For the Record: March 2013

Abysmal.  That's how reading went in March.  I moved house, which ending up including many more hours on So. Cal. freeways until the new school bus route could be fixed.  Not my favorite time-suck.  Our 1960s house rebuild is progressing slowly, but we will soon be moving onto all the framing/plumbing/electrical and so many final decisions are needing to be made - all of which take TIME.  I'm missing reading and blogging, though, and am making efforts to have a better book month in April.  Here's the rundown for March:

4 Books Read in March: (18 year-to-date)
1 for Classics Club Challenge:
  - The Beautiful and Damned, F.Scott Fitzgerald (4.5) [I simply love the era and this was a wonderful way to learn more about it. review here]

3 from my shelf:
  - Some Tame Gazelle, Barbara Pym (4) [fun & cozy]
  - Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie (3.5) [lent to me by a book club member and very good until the abrupt and odd ending.]
  - New Irish Short Stories, var. (3) [purchased in Ireland 2 years ago, and finally finished in a surge of wanting to be back there once again.  Wide range of quality, overall good experience.]

      


2 Current Reads:
  - Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky.  Yikes.  Still.  And stalled out to boot.  Must re-motivate! Get it done!
  - The Professor's House, Willa Cather.  I had to take a break to finish The Beautiful and Damned by April 1st, but am looking forward to picking it back up.  [update: finished already! April might be a good reading month after all.]
  - Ireland, Frank Delaney.  Listening to this on audio and almost done! Not very good...but it's about Ireland so it balances out somehow. [update: finished this too!  Onto my next audio book: The Chaperone read by Downton Abbey's Elizabeth McGovern.]

      

On My Nightstand:
I'm away from home right now, so my "nightstand" is currently a "bookbag" which contains the following: