hawke. I don’t necessarily think that these books are good – the dialogue, especially in the second one, is pretty absurd, and the ethics of consent are very murky when it comes to vampires – but I absolutely flew through both of them at the end of this month and plan to keep going.
📘 The Fury by Alex Michaelides
I haven’t read many 2024 new releases, but a pop culture critic I like, Linda Holmes, recommended this one in a newsletter, and I had some credits after selling some used books, so this came home with me. It’s a great, twisty little mystery with a bunch of not-so-nice rich people, set on an isolated Greek island – I think a bit like Glass Onion in the way the story sort of twists and folds out over time. I don’t want to say anything more for fear of ruining the surprises!
🎧 The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman
This might be my favorite of the Thursday Murder Club books. If you haven’t read the others, then obviously don’t start with this one, but if you’re just starting I hope you’ll see it all the way through. I thought Elizabeth’s story in this one was deeply touching, and I loved how changing her dynamic gave the other characters more opportunities to shine as detectives and people. It was so, so good, and I hope there will be more.
📘 Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Crosby
Beauregard "Bug" Montage is trying to make it as an honest car mechanic and father, but financial pressure forces him back into a life of crime to support his family. When the diamond heist he’s recruited for goes awry, he may lose everything he’s worked so hard to get. I had such mixed feelings about this book. The story flew by, but the level of violence was a little too much for my personal tastes. I also struggle with books where the main emotional conflict is around daddy issues, and this book is just full of them. I can see why so many people rave about this one, but it wasn’t quite for me.
Final Thoughts
I can’t even begin to forecast what April will be like, in life or in reading. My sister plans to replace most of the floors in our townhouse soon, which means packing up nearly my entire life at some point in the next two months.
I’m reframing the disruption as a chance to spring clean and reset a space that is quite full of clutter, a good thing that will also be a ton of work. I will be sure to share how many boxes it takes to pack all of the books… 😱
What was your favorite book of March? Share something great in the comments!
my favorite thing i read in march was Your Mixtape Unravels my Heart, a book of short stories I got in Ireland on my last trip there.
I absolutely have to read This American Ex-Wife (in fact, I just saw it was in my cart from my last shopping trip!) after you “divorce can help women take back power in their own lives.” That resonates for a lot of reasons. After I read, we will need to chat!