March | Wrap Up

Seeing as we're fast approaching the end of March I thought I'd do a wrap up post for the month. This will include books I've read this month, but haven't done a stand alone review for, along with my currently reading pile.

Starting off with the book I finished reading this month:

By Light We Knew Our Names by Anne Valente 

(Paperback, 222 pages)

This is a collection of thirteen short stories, published by Dzanc Books (2014). Having never read a short story collection before I was interested to give this one a go after Mercedes from MercysBookishMusings on Youtube highly recommended it. To give you an idea of some of the themes that run across the collection I'm going to insert the blurb here (as they've summed it up better than I ever could!):

"From Midnight Sirens to pink dolphins to a fight club of young women who meet beneath the aurora borealis, By Light We Knew Our Names examines the beauty and heartbreak of the world we live in, and the one that hovers just beyond it, enigmatic and out of reach. Across thirteen stories, this collection explores the thin border between wonder and loss, between magic and grief within the human experience."

As someone who doesn't really read much magical realism I suppose this was an unusual place for me to start with short stories, but I thought that genre would suit the short form well. I have to say though, I actually really enjoyed this book and it definitely didn't overplay the magical realism aspects. Many of the stories only had subtle magical elements in and some didn't include any at all. Notably, 'Latchkey' and 'Minivan' were two of my favourites from the collection, but the language throughout was beautiful and I didn't think there were any 'duds'. Valente has a clever way of shifting her writing style which means that each story remains distinct and separate - rather than them all merging together. I often read on my way to and from work on the train and therefore the short story format really suited my reading patterns. So overall I'd definitely recommend By Light We Knew Our Names to anyone, especially if you find yourself only having short blocks of time to read. If you don't like ambiguity of endings that aren't always completely conclusive then maybe don't pick this one up - but I really enjoyed this aspect! 

[4.5/5 Stars]

Now onto the books I'm currently reading:

Swing Time by Zadie Smith 

(Hardback, 453 pages)

I preordered this book ages ago and did start reading it in 2016 when it came out, but due to it being a hefty, large hardback it wasn't a book I wanted to carry around with me in my bag constantly. Which is why I ended up putting it down for a while, simply because it was inconvenient. However, this month I decided to get back into it and I'm currently about a third of the way through. I really loved Zadie Smith's book NW and there are some parallels to be made, particularly in terms of style, between that and Swing Time. I'm liking it so far but it's proving to be a slow read, partly because I only really pick this one up when I'm at home/weekends. If you're interested in finding out my thoughts on this one once I've finished it do check back because I'll probably do a stand alone review on it!

Night Waking by Sarah Moss 

(Paperback, 378 pages)

I've heard many great things about Sarah Moss online, especially in relation to her most recent novel The Tidal Zone, which I also have to read but I thought I'd start with one of Moss' earlier works (which my Nana kindly gave me). As you may have guessed, this is the book I'm currently reading on my commute, paperbacks are definitely the best for chucking in your bag! I've only read 80 or so pages so far but can Moss' writing style is brilliant. It's witty, almost lyrical in places yet easy to read. The only negative thing I have to say about this book so far is that it includes letters inbetween the main chapters, which gives me flashbacks to studying Lady Montague's Turkish Embassy Letter's as part of my degree. I don't know what it is about letters but they tend to bore me a little - but time will tell whether I'll be converted to liking them when I've finished Night Waking. 

So that's the end of my March wrap up!

P.S. Please do let me know if you have any book recommendations either in the comments, or feel free to contact me through any of my social media platforms (linked on my 'contact' tab at the top of my blog).

Laura.