Reading report for March 2013

I had one of my big reading months in March, with a total of 24 books finished. I had a lot of free time in March, having taken a week off from work at the beginning of the month, and then there was Easter. This gave me plenty of time to read.

Romance predominated, but I also read in various other genres, including mysteries (one historical and one historical and supernatural), cultural history, natural history, folk-tales, parapsychology, a travelogue, a classic children‘s book, and a book about pseudoscience and science fraud.

Just like last month, one of the month‘s stand-out reads was a reread: Persuasion is by far my favourite Austen novel. The other stand-outs were Spook, which I thoroughly enjoyed, just like the other two Roach books I have read (Stiff and Bonk) and Where the Wild Things Are, which I would have loved had I read it as a child and still thoroughly enjoyed as an adult.

I also must mention What the Librarian Did by Karina Bliss, which was brought to my attention by the Smart Bitches blog a couple of years ago as an excellent contemporary romance, which it is. Thanks, Smart Bitches, I owe you.

And now I think it is time I came out and said it: I am addicted to Nora Roberts‘s romance novels. I am fine with her standalone novels – I can read one and then go and read something by someone else, but if I start one of her series books, I must finish the rest of the series. I read 2 series – a total of 9 books – in March, plus the first book in a third series. Most of the series books she wrote for Silhouette aren‘t up to the same standard as her longer standalone novels but I find myself drawn to them despite the often recycled characters (and sometimes plot points) and annoying recurrent expressions because these books pack an irresistible and gratifying positive emotional punch into a relatively small number of pages and they never fail to cheer me up.

The Books

Tasha Alexander: And Only to Deceive. Historical mystery.
Jane Austen: Persuasion. Romantic fiction. Reread.
Bjarni E. Guðleifsson: Náttúruskoðarinn I: Úr dýraríkinu and Náttúruskoðarinn II: Úr jurtaríkinu. Natural history.
Karina Bliss: What the Librarian Did. Romance, contemporary.
Colin Cotterill: Thirty-three Teeth. Historical mystery (supernatural).
Jennifer Crusie: Anyone But You. Romance, contemporary. Reread.
Ben Goldacre: Bad Science. Pseudoscience, fraud.
Georgette Heyer: The Reluctant Widow. Historical romance. Reread.
Ewan & Charley Boorman McGregor: Long Way Round. Travelogue.
Ólafur Davíðsson: Íslenzkar þjóðsögur I. Folk-tales.
Mary Roach: Spook: Science tackles the afterlife. Popular science, parapsychology.
Nora Roberts: Calhoun Women series: Courting Catherine, A Man for Amanda, For the Love of Lilah, Suzanna's Surrender, Megan's Mate. Romance, contemporary.
Nora Roberts: MacKade Brothers series: The Return of Rafe MacKade, The Pride of Jared MacKade, The Heart of Devin MacKade, The Fall of Shane MacKade. Romance, contemporary.
Nora Roberts: Night Shift. Romantic suspense.
A. L. Rowse: Heritage of Britain. Cultural history.
Maurice Sendak: Where the Wild Things Are. Fantasy, illustrated children‘s book.

Book 40: The Martian by Andy Weir, audiobook read by Wil Wheaton

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Reading in Reykjavík

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