Rachel Coleman

Books on pre-order:

1. Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie (2 Apr)
2. Death in the Spires by KJ Charles (11 Apr)
3. You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian (7 May)
4. The Duke at Hazard by KJ Charles (18 Jul)
5. The Lotus Empire (Burning Kingdoms 3) by Tasha Suri (12 Nov)

Books acquired in March:

• and read:
  1. Succession: Marriages & Funerals (Clorinda Cathcart's Circle 21) by L. A. Hall
  2. The Thief on the Winged Horse by Kate Mascarenhas [3]
  3. Small Wonders Issue 09, March 2024 edited by Stephen Granade & Cislyn Smith
  4. Uncanny Magazine Issue Fifty-Seven (March/April 2024) edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas and Monte Lin [4]
• and previously read:
  1. The Grey King by Susan Cooper
  2. Star Wars: Heir to the Empire (Thrawn Trilogy 1) by Timothy Zahn

Borrowed books read in March:

1. Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy [6]
2. Sinister Spring by Agatha Christie [2][6]
3. What Fresh Hell Is This? by Heather Corinna [3]
4. Black Holes by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw [2][6]
5. The Perimenopause Solution by Shahzadi Harper & Emma Bardwell [3]
6. Managing the Menopause by Sally Hope & Margaret Rees [3]
7. The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang [2]
8. Thorn (Dauntless Path 1) by Intisar Khanani [6]
9. Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher [3]
10. Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston [2][6]
11. Maybe Next Time by Cesca Major [2][6]
12. Black Canary: Breaking Silence by Alexandra Monir [3]
13. Preparing for the Perimenopause and Menopause by Louise Newson [3]
14. Little Fish by Casey Plett
15. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
16. A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

Hurrah! I read everything new I acquired this month. I also at least sampled every one of my "yesses" from this Cambridgeshire Reads/Listens selection, finished the ones I wanted to finish from this month, and consciously chose to stop trying to get through yesses if I hadn't returned to them by the end of the month following their selection.

In the midst of this triumph I am feeling a little unbalanced. I am remembering osprey_archer's words "you cannot solve this problem by reading more". I'm trying to keep the sense of menus rather than chores, but library books have deadlines which my existing books do not, and my brain is very comfortable responding to deadlines. I do still want to have my rereads, my goodbye reads, my finally-reading-books-acquired-years-ago, alongside the stretch to my comfort zone of the Cambridgeshire Reads/Listens, and the lure of shiny new things that the library has right there for the reading. So for April, I'm going to aim for a bit more balance: yes the new books, yes the Cambridgeshire Reads/Listens, yes the library books already borrowed, but also yes to previous acquisitions, to rereads and goodbye reads. It'll mean slowing down the library book firehose, but that's ok. I can't do everything, and all these lists are menus, not chores.

[1] Pre-order
[2] Audiobook
[3] Physical book
[4] Crowdfunding
[5] Goodbye read
[6] Cambridgeshire Reads/Listens