March Mid-Month Check-In
AKA my reading blog for weeks 1-2 of Realmathon
Welcome back to Do Good With Books! I hope the first half of March has been kind to you.
Since you all liked my mid-month check-in post last month, I decided to do it again with what I’ve been reading so far in March. I’m still figuring out if this is something that I want to do every month, but I do enjoy writing these kinds of posts and I feel like I have more to say compared to just doing monthly wrap-ups.
Also, since I’m participating in Realmathon hosted by Cassidy at CoverswithCassidy (if you haven’t checked out this readathon, please do1), this month’s mid-month check-in is also doubling as my reading blog for all the books I read during the first two weeks of Realmathon.
Realmathon Week 1
March 1st - March 3rd
With the first weekend of Realmathon underway, I kind of went off swinging with starting and logging books for Realmathon. Due to the fact that that first weekend of Realmathon coincided with some smaller readathons that I was doing in March, I decided to knock out those reads first.
My first logged read for Realmathon ended up being Spellbound by Bishakh Som, which I also used for Round 4 of the Thick Thighs Readathon. Spellbound was a unique take on the typical memoir as Som wrote from the perspective of her alter ego, Anjuli, but the book itself had a slow pace and I felt that Som got too boggled down in some of the details. However, if you like twists on standard literary connotations, you might get something out of this book.
By the end of the weekend, I also finished Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris, which I used as my pick for Round 5 of the Week of Weird Readathon. The book itself had an interesting concept, but it took awhile for me to get there. Part of this might be because I read this book in the wrong format (for reference, I was listening to the audiobook version) and it was easy to get lost in what exactly was happening in the book due to its fast-paced nature. Nevertheless, I liked the story but I just wouldn’t solely listen to the audiobook if I were to read this book again.
On the Road
After the first weekend of Realmathon, I didn’t get a whole lot of time to read for Realmathon due to traveling. However, during that time, I was able to finish my reread of Teacher of the Year by M.A. Wardell as well as got the chance to listen to Alex Gino’s Melissa and submitted a good amount of points for my team.
Realmathon Week 2
Book Club
The only book I didn’t count towards Realmathon, I finished my reread of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman just in time for my book club meeting. This meeting was supposed to be a combined meeting for our February and March book club picks, but I didn’t have time to get into the March book club pick, The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand before the meeting.
First ARC of the Month
During week 2, I finished my first ARC of the month, Paul Coccia’s Recommended Reading. While I really wanted to enjoy this book, the cringe was just too much and I just had “meh” feelings about the book.
Gala of Peace
For the end of week 2, those of us participating in Realmathon partook in the Gala of Peace, a 48-hour readathon where every book read during those 48 hours would get us an additional ten points for our team. Since I didn’t know how much time I was going to be able to read for Gala of Peace, my strategy heading into that weekend was to aim for shorter reads and build up points that way. While I had two books slated for Gala of Peace, I was able to read four books for the Gala since I was able to get through the books I had slated for Gala of Peace pretty quickly.
If you want a run down of what I read, I ended up reading one book, one graphic novel, one novella, and one novelette, which ended up getting my team over 120 points since I logged them all as defense books.
Gala of Peace Reads
Indigiqueerness: A Conversation About Storytelling by Joshua Whitehead
Bog Myrtle by Sid Sharp
Sing Anyway by Anita Kelly
All Orbits Decay Homeward by M. Zakharuk
Epilogue
There’s still two whole weeks of reading left to do for Realmathon and I’ve already read ten books this month. Since I don’t have a whole lot going on for the second half of the month, I feel like I can really dive in and get some big points for my team on both the attack and defense side of things. I’m also hoping to knock out some owned books and ARCs that I have on my shelves for Realmathon and I think this readathon might allow me to do that. Nevertheless, I’m proud of how much I have been able to get done so far this month and I’m looking forward to seeing where the rest of March will take me in regards to my reading life.
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Let’s Do Good With Books today and everyday!
And if you need help deciding which team to join, I heard that the Stingers were pretty cool, tbh…