March Wrap-Up and April Goals

March Reads

 

March Wrap-Up

• Finished: 5
• Started/continued but not finished: 3
• Total pages read: 2,320
• Average rating: 4.1

I finished five books in March, and two of them were novels. I read the final two books in Stephanie Garber’s Caraval trilogy, Legendary (4/5 stars) and Finale (also 4/5 stars). They were nice reads, but I admit I didn’t love them as much as I had expected. They didn’t have the same magical effect on me as they seem to have had on other people. You can click the links to read longer reviews.

 

Non-Fiction Reads

I finished three non-fiction books. Let’s start with The Second Sex, Part II by Simone de Beauvoir. I finished Part I in January. This was my third time reading the book, but the first time I read it in full. I've read an abridged translation before, and it was interesting to revisit this book over twenty years since I first read it. Part I is a more theoretical exploration while Part II is more concrete and gives examples of women's lives and experiences.

I remember that the first time I read this book, I preferred the second part, but the second time I read it, I felt I learned more from the first part. This time I didn’t have a clear preference for either part. I’ve learned so much about gender studies since I last read this book that it was impossible to miss how outdated the book is. Still, as a feminist classic, I highly recommend it.

The two other nonfiction books were about ancient Greek novels, The Cambridge Companion to the Greek and Roman Novel edited by Tim Whitmarsh and Crafting Characters: Heroes and Heroines in the Ancient Greek Novel by Koen de Temmerman. Both have a scholarly approach to ancient novels, so I wouldn’t recommend them to a casual reader. But if you're interested in learning more about ancient literature, both were great deep dives into their topic. I gave them both four stars.

 

April Hopefuls

April Hopefuls

I’m currently reading three books that I will continue in April. I’m still reading Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, and I won’t be finishing that beast of a book until May. I’m also in the middle of a nonfiction book about dog breeds, Suomen koirarodut, and I’m continuing my reread of the Collected Ancient Greek Novels.

I’m also planning to start five other books. The one I’m most excited about is Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood. I know nothing about the book except that the cover is gorgeous, and it seems to be a Greek mythology retelling. I’m here for that!

The four other books are nonfiction. I want to start Mary Beard’s SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, and three more scholarly books about ancient Greek novels: A Study of Daphnis & Chloe by R.L. Hunter, Chariton of Aphrodisias and the Invention of the Greek Love Novel by Stefan Tilg, and Dirty Love: The Genealogy of the Ancient Greek Novel by Tim Whitmarsh.

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If you want to see more about the books I’ve read, check out my reading wrap-up video below: