 It's ridiculous. Spoilers. This is not a new thing. I guess it's better for someone likes a book. YA romance trojan whores. I read everything on my March TBR and then some. This happened partly because I was sick so I just like binged a bunch of audiobooks when I was sick but it's it's ridiculous. So yeah uh the final count I believe is 21 books if I counted correctly which I uh okay it is what it is. I mean this is not my goal for the year. I'm trying to read less. The first book that I read in March was a reread and that was Last Argument of Kings by Joe Evercrombie because as you should know we are doing a read-along of the first law universe all the first law books on Bethany's podcast chapter 3 podcast. So we did Last Argument of Kings finished out the trilogy in March and if you want to see the podcast episode for it which is mostly spoilery it is a little bit non-spoilery in the beginning but mostly spoilery then I'll leave that link down below. I've talked about first law to death on my journal so I read some more well not more just read first law again as I wanted to do um so that was a nice way to start the month. Then the next book that I read was a big surprise. Well me reading it wasn't a surprise it's uh how much I liked it that was a surprise and that is Jade City by Fondly. Jade City by Fondly. I am obsessed. I did film an entire review for it it is non-spoiler so I'll leave that link to down below as well if you missed it or are interested in it. I binge to this book I'm obsessed with this book this is my entire personality now. I mean starting the month out with Last Argument of Kings and Jade City like it really could only go downhill from there right because Joe Evercrombie in first law is already like god tier and then a new obsession worthy favorite back to back. I'm trying to say is that the reading months started out very strong and there were there were ups and downs it wasn't all downhill from there but like damn son damn. The next book I read is a book that I cannot tell you what I think of because it is one of the books that Hilary chose for me so you'll have to wait until we do the live shows discuss the books she picked for me on her channel and the books that I picked for her on my channel. The live shows are now scheduled for the Monday and Tuesday this this the 11th and 12th if that's Monday and Tuesday uh the April uh I believe we're doing the show on her channel about the books that I read first so you'll have to wait until Monday the 11th but um Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson is one of the books she chose for me and it is the third book that I read in March. Yeah you'll just have to tune in to see what I think about it. Next up is a book that I have a whole video for and this was not originally on my TBR at all but Bethany specifically sent me this book for the express purpose of having me film a boozy vlog reading it and that is Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon. So I did per her request I spent an entire I think it was a Saturday drinking and reading Ice Planet Barbarians and that video is available to you to watch if you want to see that journey but uh spoilers this is not a new favorite. Next up is a reread that I very much enjoyed the second time uh and that is Angel of the Ashes by Frank McCormick. This used to be my official favorite book I stopped saying that just because it no longer felt quite true there's so many books that I love that I didn't really feel comfortable saying this was my favorite book of all time anymore but it is certainly a favorite book and it's it is wonderful and rereading it now I was also I was like it had been a while too it was just another reason I stopped saying it as I was like I'm not even confident that is still true like I remember it fondly but what if I don't think that anymore so anyway uh this is Frank McCormick's memoirs about his extremely impoverished childhood in Ireland and it is every bit as charmingly heartbreaking and heartbreakingly charming as I remember Frank McCormick just has a way with words and I absolutely recommend listening to an audiobook the first time I ever read this I read it physically and then I listened to like part of it on audio a few years ago I was listening to it with my parents in the car on a railroad trip but we didn't listen to the whole whole thing um and then now I did it completely on audio and Frank McCormick reads it himself so it just feels like having this like sort of elderly Irish man tell you his life story with all of the like humor wit and like quirks of like dialectic speech that uh that you could wish for and he sings all the songs and it's just I mean it's very tragic but you know it's all he kind of tells it from the perspective of how he as a child understood what was going on around him that what how he was making sense of things around him so that is funny like you understand the things that the child does not understand and that frankincourt obviously now as an adult understands but didn't as a child and what's going on is horrible tragic but little Frank's understanding of it all the understanding is able to cobble together based on experience and what adults are willing to tell a child um is pretty hilarious so anyway if you have any interest in this at all I cannot recommend highly enough um and again definitely recommend it on audio except there's another book that Hilary chose for me so you're just gonna have to wait to find out um that was Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay which is a collection of essays by Roxanne Gay all to do with feminism feministy feministings so uh you'll just you'll just have to tune in see what I thought this is gonna be a nice short wrap up next up is a book that we talked about for hours um and that is A Night of the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin read this as part of the A Song of Ice and Fire readalong that I have been co-hosting with Jimmy from the fantasy network fantasy nut work and just Alex from Auxnium is we talked about this on Jimmy's channel this is a collection of three novella short stories that are they could take place in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire and they follow Sir Duncan Tall and Egg his squire they were there I mean for A Song of Ice and Fire they're quite charming and sweet but they are still A Song of Ice and Fire stories so there's quite a bit of violence and darkness in them as well just for the world of Game of Thrones that we've all come to be familiar with it's it feels light and charming and fairy tale-esque compared to that that's meant to be it's a it's a very sweet collection and I enjoyed it and I think I'd like to reread it more in the future because I know we talked about this a lot on the live that if you missed it you know the replay is available on Jimmy's channel but just sort of like all of the ways it is does connect to lineages and family names and events in the main series like either people that have been mentioned in the main series or that are descendants of people from these stories or things like that the way it's connected I know a lot of that like missed it so to be was kind enough to like explain a lot of it but I think this is a fun collection to kind of dip in and out of and come back to and read it just kind of as stories the way you would just like a book of a book of folk tales they're not there's not quite like folk tales but it's a bit more that vibe than the full novels are so I had a good time with this and also this this edition I think all the editions I have no idea but this edition anyway I can bounce over this is illustrated and the illustrations are fantastic oh and the audiobook is read by Harry Lloyd who is the actor who plays Viserys and his narration is quite good next book I read I Lowe's and despised but luckily so did my reading buddy or unlikely I guess it's better for someone likes a book but we didn't disagree that was more due by Alex Feavey actually I think so uh this book was sent to me very kindly by uh Evie from she was only Evie so that we could buddy read this and we've been planning to buddy read this for a really long time so we're finally we finally did it Evie really really hated it I really did not like it um I think actually maybe she gave it two stars and I gave it one star but nevertheless I feel like she hated it more but she did make allowances for like oh maybe it's not for me maybe it's you know brilliant I don't get it whereas I was just like no I did not enjoy this like at all and it's this is a definitely a situation where I have often talked about books and stories where it feels like the author is intentionally making things either like complicated or convoluted or just throwing stuff at you because they feel like to disguise the fact that their story isn't actually that good or that complex so it seems really complicated because there's just like all this stuff when you actually strip all that back it's actually a very straightforward story that they could have told in a much simpler way but they made it bananas um so like I compared I think it's actually a pretty good read-alike for the what's it called senlin ascends I haven't read the rest of the works but the sort of the quirkiness of the writing style and the quirkiness of the world building the thing that it most reminded me of was senlin ascends but I think senlin ascends is a better book I know Alan likes to hate me for the fact that I gave that book only three stars but I gave this I can't remember now if I gave it one or two stars but I don't like this and I thought senlin was like okay oh it didn't blow my mind but if you adore the just like the quirky world building and the quirky writing style of senlin you'll probably like this but this was definitely a situation where I felt like once you strip back the bizarreness of the world and how many made-up words there are and how complicated he makes it understand because it's not a situation where like I like a book that organically gives you world building pieces so that you can pick it up from context clues but you also don't do that by just like basically making every other word a made-up word so that you cannot understand what's happening most of the time unless you check the glossary which the author specifically tells you you shouldn't check the glossary because it's spoilery you're just like well fuck so it just it just feels like it's in love with its own bizarreness and complicatedness and if you again if you strip all that back when you actually sit down and like write an outline of like what was the story about it's not about a whole lot it's not a very complicated story but there's just like so much wibbly wobbly weirdness going on that you're like what the fuck is going on the most of the time and there was at the core of it something of a cool idea something of a cool interesting thing to do here but he's just it felt very masturbatory so yeah that's a no from me next up was my book of the month book and that was A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross um this I I really did not like either and I think that this is utterly mis-marketed and mis-categorized this is sold as adult fantasy and that's I mean it's book of the month book of the month club books now are pretty much though any of the ones that are like of the month uh that are not add-ons are meant to be adult and this is published as adult fantasy like it's not like book of the month made a mistake this is this author's first adult fantasy book she was previously writing YA fantasy which like I mean that's fine like you can switch other authors have done it to great success but this I'm sorry it reads not only like YA because it definitely reads more like YA than adult it reads like a YA romance not a YA fantasy even so I picked this up expecting an adult fantasy and I got instead a YA romance and if I had been sold to me as a YA romance I simply would not have picked it up and we could have avoided all of this so I'm very irritated because it was misrepresented to me and again if you enjoy YA and you enjoy romance then more power to you and I just know not to pick that up because that's not something that I am interested in picking up but this it feels like a YA romance trojan horse like was disguising itself as adult fantasy to trick you into reading it and I did not enjoy it because those are stories that I do not pick up if I can avoid it and I don't think it's very well written and I don't think because I could like a cheesy romance too now and again but this just it wasn't even very interesting or very original or even that like dramatic or swoon worthy like it wasn't like filled with melodrama that I was just like rolling my eyes out there was just like nothing to this honestly it was the one of the most hollow reading experiences I've ever had in my life so I do not recommend this next up is a book that I do not have a physical copy of I got the audio of it from the library and that is Rizio by Denise Mina I talked about it at some length um in the vlog that I did for Atlas Six because I talked about a bunch of books that I read that week and this is a novella that is part of a larger project is my understanding where a bunch of authors are retelling events from Scottish history in different ways so Rizio is just a little novella that is just retelling um the events surrounding the murder of David Rizio who was the confidant of Mary Queen of Scots and I thought it was pretty good like I did enjoy reading this or listening to it but I did feel like one I don't think it works as a novella it feels like a slice out of a longer book like it doesn't feel like it's a contained story with a beginning and an end that is like fine at this length like what was written was well written but it felt like it had been excerpted out of a longer book so I just don't think that worked as like an isolated like if you wanted to make this just about that I don't know it didn't it felt like you jumped in the middle and you had like missed the beginning and then another part of that might be why I would say it's really it would be difficult to understand this book if you don't know anything about the circumstances because we do just sort of like dive into the events just about as they are happening with very little setup and very little explanation and and then dip out of them pretty quickly as well because it's just really about his murder and kind of the events surrounding that quite immediately before and immediately after and then the end of it is is different that like epilogue or last chapter is different but if you don't know anything about Mary Queen of Scots or anything about her life or about these events I think you'll be super super confused I knew a little bit so I was okay it really expects you to know so I don't think it really works on its own either as a novella even if you know what's going on and I don't think it works on its own it definitely doesn't work on its own in terms of people not knowing these historical events and just picking it up this book fresh with no no prior knowledge so I think it's good like it's well written and it was compellingly written and I did like the ending which I understand is a little bit divisive so like I recommend it both like multiple asterisks if you're already interested in this and like go in forewarned that this will feel incomplete but it still interests you it is good it's well written so I would recommend it next up I read a book that I loved and that was beautiful world where are you by Sally Rooney I am given to understand that Sally Rooney is also quite divisive I loved normal people which I read um not when it came out but I read it a while ago now and um as soon as I heard two another book coming out I was like yep again that I binge listened to this when I was sick and it was it was great it was less depressing than normal people which was refreshing it's not a happy book I don't want to mischaracterize it I don't think Sally Rooney is capable of writing a happy book but it is happier than normal people um I her writing style really really really works for me I do kind of get why it wouldn't necessarily work for you and I definitely would bug me um the no quotation mark thing that she does I discovered very quickly with normal people that she does this no quotation mark thing that irks me so I did normal people in audio so that I could avoid looking at a page that had no quotation marks and so I already knew she's like that so I didn't even consider reading this physically I was like I will be doing it on audio so that I can not be aware of the lack of quotation marks so if that's something that's going to bug you I recommend doing Sally Rooney on audio but yeah I uh I mean a lot of people who do like her have sort of said that she's sort of a voice of a the voice of the her generation to a greater or lesser degree I think that's earned that doesn't mean that you have to like her voice you're like you don't have to like Billy Eilish's music but Billy Eilish uh and the style of her music the content of it and she as a persona is very emblematic of that generation so you don't have to like it but it is pretty true so I do think that there's a good reason Sally Rooney has that reputation um and also this book was quite you know um relevant um it felt quite sort of hit because um she was writing this I think she finished writing it as the pandemic began so she actually does bring up the pandemic in towards the end of this book so yeah it just feels very this book feels very now I do wonder how I'll how I or anyone will feel about it 10 years from now 20 years from now because this book is so now like the existential questions and the the zeitgeist and the way that people are connecting or not connecting with each other um and then the pandemic like everything about this book almost feels like a like a time capsule so in that sense it might be very interesting to look back on in 10 years 20 years 30 years from now as just like a snapshot of the cultural feeling an emotional state of the youngish people at this time anyway I enjoyed it not everyone does apparently next up is another book that I binge listened to while I was sick and that was a good marriage by Kim really McCrate which is a book of the month book that I got a long time ago when I was sick and looking at all my unread books I just went to my library app and got whatever audiobooks were immediately available of books that I owned and had not read yet um and so I listened to this all in one day uh it's a mystery thriller and it's not the best thing that I've ever read you know by no means but it kept my interest um and it definitely you know passed the time while I was sick I think I gave it four stars I'm not much of a reader