It's Monday! What Are You Reading? And March Wrap Up

Good morning fellow book lovers. This weekend was a rainy, dreary, curl up with a book and don't get out of bed few days. I loved it!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? Is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at The Book Journey.  I'm currently reading The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicle #1) by Patrick Rothfuss and let me tell you it is GOOD.  More than good, amazing, wonderful and fantastically written and I am only 24% of the way through (currently reading it on my Kindle because it was an impulse purchase and 600+ pages). I purchased this book from a recommendation on Literary Disco's podcast about Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (which I also picked up).  I have no idea what it is about apart from what I have read.

The Name of the Wind is a fantasy for beginners - did I mention that the writing is SO GOOD? That the fantastical elements and world building seamlessly fall into place.  As far as I can tell this is a trilogy and the third book isn't out with no rumored publishing date, so I want to read quickly to find out what happens but not too quickly because if I don't want to extend the wait for the third book.

"He called himself Kote.  He had chosen the name carefully when he came to this place.  He had taken a new name for most of the usual reasons, and for a few unusual ones as well, not least of which was the fact that names were important to him. (The Name of the Wind, page 10)"

March Wrap Up

While enjoying the gloomy weekend weather from my couch, I read Night of Cake and Puppets by Laini Taylor and gave it give stars. This novella took about 45 minutes to read and was a great escape back into the world that she created in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy.  It described the first date/love story beginning for Mik and Zuzana from their perspectives, a perfect blend of romance, mystery, and magic - I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads and already preordered the third book, Dreams of Gods and Monsters - 8 days until it arrives on my Kindle.

Earlier in the month I read The Hangman's Daughter (The Hangman's Daughter #1) by Oliver Potzsch.  I am going to write a full review for the book this week.  Overall, I enjoyed it but there were a few flaws that detracted from the story for me.  Unfortunately, just 2 stars.

I also read my first comic book/graphic novel (ever) - Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman.  It was incredible! I will definitely be purchasing the second volume The Doll's House.  What a scary ride into the Dreamworld (figuratively and literally!).  I love everything I have read by Gaiman so far and will continue with his comics and novels.  4 stars.

Image Source: Amazon

The last book I kind of read this month was Judging a Book by Its Lover: A Field Guide to the Hearts and Minds of Readers by Lauren Leto. I kind of read this book because I only got to page 126 before I gave up, handed it 1 star, and put it down. I did not intentionally purchase this book, it came in my Quarterly Co box from Book Riot.  Leto created the website Texts from Last Night, which I loved when I was in college, so I had high hopes that this would be a humorous light read to reflect on readers everywhere.  Unfortunately, this turned out to be a list of pretentiousness and is headed straight to my "donate" pile.

My reading this year has definitely slowed down - I read 7 books in March last month compared to the 3.5 I read this month.  I was bummed at first - why couldn't I make time for reading? But with limited time came greater selectiveness on what I am willing to read.  If it's not good, or well written, or intersteding, I put it down and focus on someting else.  So while my quantity of reading is less, the quality is greatly increased. Overall I think it's a good thing.

That's all for now - what have you read this month? Tell me in the comments or find me on Twitter!