Hello, lovelies! This is very long overdue, but today, I’m going to talk about the books I read in March. I hope you enjoy.
Related – Books I Read In February (Plus Other 2020 Favorites)
//Books//
I feel like I’ve read less in quarantine compared to when I was in school because I would read in bursts in March where I’d finish a hundred pages at a time every few days rather than actually reading every day.
//Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K Rowling
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS
Harry Potter’s third year at Hogwarts is full of new dangers. A convicted murderer, Sirius Black, has broken out of Azkaban prison, and it seems he’s after Harry. Now Hogwarts is being patrolled by the dementors, the Azkaban guards who are hunting Sirius. But Harry can’t imagine that Sirius or, for that matter, the evil Lord Voldemort could be more frightening than the dementors themselves, who have the terrible power to fill anyone they come across with aching loneliness and despair. Meanwhile, life continues as usual at Hogwarts. A top-of-the-line broom takes Harry’s success at Quidditch, the sport of the Wizarding world, to new heights. A cute fourth-year student catches his eye. And he becomes close with the new Defense of the Dark Arts teacher, who was a childhood friend of his father. Yet despite the relative safety of life at Hogwarts and the best efforts of the dementors, the threat of Sirius Black grows ever closer. But if Harry has learned anything from his education in wizardry, it is that things are often not what they seem. Tragic revelations, heartwarming surprises, and high-stakes magical adventures await the boy wizard in this funny and poignant third installment of the beloved series.
My Review
I’m going to write a whole Harry Potter Book ranking post when I’m done rereading the series, so I won’t put too much here. I enjoyed this book the most so far out of the first three books. This is when things start getting more serious while still having that innocent “still learning about the world” feel to it. I honestly kind of rushed through this book because I was excited about getting to Goblet of Fire but I still think this one has one of the best reveals. I love the ending.
//One Day We’ll All Be Dead And None Of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS
A collection of essays about growing up the daughter of Indian immigrants in Canada, “a land of ice and casual racism,” by the cultural observer, Scaachi Koul.
In One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, Scaachi deploys her razor-sharp humour to share her fears, outrages and mortifying experiences as an outsider growing up in Canada. Her subjects range from shaving her knuckles in grade school, to a shopping trip gone horribly awry, to dealing with internet trolls, to feeling out of place at an Indian wedding (as an Indian woman), to parsing the trajectory of fears and anxieties that pressed upon her immigrant parents and bled down a generation. Alongside these personal stories are pointed observations about life as a woman of colour, where every aspect of her appearance is open for critique, derision or outright scorn. Where strict gender rules bind in both Western and Indian cultures, forcing her to confront questions about gender dynamics, racial tensions, ethnic stereotypes and her father’s creeping mortality–all as she tries to find her feet in the world.
My Review
This book is a collection of essays by an Indian-Canadian woman. A few were a little boring, but the majority of them made me laugh out loud. I personally found them incredibly relatable. It was about growing up with a different set of expectations, language barriers, sex and relationships, colorism…just all the POC things. The author talked about how her parents would try to dissuade her from travel and how she her father basically shunned her for a year when she told him about her interracial relationship (now marriage). I almost wrote a blog post about the book because each chapter had such cool discussion points. I really enjoyed it.
//Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS
Audrey can’t leave the house. she can’t even take off her dark glasses inside the house.
Then her brother’s friend Linus stumbles into her life. With his friendly, orange-slice smile and his funny notes, he starts to entice Audrey out again – well, Starbucks is a start. And with Linus at her side, Audrey feels like she can do the things she’d thought were too scary. Suddenly, finding her way back to the real world seems achievable.
My Review
I was in a reading slump in March, and the best way for me to get out of reading slumps is to reread books I love. I was really in the mood to read a light contemporary and this one made me laugh a lot last year (I finished it in a day and it was on my Favorite Books of 2019 list). It’s about a girl with extreme social anxiety. The blurb makes it sound like a romance, but the story is more about her and her family. I love her family. They’re what make the book for me. They’re all such distinctive characters and have really entertaining arguments. The book wasn’t as funny as the first time I read it (because I anticipated the jokes), but it got me out of my reading slump. It was a nice light read when I was in the mood to read depressing dystopians.