of thrillers and mysteries so like I don't I'm not an expert on the genre perhaps this is extremely formulaic and anyone who is a veteran of the genre would guess all the twists a million miles away I'm not a veteran of the genre so the twists kept surprising me I also was very sick so I wasn't on firing at all cylinders either maybe but uh it kept me interested and and curious and and fascinated and the ending wasn't I didn't fully love the ending like the the answer to everything about what had been going on but overall I found it quite satisfying and surprising and interesting and compelling so I would generally recommend this if you're looking for an interesting thriller to read in a day next up is a book that unfortunately I cannot recommend and I really thought that it would be a book that I would love and that is Ray Mirror by Jordan Ifueco and I have this gorgeous edition of it um that is a special edition of it I have the matching special edition for the sequel that I now do not intend to read I really thought that I would love this book I thought that I would love the sequel uh that's why I have bow it's a duology I believe um there's gonna be more than that I mean obviously I'm not gonna read them I listened to this while I was sick because my whole report finally came in and I was like yeah let's do it because I'm laying here in bed and I need something to listen to and this book is uh how did I describe so what I I talked about this at length in the vlog during which I read this um and basically the only way I could think to describe this book is like and I said this in the vlog so this will be a repeat for anyone to watch that it's like if you go to a buffet but a buffet for character magic themes you know world building all of that and like a starving person in a buffet you just put everything that sounds good to you it looks good to you and crowded onto your plate but then that plate is being served as like a prepared intentionally paired entree and no a lot of things look and taste good a lot of things are interesting you cannot put them all in one book this book is just trying to do so many things all of the time and not doing any of them well and none of these flavors can really shine and none of it really matches or goes together and it's just this like complete hodgepodge of things the author thinks is cool would be good to do would be interesting to have and just mush them all together in this like relatively short book where you just get zipped through an info dumped at and it's just a mess in my opinion it's an absolute mess which is unfortunate because individually any of these any of the myriad things in this book could make for a great interesting compelling fascinating unique story but none of it is allowed to breathe or shine or impress you because it is just completely crowded with all of this other stuff and there's so many baffling choices in terms of like the narrative structure or in terms of is it narrative structure like a so I don't think this is super spoilery the book starts out with the main characters a child and then later on in that person's life magical reasons there is like memories are taken away and then those memories return and so you already know the memories like as you've seen this person's life from the beginning so you know what it is that they have been now magically made to forget so there's no mystery to that and then they get their members back anyway so it's not something they have to really deal with that long term so it's stuff like that where I'm like what why usually when you have like a memory last type thing not always there's there can be different reasons for that in stories but like a lot of the time it'll be because you the reader also don't know because you're on the journey with this character who doesn't have their memories and mystery is what is it they have forgotten but you know what it is they've forgotten and it's not doesn't it doesn't create interesting new narrative possibility when you know something that they don't know and they're doing things based on incomplete information it's nothing like that which could be interesting it's nothing like that it's it's just it's so surface level on all of the stuff all of the time because there just isn't room to delve into any of it because there's just too many things so it's unfortunate it really is and this cover is gorgeous I wish I liked this book because this is so pretty there were also a few things in it that I thought were like not offensive and not like full on problematic but I was like I don't know how I feel about that like the like there's an ace character I guess I guess it's an ace character but the way that that like reveal is done the way the inclusion is done I was just like um okay and then there are just things to do with the sort of like social structure like that they're questionable and just the beginning of the stories there are a few things in this book that I was like that's a little weird I don't know why we did it like that okay so anyway oh yeah I don't recommend unfortunately next up is another book that I binged listened to when I was sick and that was a lady's guide to etiquette and murder this was actually sent to me by one of my patrons because I had recently put it on my wish list and my patron was like this seems like good light fun to recover or to read while recovering which it was but I was not recovered enough yet to physically read a book so I listened to this as well I got off from the library and it was cute it was a little you know murder mystery that was sort of like Regency era murder mystery and overall it was pleasant and I had a good time the mystery was interesting it was kind of reminiscent to me of pride and premeditation in terms of like the time period and it being a mystery but I think pride and premeditation is better it's quite a bit better but that one also has the luxury of having the bones of pride and prejudice to work with which is an all-time classic so this one's on its own I have seen I think I saw that the third book in the series this is a series all the books are a lady's guide to something and something and they're all mysteries I think the third one won an award um and this was you know light interesting fun it was