Hmm, so March is over. I am experiencing a new phenomenon in which the weekdays go by quickly and the weekends go by quickly. And I haven’t even been doing anything interesting! Just the usual work, chores, exercise, read, wee bit of blogging… I hope this sensation goes away soon. I feel I barely have time to get anything done, even with an entire weekend available. For most of April, I’ll be assisting with training returning staff at work so that should be a good change of pace.

For Tolkien Reading Day (Mar 25), I finally started a reread of The Lord of the Rings, which I haven’t read since 2020. This month (April), I should get back to middle grade and start picking up some owned books. I’m a little concerned about the impact tomorrow’s tarrifs will have, not on my own book purchasing habits but on the Canadian book industry as whole. I’ll be keeping an eye on that… you can learn more about it here.

Books Finished

• The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family by Jesselyn Cook (adult non-fiction)
• The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien by John Hendrix (middle grade non-fiction graphic novel)
• Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo (adult fantasy)
• Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Julie Smith (adult non-fiction)
• Don’t Sleep with the Dead by Nghi Vo (adult historical speculative fiction)
• Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild (adult non-fiction)
• Wînipêk: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre by Niigan Sinclair (adult non-fiction)
• My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix (adult horror – buddy read with Mayri @ Book Forager!)

Posts Written

• Reviewed The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (adult historical fantasy)
• Reviewed The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family by Jesselyn Cook (adult non-fiction)
• Reviewed Misadventures in Ghosthunting by Melissa Yue and It Came from the Trees by Ally Russell (middle grade horror/spec fic)
• Rated 19 books I read but didn’t review in 2024

Challenges Check-In

This section tallies up my annual goals. (Viewcount is the only monthly metric.)

• 22/80 books read
• 7/30 middle grade fiction novels
• 0/10 owned books
• 1/9 Family Reads
  • Ash and I finished discussing our March Family Reads pick on the 30th, but there’s a lot to go through so I didn’t finish writing the post yet
• 1/4 “I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Read that Yet”
• Reviewed 26% of what I read (goal = 50%)
  • Gonna boost this in April
• 18/66 posts in 2025
  • 5/6 posts in March
  • I truly did try to squeeze out that Family Reads post, I swear, haha… maybe I can hit seven posts in April to balance out.
• 3,236/2,600 views in March
  • Views are back up after the February dip

Shared on Bluesky

On My Radar in April

Representation indicated below AFAIK. Please notify me of any errors or places where I can be more specific.

• 1 Apr – Release date of Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou (adult horror, queer rep)
• 8 Apr – Release date of Don’t Sleep with the Dead by Nghi Vo (adult historical fantasy, gay rep) and A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang (adult fantasy)
  • Reviews of both coming in the next week!
• 15 Apr – The Eights by Joanna Miller (adult historical fiction) and The Queen Bees of Tybee County by Kyle Casey Chu (middle grade contemporary, Chinese American queer rep)
• 29 Apr – City of All Seasons by Oliver K. Langmead and Aliya Whiteley (adult spec fic)

How was your March? What new books, or bookish events, are you looking forward to this month?