//Death Note, Vol. 1: Boredom by Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata (Illustrator), Pookie Rolf (Translator)
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects – and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami, a death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal… or his life?
Boredom
Light tests the boundaries of the Death Note’s powers as L and the police begin to close in. Luckily, Light’s father is the head of the Japanese National Police Agency and leaves vital information about the case lying around the house. With access to his father’s files, Light can keep one step ahead of the authorities. But who is the strange man following him, and how can Light guard against enemies whose names he doesn’t know?
My Review
This was my first time trying Manga, and I liked it. It took me a second to get used to the formatting, but I feel that way about every comic book or graphic novel I read. The plot was very intriguing. Light, the person who found the deathnote and started writing names down, is a very interesting character. I watched the first episode of the anime, and it’s word for word what happened in the first chapter of the book. I probably won’t watch the anime, but I’ll pick up volume II when the libraries open again. I want to see what happens next.
//Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS
The third installment in the all-new series from the #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!
Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.
The trick with found things, though, is how easily they can be lost.
Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.
My Review
I reread The Raven Boys in January then slowly started making my way through the entire series because I never finished it. This is the third book. All the books in this series have been consistently good. It has a lot of aspects that I normally wouldn’t like in books, like paranormalcy and a very large cast of characters, but it’s done it in a way that doesn’t bother me. I love all the characters and their friendships. Everyone has a distinct story, but they don’t overpower one another in my opinion. Some people may say Ronan does, but I think the others also have good story lines. I love all the ships. Nothing was immediate like in a lot of YA and I think the author did a really good job developing all of them. I’m going to do a short spoiler filled review of the series in my May “books I read” post, so stay tuned for that if you’re interested.
//Other Entertainment//
//Movies
Jojo Rabbit – You’ve all probably heard of this one already since it was nominated for an Oscar, so I’ll be brief. It’s a satirical movie about a young German boy, Jojo, during World War II whose imaginary friend manifests as Hitler. I really enjoyed the movie. Jojo lives through the war and slowly figures out what it all means and what his own morals are. I highly recommend it.
Onward – This was the last movie I saw in theaters before everything closed. I’m pretty sure this was the last time I went out pre-quarantine. It’s about these two brothers whose dad passed away when they were really young, and they have a chance to see him one more time using magic. Unfortunately, the spell is messed up and only the bottom half of their dad appears. In a true Pixar fashion, the ending of the movie was a tear jerker, but that’s nothing new. I watched it with my brothers. My brother Mysoon has autism and usually sleeps in my room when I’m home, but he slept in our brother’s room that night <3. Take that as you will.
//T.V. Shows
Human Discoveries – This is a really fun short series on Facebook Watch. It’s an adult cartoon about how cave men discover/create modern concepts and survive. I found out about it because it stars Zac Efron and Anna Kendrick. The show isn’t super profound. It was just a fun cartoon to pass the time. The trailer is kind of silly though:
Locke & Key – My friend Kat and I started using Netflix Party to watch shows together. The first show we watched was Locke & Key. It’s about these three kids to who moved into the house their father grew up in. They find keys hidden all over the house that open doors into new dimensions and grant them powers, which help them investigate the situation surrounding their father’s death.
The Good Doctor – I stopped watching this show last year in the middle of season 2. All three seasons were on Hulu, so I decided to watch it. The show is a medical drama about a doctor with autism. (Freddie Highmore is an amazing actor)
//Music
Well, that’s it for now! I’ll try to get back on my posting schedule this week. Until next time!
I’d Appreciate Your Support Of This Blog By Following Me On:
What book are you currently reading? Have you watched any good movies or T.V. shows recently?