such a fun little escapist Regency mystery I had a good time so I would read more of these especially if the third one got an award that goes well I wouldn't say like rush to read this but like if you also are looking for just a light quick read for a day um this might hit the spot next is another book that I listened to while I was sick and I was my sister the serial killer by uh oyan con brave white which again I talked about this in the vlog where I was reading this uh and I was sick this is a book that I'd meant to read for quite some time and I finally did and I really enjoyed it it's it is a thriller but not a mystery it's that makes sense because you know who the killer is it's the sister that this is not a who done it but it is never the last thriller because you know you're it is very tense having a sister that is a serial killer so it was just a more of an interesting examination of family dynamics and sister dynamics and of like women's struggles in a man's world and it had a lot of interesting sort of food for thought and it was presented in this sort of unique way where the your sister is a serial killer and I kind of like this is nothing like dexter but like because I've been watching dexter somewhat recently like it kind of put me in mind of dexter like the idea that you're enabling a serial like you're knowingly enabling a serial killer who's a family member that is kind of basically what dexter's dad does for him okay it would be kind of like reading or watching dexter from the perspective of the father which is basically what this is anyway I do recommend this I had a really good time reading it um but it is pretty unlike anything else that I've ever read before next up I read the third book in this read of truth series for the read along the method and our hosting the blood of the fold by terry gay kind this book I think is pretty forgettable in the this series because even though it was been a while since I read these books for most of them I can remember a sort of basic outline of the major plot events and like who the big bad is in it and what generally the adventure is about and like some key moments and even though it's been sometime I can do that for most of the books with this one I was like I do not remember what blood of the fold is about and now when we reread it me and methanie were like yeah because like what even is this book about it feels even though this is like an ongoing series where each book is more episodic than an ongoing series nevertheless this feels like a middle book like in a trilogy it feels like the middle book between stone of tears the second one in temple of the winds this is like a the gap book the connecting tissue book so it doesn't really have much of a plot of its own it really doesn't it has some interesting things for the royal building and interesting character developments and just there are things in it that we consider that we enjoy a lot and the writing is definitely better um than the first book's writing is the worst of a lot just hands down his writing is a lot better after that so the writing is definitely better than the first book but we talked about the first book you know has the more clear plot arc so we could get like the writing quality of blood of the fold but with like the plot of wizards first rule you'd have a pretty great book this is the writing itself is better but there really isn't a plot in this it's like resolving things from the second book and then setting things up for the fourth book but it itself isn't doing a whole lot for itself so it's it's fine we and we talked about it and um and yeah that's yeah if you missed the live show it was on bethanie's channel i'll leave that link to down below oh and i did go on a bit of a soap boxing ranch towards the end of the live so you know if you like to see me rant um then you should check out the live for that next up is the book that the vlog that i keep mentioning was actually meant to be for in its entirety and that is the alas six by libya blank now if you watch that vlog you'll know that i was reading it on my kindle uh because i had an e arc of the new version and i liked it which spoilers for the end of that vlog i liked the book so i decided to get the physical copy one because i was like i liked it so i would like to have physical copy but i was in no real rush to get one because i was like but i mean i've read it and like i'll get one at some point but then i learned that there are illustrations and i wanted it and i have looked through some of the illustrations and the illustrations are quite good i mean like it's so cool yeah i mean uh i really enjoyed this book i don't think it's like the best book of all time it is no jade city but i had a really good time reading this and i definitely intend to read the atlas paradox i believe in a second and these new covers um i originally thought that i liked the self-pubbed cover better and parts of it i do like better i think that the like design of the glyph thingy on the original cover is cooler this is pretty simplistic looking i like the original glyph better but the gold and black is all very nice i wish it was golden black but it had the original design of the like symbol thing that was from the original cover it's like in gold anyway yeah i really enjoyed this and um yeah i want to see my full thoughts then have vlog which was originally meant to be just about this it's available to you next up is another book that taylory chose for me so you will have to tune in to find out what i thought about it and that is this is how you lose the time war by max glaston it is a novella and um yeah just have to watch and find out waffle next up is the book that my patrons and i buddy read and that was strained to the dreamer by lanie taylor uh this is a reread for me and i still gave it four stars reading it this time you know i knew what i was in for i've mentioned before that for very spoilery reasons what she does towards the end of the book like made me dock at a full star but like knowing i knew that going into it this time what where this was all going so it was interesting to sort of see everything now that i knew how it was going to end and i was used to that idea now of how things are going to go i'd have all these years to