March Wrap Up

Well, the world may be falling apart at the seams, but all this social distancing gave me a whole lot of reading time this month. I finished a total of 16 books, which is pretty close to being a record for me. Here's the rundown:

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
I Will Always Write Back by Caitlyn Alifirenka and Martin Ganda
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
The Deep by Rivers Solomon
The Undoing of Thistle Tate by Katelyn Detweiler
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontё
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

My best read of the month was my nonfiction pick, I Will Always Write Back. I really enjoyed reading about the relationship between Caitlyn and Martin and I got a very close look at what living in poverty is like. Something about this story was just so pure and engaging. I really enjoyed reading it and I know it's going to stick in my brain for a long time.

My most disappointing read was The Deep by Rivers Solomon. While I appreciated the themes that the novel was tackling, I was never able to emotionally engage with it.

My big accomplishment of the month was reading the entire Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I normally love classic children's literature, but I was often bored by these. They were quite sweet, and I understand the nostalgia many readers feel for them, but I ended up enjoying them a lot less than I thought I would. They weren't bad by any means, but they weren't engaging to me as an adult reader.

I have another ambitious TBR planned for April. I didn't pick a large amount of books, but there are some long ones in here that might take a while to get through. Here's the plan:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky
Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser
The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

I have more time that usual to read, so I'm hoping to maybe squish in a few extras towards the end of the month. Moby Dick is worrying me though, I have feeling that one will eat up a lot of days. In any case, I'm excited to tackle another month's reading and knock more books off my challenges.