Monthly Reading Summary – March 2024

Top Book of the Month – ‘The Marriage Portrait’ by Maggie O’Farrell

Book Club Book This Month – ‘The Marriage Portrait’ by Maggie O’Farrell

Books Read This Month:

• ‘The Bandit Queens’ by Parini Shroff ★★
• ‘Summer at the Cornish Café’ by Phillipa Ashley ★★★★
• ‘As Good as Dead’ by Holly Jackson ★★★★★
• ‘Christmas at the Cornish Café’ by Phillipa Ashley ★★★★
• ‘Tudor Feminists: Ten Renaissance Women Ahead of Their Time’ by Rebecca Wilson ★★★
• ‘The Marriage Portrait’ by Maggie O’Farrell ★★★★★

Books Bought This Month:

• ‘Twilight’ by Stephenie Meyer
• ‘The Marriage Portrait’ by Maggie O’Farrell
• ‘Happy Place’ by Emily Henry
• ‘Summer at the Cornish Café’ by Phillipa Ashley
• ‘Was It Even Abuse? Restoring Clarity After Covert Abuse’ by Emma Rose Byham
• ‘1000 Tudor People’ by Melita Thomas
• ‘Escape to Honeysuckle Hall’ by Rebecca Raisin
• ‘Death Comes to Marlow’ by Robert Thorogood

Statistics:

• Books Read – 6
• Currently Reading – 1
• TBR – 248

• Fiction – 5 (83.33%)
• Non-Fiction – 1 (16.67%)

• Male Author – 0 (0.00%)
• Female Author – 6 (100.00%)
• Non-Binary Author – 0 (0.00%)
• Multiple Authors – 0 (0.00%)

• Paperback – 1 (16.67%)
• Hardback – 1 (16.67%)
• eBook – 4 (66.66%)
• Audiobook – 0 (0.00%)

• Total Pages Read – 2,171
• Average Pages Per Book – 361.83
• Hours Listened – 0.00

• Average Star Rating – 3.83

Monthly Reading Summary – March 2023

Top Book of the Month – ‘Elodie’s Library of Second Chances’ by Rebecca Raisin

Book Club Book This Month – ‘The Bear and the Nightingale’ by Katherine Arden

Books Read This Month:

• ‘The Final Year of Anne Boleyn’ by Natalie Grueninger ★★★★★
• ‘The Golden Enclaves’ by Naomi Novik ★★★★
• ‘The No-Show’ by Beth O’Leary ★★★★
• ‘Infamous’ by Lex Croucher ★★★★
• ‘The Christmas Holiday‘ by Phillipa Ashley ★★★★
• ‘The Bear and the Nightingale’ by Katherine Arden ★
• ‘Elodie’s Library of Second Chances’ by Rebecca Raisin ★★★★★

Books Bought/Gifted This Month:

• ‘Catherine and Anne: Queens, Rivals, Mothers’ by Owen Emmerson, Kate McCaffrey, and Alison Palmer
• ‘Anne Boleyn: An Illustrated Life of Henry VIII’s Queen’ by Roland Hui
• ‘Rebellion Against Henry VIII: The Rise and Fall of a Dynasty’ by Phil Carradice
• ‘Henry VIII and Charles V: Rival Monarchs, Uneasy Allies’ by Richard Heath
• ‘The Bear and the Nightingale’ by Katherine Arden
• ‘Wars of the Roses: The People, Places, and Battlefields of the Yorkists and Lancastrians’ by Paul Kendall
• ‘Infamous’ by Lex Croucher
• ‘Elodie’s Library of Second Chances’ by Rebecca Raisin
• ‘Payback’s a Witch’ by Lana Harper
• ‘True Tales of Tudor York’ by Tony Morgan

Statistics:

• Books Read – 7
• Currently Reading – 2
• TBR – 183

• Fiction – 6 (85.71%)
• Non-Fiction – 1 (14.29%)

• Male Author – 0 (0%)
• Female Author – 7 (100%)
• Multiple Authors – 0 (0%)

• Paperback – 4 (57.14%)
• Hardback – 2 (28.57%)
• eBook – 0 (0%)
• Audiobook – 1 (14.29%)

• Total Pages Read – 2,177
• Average Pages Per Book – 362.83
• Hours Listened – 10.75

• Average Star Rating – 3.86

Monthly Reading Summary – March 2021

March has been quite a good month for reading with some longer books. Our book club read for this month was ‘The Midnight Library’ by Matt Haig. I’m trying not to buy so many books until I am more up to date on my TBR list.

Books Read This Month:

• M.C. Beaton – Agatha Raisin: Hot to Trot ★★★
  • Hardback, 2020, Constable & Robinson
  • Adult Fiction, Cosy Crime

• J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ★★★★★
  • Hardback, 2003, Bloomsbury Publishing
  • Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy

• W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman – 1066 and All That ★★★
  • Paperback, 1930, Methuen
  • Adult Non-Fiction, History

• J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince ★★★★★
  • Hardback, 2005, Bloomsbury Publishing
  • Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy

• Matt Haig – The Midnight Library ★★★★★
  • Paperback, 2020, Canongate Books
  • Adult Fiction, Drama

• Terry Deary – Incredible Incas ★★★
  • Paperback, 2000, Scholastic
  • Children’s Non-Fiction, History

• Julia Chapman – Date with Danger ★★★★
  • Audiobook, 2020, Pan Macmillan
  • Adult Fiction, Cosy Crime

• Helen Cox – Murder on the Moorland ★★★★
  • Paperback, 2020, Quercus Editions
  • Adult Fiction, Crime / Mystery