adjust to that yeah so like reading it now be like okay so if that's what this is actually going to be now that i know that i cannot be freshly betrayed by that so okay so it was interesting seeing all the pieces that um how that all fits together i'm like it works like the way that it was intended by the author and not what i thought it was going to be um and i still enjoyed it i still gave it four stars obviously the mystery and wonder of it is a little bit not there as much the second time because like you know the answer it can't be such a mystery but it is one of the most beautifully written things ever lanie taylor's writing is just pure poetry i uh it's it's just gorgeous and it's not just uh she writes beautifully in terms of like the meaning of the words you know the the images that she paints in your mind with how she describes things is beautiful but also the sound of words like this the words that she invents for her world she invents painfully beautiful meanings for them but also the sound of them is beautiful itself like words like the elmuthaleth which is a place where she does this thing where each like part of the book um opens with the what a invented in universe word and its definition so the first one is stress stress uh which is when a dream comes true but not for the dreamer it's a beautiful sounding word that you can barely pronounce and the meaning of it is i mean well let me read the rest so the word let me try again is stress the noun when a dream comes true but not for the dreamer archaic from stress the bastard god of fortune who was believed to punish supplicants for inadequate offerings by granting their hearts desire to another just like the book is filled with stuff like that where it's just oh it's just i don't have words for it because she used all the good words like i don't have better words to describe what that was that was magic so anyway i had a great time rereading this i'm very much looking forward to reading music nightmares which when i did read it the first time i gave it full five stars uh no no docking of stars occurred but i'm hoping i still feel that way on reread but anyway strange the dreamer is gorgeous read it if you haven't next up is another book that haillary picked for me and that is the paper menagerie by ken leal and you'll just have to watch and find out what i thought of it and last but not least is another book of the month club book that um i just you know was on my backlist and i had time and that was the four wins by christin hannah my whole four it came in so i uh got it and one book of the year for book of the month in 2021 uh that's why i have it too because if you're a book of the month club subscriber the end of the year in addition to whatever book you pick for the month you get to pick for free their finalists for book of the month or book of the year um so the finalists last year of the five finalists i think it's five of the five finalists that there were the ones that i was most interested in i had already bought and read them as my books up the month so of the remaining ones that i had not read yet the one that i was most interested in was the four wins he wasn't interested enough to pick it for my book of the month ever but um picked it when i could get it for free it is it's a story about the the dust bowl and the great depression which you know is very sad and it was it was it was a good story and i it was very heart wrenching at times and heartfelt and well written and very compellingly written but we have four stars instead of five because having quite recently read books that also told i uh true events or fictionalized versions of true events i didn't the writing wasn't as deeply poignant as the writing in those other books so i think it's quite good i gave it four stars and i would recommend it and it is a part of history that we don't actually talk that much about like we talk about world war two but we don't really talk about the dust bowl that much like it's not a fun topic to make movies out of and to discuss and it was like it was really horrible um and it was actually one of the most interesting things about this was the interview with the author at the end of the book where she kind of talked about how when she decided to write this book obviously she had no way of knowing how hyper relevant a lot of the things in this book would become by the time it came out because there's just sort of like isolation of having to stay in your house because of the depression in the dust bowl which because of coronavirus then we were all living that and then the all the stories in the news about immigrants and and migrant workers and about border issues and the fact that it was people from the center of america from the dust bowl immigrating uh emigrating moving to the coast and they were treated pretty much the same way that migrant workers are treated um but they were not immigrants but it was just like true abandoned and it's true now and he's repeating itself and just like both the great like the good and the bad of humanity being true then and true now basically so like the strength and the resilience and the courage of the people that lives through this as well as the horrifying ways that people took advantage of those situations or mistreated people or withheld help and and demonized and discriminated and punished them for things that were beyond their control so it yeah basically like yeah when the author said that this book was a lot more relevant than she ever could have predicted that it would be i was like yeah that's very true so from that perspective like even though it may not it may not strike you as like oh a book about the dust bowl that's hyper relevant for the times it actually is um and the like climate itself being you know like the the dust bowl was basically a man made crisis and then so therefore humans had to fix it all of that makes this like an oddly topical book so i mean it is really good um it's not amazing but it's quite good and those are all the books that i read in march let me know in the comments down below your thoughts and feelings about my thoughts and feelings whenever you want to let me know i post videos on saturdays other random times will be 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