March 2017 Reading Recap

Hello folks, it’s time for my monthly wrap up or reading recap. I have to admit I don’t hit my target. I’ve set my target at seven books, but I only managed to finished four books this month. That’s because I have some personal issue that affected my reading time in the middle of this month. And just two weeks ago, I started a new job so I don’t have much time to read or other fun activities because there are so much things to learn in my new office. Okay, enough with venting about things unrelated to books, just like Li Shang said, let’s get down to business!

1) Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (4★)

One of the prompt for Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2017 is “A book you loved as a child.” One of my favorite book when I was a wee bookworm is Alice in Wonderland. My mom bought me the pop-up book and I really love it. And now I’m reading it again as an adult and it is still a wonderful experience to revisit wonderland.

Purchase Alice in Wonderland from bookdepository.

2) Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth by Warsan Shire (4★)

This book is full of beautiful and powerful poems, and in my opinion, one of the strongest poem in this book is the one that consist with only two lines titled In Love and In War. There are some explicit contents in this book, so if you don’t like explicit, bold and abrasive content in your poems, this collection of poems might be not your cup of tea. The poems is so humane, some sweets and some bitter, but it is definitely will tug at your heart. Some of my favorite besides In Love and In War are: Ugly, Conversations About Home, and My Foreign Wife is Dying and Does Not Want To Be Touched.

Purchase Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth from bookdepository.

 3) The Bloody Chamber and Other Tales by Angela Carter (4.7★)

Say hello to my most favorite read this month! The Bloody Chamber is an anthology of fairy tale retelling short stories written by Angela Carter. Unlike most of fairy tale retellings I’ve read, the stories in this books are dark, sensual, and quite gruesome. This is a book of fairy tale retellings made for people who really appreciate the raw and grim nature of original fairy tale stories. This is not a book that leave you with a light and happy feeling, this is a book that will makes you think over and over again. It’s a really great book that has become one of my favorite, and I can’t wait to read Carter’s other books. Read my full review of The Bloody Chamber and Other Tales here.

Purchase The Bloody Chambers and Other Tales from bookdepository.

4) Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik (4★)

If you think that a book about great feminist role model with a title that pay homage to one of the most legendary rapper of all time is an awesome book, then you’re right. This book going to feed you with many reasons why RBG is such an amazing and phenomenal woman. What I love the most about this book is how the authors made it easy to comprehend the legal parts in this book with various excerpts and commentary. Every chapter titles in this book also pay homage to Notorious B.I.G, like “Been in This Game for Years,” “Stereotypes of a Lady Misunderstood,” and “Your Words just Hypnotize Me.” That’s so clever and definitely a plus for me. It was such a good book about such a great woman and I recommend it to everyone, especially those who are interested in women’s movement.

Purchase Notorious RBG from bookdepository.

 DNF: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

It’s always a sad event when I DNF a book. In this case the problem is not with the book, but rather with myself. In Cold Blood is a good book and I was pretty excited to read it. It’s hard for me to open up and explain what happened to me this month, but long story short I’ve entered a phase where I just can’t read something that I consider as devastating. So for the sake of my mental health, I quit this book midway. I stop at page 165 and to be honest, I still curious about this book, so I might revisit it again some times in the future.

Purchase In Cold Blood from bookdepository.

Those are all the books I read in March. I also managed to fit them all to some prompts of Pop Sugar Reading Challenge this year:

1. A book you loved as a child: Alice in Wonderland

2. A book with a family-member term in the title: Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth

3. A book involving mythical creature: The Bloody Chamber and Other Tales

4. A book about an interesting woman: Notorious RBG

I am now in the middle of reading Frostblood by Elly Blake, it’s been pretty bland read so far but we shall see. I plan to read 5 book in April including reread of ACOTAR and ACOMAF in anticipation of ACOWAR. (OMG, WE’RE ONE MONTH AWAY!) I also plan to reread The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan in anticipation for the second book in Trials of Apollo series, The Dark Prophecy wich I hope will get me out of reading slump after ACOWAR, because let’s be real there is going to be a reading slump.