Books Bought This Month:

• None

Statistics:

• Books Read – 8
• Currently Reading – 5
• TBR – 121

• Fiction – 6 (75%)
• Non-Fiction – 2 (25%)

• Male Author – 2 (25%)
• Female Author – 5 (62.5%)
• Multiple Authors – 1 (12.5%)

• Paperback – 4 (50%)
• Hardback – 3 (37.5%)
• eBook – 0 (0%)
• Audiobook – 1 (12.5%)

• Total Pages Read – 2468
• Average Pages Per Book – 353
• Hours Listened – 11.33

• Average Star Rating – 4

On This Day – 31 March – Death of Charlotte Bronte

31 March 1855

Death of Charlotte Bronte

Date of Death – 31 March 1855

Age at Death – 38

Place of Death – Haworth (England)

Reason for Death – Severe vomiting due to pregnancy (hyperemesis gravidarum)

Buried – Church of St Michael and All Angels at Haworth (England)

Bibliography

• Jane Eyre (1847)
• Shirley (1849)
• Villette (1853)
• The Professor (1857)

On This Day – 27 March – Birth of Dick King-Smith

27 March 1922

Birth of Dick King-Smith

Full Name at Birth – Ronald Gordon King-Smith

Date of Birth – 27 March 1922

Place of Birth – Bitton, Gloucestershire (England)

Parents – Ronald & Grace King-Smith

Siblings – Tony King-Smith

Bibliography

A full list of books by Dick King-Smith can be found on his website at the following link, but a selection are listed below: https://www.dickkingsmith.com/books/

• The Queen’s Nose (1983)
• The Sheep-Pig (1983)
• Sophie Hits Six (1991)
• Martin’s Mice (1991)
• Dragon Boy (1993)
• Clever Lollipop (2003)

On This Day – 24 March – Death of Jules Verne

24 March 1905

Death of Jules Verne

Date of Death – 24 March 1905

Age at Death – 77

Place of Death – Amiens (France)

Reason for Death – Diabetes

Buried – La Madeleine Cemetery, Amiens (France)

Bibliography

There is an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to the works of Jules Verne (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne_bibliography) but the most popular are listed below.

• Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863)
• Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864)
• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869)
• Around the World in Eighty Days (1872)
• Michael Strogoff (1876)
• Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon (1881)
• The Flight to France (1887)
• Invasion of the Sea (1905)

On This Day – 18 March – Birth of Wilfred Owen

18 March 1893

Birth of Wilfred Owen

Full Name at Birth – Wilfred Edward Salter Owen

Date of Birth – 18 March 1893

Place of Birth – Oswestry, Shropshire (England)

Parents – Thomas Owen and Harriet Susan Shaw

Siblings – Mary Millard, William Harold Owen & Colin Shaw Owen

Bibliography

A full list of Wilfred Owen’s poems can be found at the following link with his most popular listed below: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poems_by_Wilfred_Owen

• A New Heaven (1916)
• Anthem for Doomed Youth (1917)
• Spring Offensive (1917)
• Disabled (1917)
• Futility (1918)
• Dulce et Decorum Est (1920)

On This Day – 11 March – Birth of Douglas Adams

11 March 1952

Birth of Douglas Adams

Full Name at Birth – Douglas Noel Adams

Date of Birth – 11 March 1952

Place of Birth – Cambridge (England)

Parents – Janet Donovan & Christopher Douglas Adams

Siblings – Susan Adams

Bibliography

There is a full list of the works of Douglas Adams (novels and TV/Film) at the following link but the most popular novels are listed below: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams#Works

• The Private Life of Genghis Khan (1975)
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
• The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980)
• Life, the Universe and Everything (1981)
• So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984)
• Mostly Harmless (1992)

On This Day – 30 March – Birth of Anna Sewell

30 March 1820 

Birth of Anna Sewell 

Full Name at Birth – Anna Sewell 

Date of Birth – 30/03/1820 

Place of Birth – Great Yarmouth, Norfolk (England) 

Parents – Isaac Philip Sewell and Mary Wright 

Siblings – Philip Sewell 

Bibliography 

Anna Sewell only published one novel, Black Beauty (1877), but it is today considered a classic of children’s literature. 

On This Day – 27 March – Publication of ‘City of Bones’ by Cassandra Clare

27 March 2007 

Publication of ‘City of Bones’ by Cassandra Clare 

BACKGROUND

‘City of Bones’ is the first in the Mortal Instruments series of books, and has since led to other series like the Infernal Devices and Dark Artifices by the same author, as well as spin-offs like ‘Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy’ and ‘The Bane Chronicles’. Although technically classed as a teenage or young adult book, there are plenty of adults who are also fans of the series.

SYNOPSIS

First in Cassandra Clare’s internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series about the Shadowhunters. Love. Blood. Betrayal. Demons. First in the New York Times No. 1 bestselling series that has swept the globe, City of Bones is also a major movie and Shadowhunters, the TV series based on the book, is currently airing on Netflix. Irresistibly drawn towards a group of demon hunters, Clary encounters the dark side of New York City and the dangers of forbidden love. [Description from Waterstones] 

ADAPTATIONS

‘City of Bones’ has twice been adapted for the screen, once for film and once for television.

The film entitled ‘City of Bones’ was released 2013 starring Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower in the lead roles along with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Robert Sheehan, Kevin Zegers, Jemima West and Lena Headey.

The book, along with the others in this series, are also the basis for the Netflix TV show called ‘Shadowhunters’ starring Katherine McNamara, Dominic Sherwood, Emeraude Toubia, Matthew Daddario and Harry Shum Jr.