This morning I made a quiche, and it was excellent. You can read a little bit about it and see a fuzzy picture at my Day Zero project blog.
Now, for reading: At the beginning of March I proposed a “perfect” reading month — the books I would read that would make me feel satisfied with how I spent my time with books. So how did I do in fulfilling that goal? Pretty good! Here’s my reading list for March, with books from my original “perfect month” list in bold (links go to my reviews):
- Moonwalking With Einstein by Joshua Foer
- The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson
- The United States of Arugula by David Kamp
- The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
- Blood Work by Holly Tucker
- SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
- Reality Bites Back by Jennifer L. Pozner
- Paper Towns by John Green
- In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White
- But Not For Long by Michelle Wildgen
- The Long Goodbye by Meaghan O’Rourke
Pretty good. I thought I’d finish nine books, and I actually go through 11. And even better, I got through all of the specific books on my list — six of them — and had time for some random reading. I really happy about that. The only thing I didn’t accomplish was reading War and Peace. I got through a little bit, but didn’t finish the section I wanted to get to.
I liked writing up a book list for the month, so I’m going to do another one for April. Here are the books I’m hoping to get to:
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (through page 417 — Volume 2, Section 2).
- Pox: An American History by Michael Willrich for a TLC Book Tour.
- The Girl Who Was on Fire: Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games Trilogy, a book coming out this month I for got review from BenBella Books. I’ve been craving some literary theory lately and a skim of one has me optimistic about its awesomeness.
- Beautiful & Pointless by David Orr, a review copy from Harper about reading modern poetry (Yay, National Poetry Month! Yay, literary theory light!)
- This Life is in Your Hands by Melissa Coleman, also for review from Harper.
- Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff, again for review from Harper.
- The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure, which I’ll be reading and reviewing for my next book review in The Cap Times.
- The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman for my book club (yay!)
- Priceless by Nicole Riche, which I explained in my post yesterday.
- Random book!
I decide I’m only going to read my own books during the Read-a-Thon on April 9 (are you signed up yet?), so I should easily be able to get in some random books that way. I’m not sure if I’ll get through all the review commitments, but I’m sure gonna try. I got a little crazy with the Harper review books for April, but they’re a publisher that puts out reliably entertaining books, so I’m excited.
If you’re keeping track of my progress in the TBR Dare… I pretty much failed this month. There were a bunch of books not previously on my list that I dipped into, but you know what? That’s ok. I went a little review copy crazy in April, but I’m already cutting back for May to continue with the spirit of reading from my shelves. Right now I only have two review commitments in May, and I’m hoping I can keep it that way.
What books are you looking forward to reading in April? Any of these on the list that I should be sure to get to?
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I’m glad you reminded me about the readathon! I should pull some shorter books off my shelves to read on that day. I’m glad you had a good reading month. I read some great books in March but didn’t read as many books as I wanted. I’m still pleased, I’ve read some really great books this year.
I hope you love The Imperfectionists! It was one of my favorite books last year.
Ash: Overall, I’ve read a lot of good books this year too. Looking back, most have been 3 or 4 stars, with only a couple that, going back, I wouldn’t have bothered with.
I cannot wait for The Imperfectionists — I’ve been wanting to read it since it was out in hardcover.
Ha ha. I also have 3 or 4 review books from Harper this month – different ones from you, though and another one or two review books for other publishers. Busy, busy.
Leeswammes: Yeah, April is a busy month. I wonder if a lot of books get published in April and May in general, or these just seemed especially good? Usually I try to limit my Harper requests to 1 or 2, but these all seemed great.
I think publishing stops in May and then continues in September (but I’m not sure, it seems that way to me from the books I was offered by several publishers). So, a summer break. That must explain why they’re getting a lot of books published in April in May.
Leeswammes: That sounds accurate to me. I have a few reviews slated for summer, but quite a few less than in April and than I expect in September.
I’m glad you enjoyed The Ghost Map. I read it last year and it easily made my top ten list for 2010. I ordered Superfreakanomics last week and I eagerly await its arrival in the mail.
I have several books on tap for April. I’m hoping I can get to George Friedman’s The Next Decade: Where We’ve Been… and Where We’re Going before it’s due back at the library. Right now I’m working my way through Robert Kaplan’s rather excellent Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power.
Maphead: Yay, SupreFreakonomics! I suspect reading it will allow you to be more analytical than I was because I was listening to it and not easily able to go back and reread sections. All of your April books sound interesting (especially The Next Decade).
Pox: An American History sounds like a great read. I read a decent amount of books in March but not as many as I usually do.
I plan on reading just my own books for the read-a-thon too. Good luck with your reading this month!
Vasilly: I cannot wait for the Read-a-thon! I have a big pile of books, that I just keep adding more books to. I have a bunch of graphic novels from the library, too.
I received Pox and The Girl Who Was on Fire too! I am definitely looking forward to reading both of those.
Trisha: I keep carrying The Girl Who Was on Fire around with me, thinking I’ll start it. I didn’t realize how much I missed literary theory until I skimmed the first chapter.
I really want to read Imperfectionists. I’ve been reading so many good things about it. I like how you make a list for each month. I go only so far as a week, but it works. I should make a monthly list sometime.
Aths: I just started doing the list last month, but I really like it. I like being able to come back to the post and see if there’s anything I forgot about. Plus, at least this month, when I got through the books on the list, I had some time to read random things without feeling guilty.
I love quiche though I admit I always cheat and use premade frozen crusts. My mother-in-law taught me how to make crusts from scratch over Christmas, so I’ll have to try it by myself (unsupervised!) one of these days… Your quiche really looked gorgeous… I’ll have to make one again soon!
Steph: The crust recipe I used was super easy — four ingredients. Next time, I might try something more complicated, since this one was a little bit bland. But it did do the job, and the quiche was awesome (if I do say so myself!).