A Look Back on March
This month went tits up, to be frank, where my time management and jobs and reading were concerned. And all because of one all-consuming and entirely satisfying job - that being Genre for Japan. I've made mention of it a few times on the blog and it has entirely taken over my life. I can't tell you how proud of myself I am right now for being part of the team that got it off the ground. We've raised over £8,000 so far with a few days to go, and that is just tremendous and real testament to the community spirit we actually have in the speculative fiction collective! I've also cast my eye over more than 100 partial manuscripts in my Angry Robot slush reading role. And I've been busy with editing two novels. All of this has pushed the reading to one side, rather, which always makes me a little sad but sometimes other things just come first!
I'm now spending a deserved three days off in the absolutely stunning environment of Herm Island, with Ms Alex Bell. We are here for a murder mystery weekend, but honestly it's a chance to catch up somewhat with reading, blog posts, slush reading, commitments. I'm recharging my batteries for the month of April, which is looking to be overwhelmingly busy!
Reading
Here is a list of the books I completed in March (with links to the reviews):
23) French Relations by Fiona Walker
24) Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson
25) Well Groomed by Fiona Walker
26) Black Halo by Sam Sykes
27) Kiss and Tell by Fiona Walker
A quick breakdown...
- 2 books by men, 3 books by women (or, rather, a woman!)
- Heavy on the bonkbusters with three... Two epic fantasy novels.
- 3 of these were from mine own shelves and two of them were sent to me as review copies.
Best Book of March
Pages Covered
Might have only been five books, but these three contained a mammoth amount of pages! I covered 4,154 which is more than the pages contained in the NINE books from February. My running total for the year is now 13,425. The longest book this month was Kiss and Tell by Fiona Walker, while the shortest - although not by much - was Black Halo by Sam Sykes.
Places Visited
I've spent a delicious summer in the Loire Valley, been kicking around various pretty Cotswold villages and spending a great deal of time on a very strange island called Teji. I think I would most like to go to that chateau in the Loire - lazy afternoons reading by the pool, with a glass of wine by my side.
Plans for April
It's all about Mr Clarke this month - I haven't yet made a dent in the six book shortlist, and am still determined to read them all. With that in mind, I'm going to keep this short and sweet and go pick up a book *grins*
Over to You
How many books have you read this month? What were your favourites? Any particular plans for April?
Seven books this month. 4186 pages, 8742 pages this year, so March was pretty productive.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite new book was "The Crippled God." My favorite new author is Patrick Rothfuss.
One of my favorite books and series:) I love and admire Steven ... His fantasy is epic! :) Greetings:)
ReplyDeleteIt's so awesome that Genre for Japan is doing so well! I really wish I could have donated to it in one form or another, though I did spread the word in a few places, so hopefully that helped a little.
ReplyDeleteAnd hey, if you need to delegate any of that slush reading, I have some free hours this weekend! :-P
I also think that it is awesome how well the Genre for Japan is doing! Sadly, nothing really fits in my budget as I have been on a no book buying path for the past few months in order to pay for my summer semester (and my last one!).
ReplyDeleteI read 15 books for 4646 pages and a year to date total of 13884.