Reading Log: March 2024
2024-03-31A big month for ARCs I am on the hook to read by certain dates!
DNFs
The Day Tripper, James Goodhand
Middlemarch, George Eliot
Amidst everything listed below, I also tried to participate in Bluesky’s Middlemarch Madness, but got behind roughly 10 days in where catchhing up was feeling too daunting for the material I’d need to cover. I hope to come back some day, but jettisoning it in favor of other books was the right move for now.
Completed
Dolls of Our Lives, Allison Horrocks and Mary Mahoney
Weirdly, this hit too conversational a note for me - I’d generally welcome that from a podcast-turned-book but this felt like it was weirdly obsessed with maintaining the same we’re-all-friends-in-the-same-room tone of a rountable-y podcast when what I really wanted them to do was go deep on these dolls/the metamorphosis of the American Girl brand.
The Riddles of the Sphinx, Anna Shechtman
ARC, full review here
Selling the Dream, Jane Marie
ARC, full review here
You Get What You Pay For, Morgan Parker
ARC, full review here
The Exvangelicals, Sarah McCammon
ARC, full review here
This American Ex-Wife, Lyz Lenz
Lyz’ writing has been stellar for years, and I’m so happy that this is the book of hers that seems to be riling up everyone after seeing the themes it circles around be the bread and butter of her newsletter for the last few years.
Why Tammy Wynette Matters, Steacy Easton
The Why INSERT FEMALE MUSICIAN HERE Matters series is really a gem, and this volume covers so many different facets of why Tammy Wynette matters in an age when “Stand By Your Man” can feel regressive.
Who’s Afraid of Gender, Judith Butler
ARC, full review here
Open Throat, Henry Hoke
Picked this up because of the Tournament of Books putting it on my radar, and I think I agree with what the reviewer who didn’t move it forward said.
Help Wanted, Adelle Waldman
Exquisite set of character studies at a mid-size town’s slightly-fancier-Target and the team behind its scenes.
There’s Always This Year, Hanif Abdurraqib
ARC, full review here
total books, March: 11
total pages, March: 3339
total books, 2024: 36
total pages, 2024: 11999