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March 2025 Books
Apr. 23rd, 2025 01:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kay_brookeNew goal: create this monthly books wrap-up in a private post as I finish stuff, instead of trying to do it all at the end of the month.
I read nine books in March, bringing me to a total of 24 for the year.
Previous books posts:
Books 1-9 (January)
Books 10-15 (February)
16. Rednecks by Taylor Brown - 2.5 stars. This is a historical fiction based on the West Virginia Mine Wars and the origin of the term "redneck." Many of the characters are based on real life figures who featured in this conflict, the largest armed conflict on American soil since the Civil War.
( My thoughts on Rednecks )
17. The Quiet Room by Terry Miles - 3 stars. This book takes place in the same world as Rabbits. Emily Connors has spent most of her life playing the alternate reality game Rabbits, which involves traveling to alternate universes. At the beginning of the book Emily finds herself in an alternate universe where the game doesn't seem to exist. Worse than that, this alternate is dying and will soon blink out of existence. Worse than that, without the game Emily can't get back to her home universe. Her only chance is to find a place called the Quiet Room, which probably doesn't even exist. Emily, along with some of her acquaintances who have also been trapped and Rowan Chess, a native to the universe who has no idea what's going on, sets out to find a way back home.
( My thoughts on The Quiet Room - some spoilers for the first book )
18. The Vagabonds by Nicholas Delbanco - 1.5 stars. The three Saperstone siblings, Joanna, Claire, and David, are scattered across the country living their own lives and dealing with their problems when the news comes that their mother has died. The siblings travel to Saratoga Springs, where the reading of their mother's will comes with a huge surprise that will change all of their lives.
( My thoughts on The Vagabonds - spoilers, but this book is so pointless can they really be called spoilers? )
19. Ten Drugs: How Plants, Powders, and Pills Have Shaped the History of Medicine by Thomas Hager - 4.5 stars. This book is exactly what the title says: a history of several drugs (the title says ten, but it's more like ten-ish, as the author tends to count different drugs that fall into the same class as just one) and the effect they had on society.
( My thoughts on Ten Drugs )
20. Edenville by Sam Rebelein - DNF. Ever since publishing his first novel, Campbell has struggled with writer's block and has failed to produce anything new. Then, out of the blue, he is invited to become a writer-in-residence at Edenville College. Campbell and his girlfriend Quinn move to Edenville despite Quinn's misgivings: she grew up in a small town near Edenville and is familiar with the weird, unsettling stories about the place. Before long Campbell realizes that he's not been hired for this writing abilities, and Quinn is trapped between wanting to stay in the friendly, picturesque town and wanting to flee from the unnerving, underlying strangeness. But it might already be too late to escape.
( My thoughts on Edenville )
21. The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett - 5 stars. Din, who has been altered by magic to possess perfect memory, is the assistant to eccentric investigator Ana Dolabra, who has been called in to investigate the bizarre death of an Imperial officer. It soon becomes clear that the man was murdered, and that he wasn't the only one to be murdered in such a fashion. Worse, some of these murders caused a serious breach in the wall that protects the empire from the giant monsters who periodically come up from the sea to rampage through the land. Fearful of a terrible conspiracy to bring down the empire, Din and Ana must find the murderer before it's too late.
( My thoughts on The Tainted Cup )
22. The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman - 4 stars. The third book in the Invisible Library series. When Librarian Irene is nearly incinerated by a malfunctioning door back to the library, she has to find alternative transport back to report what has happened. Once she's back in the Library, she discovers that her door isn't the only malfunctioning one--and some other Librarians haven't been as lucky as she in escaping the possibly booby-trapped portals. Clues lead Irene and her assistant Kai to an alternate version of St. Petersburg, where they hope to find answers before the entire Library is destroyed.
( My thoughts on The Burning Page )
23. The Adventurists: Stories by Richard Butner - 3 stars. A selection of short stories that are mostly magical realism in content and feel, with a dash of Kafka-esque absurdism.
( My thoughts on The Adventurists )
24. D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton - 3 stars. The fourth book in the Kinsey Millhone detective series. This book opens with Kinsey being hired, once again, to do something that she thinks could be easily done by the client themselves. In this case, the client is Alvin Limardo and he wants Kinsey to deliver a cashier's check to a person he claims to be unable to find. Always with one eye on her bank balance, Kinsey takes what promises to be an easy job. Except the check she's given as a retainer bounces, and when she goes to track down Limardo she discovers he's actually a man named John Daggett--and that he's just been found dead. His daughter is convinced he was murdered and she hires Kinsey to find out who did it. Problem is, Daggett didn't make himself very popular while alive, and the list of potential suspects is dauntingly long.
( My thoughts on D is for Deadbeat )
I am going right now to start the April books post so that it'll be ready to go in early May! And maybe I'll have better reviews when I'm not dredging my memory for what happened. I usually type up completely new reviews for posting on DW, but for this one I honestly just C/Ped my Goodreads reviews for a lot of them. That's lazy, I'm sorry.
I read nine books in March, bringing me to a total of 24 for the year.
Previous books posts:
Books 1-9 (January)
Books 10-15 (February)
16. Rednecks by Taylor Brown - 2.5 stars. This is a historical fiction based on the West Virginia Mine Wars and the origin of the term "redneck." Many of the characters are based on real life figures who featured in this conflict, the largest armed conflict on American soil since the Civil War.
( My thoughts on Rednecks )
17. The Quiet Room by Terry Miles - 3 stars. This book takes place in the same world as Rabbits. Emily Connors has spent most of her life playing the alternate reality game Rabbits, which involves traveling to alternate universes. At the beginning of the book Emily finds herself in an alternate universe where the game doesn't seem to exist. Worse than that, this alternate is dying and will soon blink out of existence. Worse than that, without the game Emily can't get back to her home universe. Her only chance is to find a place called the Quiet Room, which probably doesn't even exist. Emily, along with some of her acquaintances who have also been trapped and Rowan Chess, a native to the universe who has no idea what's going on, sets out to find a way back home.
( My thoughts on The Quiet Room - some spoilers for the first book )
18. The Vagabonds by Nicholas Delbanco - 1.5 stars. The three Saperstone siblings, Joanna, Claire, and David, are scattered across the country living their own lives and dealing with their problems when the news comes that their mother has died. The siblings travel to Saratoga Springs, where the reading of their mother's will comes with a huge surprise that will change all of their lives.
( My thoughts on The Vagabonds - spoilers, but this book is so pointless can they really be called spoilers? )
19. Ten Drugs: How Plants, Powders, and Pills Have Shaped the History of Medicine by Thomas Hager - 4.5 stars. This book is exactly what the title says: a history of several drugs (the title says ten, but it's more like ten-ish, as the author tends to count different drugs that fall into the same class as just one) and the effect they had on society.
( My thoughts on Ten Drugs )
20. Edenville by Sam Rebelein - DNF. Ever since publishing his first novel, Campbell has struggled with writer's block and has failed to produce anything new. Then, out of the blue, he is invited to become a writer-in-residence at Edenville College. Campbell and his girlfriend Quinn move to Edenville despite Quinn's misgivings: she grew up in a small town near Edenville and is familiar with the weird, unsettling stories about the place. Before long Campbell realizes that he's not been hired for this writing abilities, and Quinn is trapped between wanting to stay in the friendly, picturesque town and wanting to flee from the unnerving, underlying strangeness. But it might already be too late to escape.
( My thoughts on Edenville )
21. The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett - 5 stars. Din, who has been altered by magic to possess perfect memory, is the assistant to eccentric investigator Ana Dolabra, who has been called in to investigate the bizarre death of an Imperial officer. It soon becomes clear that the man was murdered, and that he wasn't the only one to be murdered in such a fashion. Worse, some of these murders caused a serious breach in the wall that protects the empire from the giant monsters who periodically come up from the sea to rampage through the land. Fearful of a terrible conspiracy to bring down the empire, Din and Ana must find the murderer before it's too late.
( My thoughts on The Tainted Cup )
22. The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman - 4 stars. The third book in the Invisible Library series. When Librarian Irene is nearly incinerated by a malfunctioning door back to the library, she has to find alternative transport back to report what has happened. Once she's back in the Library, she discovers that her door isn't the only malfunctioning one--and some other Librarians haven't been as lucky as she in escaping the possibly booby-trapped portals. Clues lead Irene and her assistant Kai to an alternate version of St. Petersburg, where they hope to find answers before the entire Library is destroyed.
( My thoughts on The Burning Page )
23. The Adventurists: Stories by Richard Butner - 3 stars. A selection of short stories that are mostly magical realism in content and feel, with a dash of Kafka-esque absurdism.
( My thoughts on The Adventurists )
24. D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton - 3 stars. The fourth book in the Kinsey Millhone detective series. This book opens with Kinsey being hired, once again, to do something that she thinks could be easily done by the client themselves. In this case, the client is Alvin Limardo and he wants Kinsey to deliver a cashier's check to a person he claims to be unable to find. Always with one eye on her bank balance, Kinsey takes what promises to be an easy job. Except the check she's given as a retainer bounces, and when she goes to track down Limardo she discovers he's actually a man named John Daggett--and that he's just been found dead. His daughter is convinced he was murdered and she hires Kinsey to find out who did it. Problem is, Daggett didn't make himself very popular while alive, and the list of potential suspects is dauntingly long.
( My thoughts on D is for Deadbeat )
I am going right now to start the April books post so that it'll be ready to go in early May! And maybe I'll have better reviews when I'm not dredging my memory for what happened. I usually type up completely new reviews for posting on DW, but for this one I honestly just C/Ped my Goodreads reviews for a lot of them. That's lazy, I'm sorry.
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