Thursday, March 31, 2011

Books read in March

March saw me reading some fantastic books! But it also saw me branching out into reading other books on different themes or just for myself. As I'm in the middle of a book at the moment and it looks unlikely that I'll finish it today, I thought I'd post this list now.

I read 11 books for review sent via the publishers. I read two books for next month's Mental Health theme week (It's Kind of A Funny Story and A Note of Madness). I read two books for Jo's Death and Bereavement blogging event in July (By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead and Crash Into Me). And I read six books JUST FOR MYSELF (Love Is the Higher Law, Choker, Breathing, Starcrossed, How Not To Be Popular, and The Summer I Turned Pretty). Hurrah. Let's let that number be as high or higher in April! (And let's hope that I break free of this review-writing slump!)

I've included in parentheses next to each book I read how each book came into my possession. I think it's interesting to see these kinds of breakdowns of the origins of how we come to have the books we have. Books sent to me from the publishers are, of course, sent in exchange for an honest review. The numbers of books sent for review are very high this month, mostly because I've had a backlog of these types of books. I really hope in future there are more of my own books featured on this blog.

1. In the Bag by Jim Carrington* (sent by publisher)
2. Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting (sent by publisher)
3. Where She Went by Gayle Forman (sent by publisher)
4. Rockoholic by CJ Skuse* (sent by publisher)
5. A Note of Madness by Tabitha Suzuma* (purchased)
6. It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini (purchased)
7. Love Is the Higher Law by David Levithan (gift)
8. Choker by Elizabeth Woods (swapped)
9. Mortlock by Jon Mayhew* (sent by publisher)
10. Across the Universe by Beth Revis (sent by publisher)
11. The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff (UK Book Tours)
12. A Small Free Kiss in the Dark by Glenda Millard (sent by publisher)
13. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (sent by publisher)
14. Divergent by Veronica Roth (sent by publisher)
15. By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters (gift)
16. Crash Into Me by Albert Borris (purchased)
17. Breathing by Cheryl Renee Herbsman (swapped)
18. Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini (swapped)
19. How Not To Be Popular by Jennifer Ziegler (purchased)
20. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (purchased)

I really loved SO many of these books. Where She Went is amazing, and I'm still thinking about it all these weeks later. Rockoholic in part has inspired me to start writing again. Between Shades of Gray really knocked me on my ass. Divergent was such an addictive read, I'm not quite sure how I managed to sleep or eat or do anything until I'd finished the book. I thought The Summer I Turned Pretty was wonderful and I'm now gasping for the next book in the series!

Favourites of the month: Where She Went, Divergent, and Between Shades of Gray.

Goals for April:

Catch up with reviews! (I'm currently a whopping 19 reviews behind)
Organise myself with Awesome Women posts/guest posts/reviews
Mental Health week: beginning 18th of April

It's Translation Month at Mostly Reading YA, which I've agreed to take part in and am very excited to see what everyone else comes up with! I shall be reading/reviewing Reckless by Cornelia Funke.

I'd like to read the following books:

(for my theme week covering fairy tales/fairy tale retellings scheduled for May)

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
Zel by Donna Jo Napoli
Ice by Sarah Beth Durst

(for British Book Challenge + just for 'fun')

Pretty Bad Things by CJ Skuse
Rich and Mad by William Nicholson
Wasted by Nicola Morgan
Girl, Missing by Sophie McKenzie

(other books)

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Fall For Anything by Courtney Summers
Heavenly by Jennifer Laurens
Rosebush by Michele Jaffe
Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper
Airhead: Runaway by Meg Cabot
Sea Change by Aimee Friedman

How did reading go for you in March and what are your plans in April?

5 comments:

  1. You have had a brilliant reading month. I am so impressed. I haven't even worked mine out yet, but I know I won't reach that amount.

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  2. I think it is fair to say that I had a disastrous (sp?) month for blogging in March. I have been reading lots. Read two books for myself but doubt I'll get to review them. Leaving Paradise and Return to Paradise by the amazing Simone Elkeles. I have been meaning to read A Note of Madness ever since I read Forbidden. Look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

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  3. Viv - I have, haven't I? It was sort of panic reading there towards the end, as I knew that if I ever stopped reading I wouldn't start again. But I've had a lot of fun and read some great books this month!

    Becky - We all have months like that, don't we? (I feel as though April will be like that for me) After I read Forbidden, I really want to read all of Tabitha Suzuma's backlist as well, and I'm really glad that I've been able to track down a few of them :)

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  4. Thanks for mentioning the event. I'm a huge fan of 'Girl, Missing' so hope you like that one. I must read 'When You Reach Me' too - bought that last month.

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  5. YA Reader- sorry, I did mean to link to your blog as well, will get on that now.

    I've heard wonderful things about Sophie McKenzie and I'm hoping Girl, Missing is a good place to start with her books :)

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