For the month of March, I picked only three books that I was intending on reading. Normally I read anywhere between six to nine books a month, but one of the books I picked to read was huge (The Luminaries). Tuesday night I sat down, started it and read about 40 pages. I was not “getting into it” – we didn’t click but I thought to myself that I could not give up yet so the next night I read another 40 pages and after I finished those pages, I threw it onto the floor and officially DNF’d it. Eighty pages in and we were still in the first scene from page 1. I just couldn’t do it.
I had already read one of the books I had selected for March, so back to my TBR pile I go. On Wednesday I started Violent Ends which is about a school shooting. The take on this book is unique in that each chapter is written by a different author and we see the shooter from the perspective of different characters in the book. I picked up this book at The Harvard Bookstore when I visited Boston/Cambridge in September and it was classified as Young Adult Contemporary. I was pretty leery – while I enjoy YA Fantasy, I am past the age where I easily connect with YA contemporary, but I thought I would try it. I am about 100 pages in and am really enjoying it – especially the perspectives from the different characters.
I anticipate that I will finish Violent Ends this weekend and I found my next read this afternoon. I stopped into my local Chapters store and saw Stuart MacBride’s new book, In the Cold Dark Ground. The last time I had checked, this book wasn’t to be out until April 15th so I was so excited when I saw it on the shelf today. Stuart’s books in the Logan McRae series are an automatic buy for me and I enjoy them so much. There isn’t a book where I haven’t laughed out loud even though this is a mystery/psychological thriller. I am very much looking forward to starting this book.
My other purchase today was Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I read this book quite a few years ago when it was an Oprah Book Club pick. I normally didn’t read those picks, however, I hadn’t read many classics at that point in my life and Oprah had provided a reading chart where it worked out how many pages a day you would have to complete in order to finish it in time for the book club discussion. If I remember correctly, it was a summer pick so we had several months to read it. I confess that I don’t remember much about the book other than it was set in Russia and I hated the main character, Anna. I don’t remember why and that is the reason I am going to give it a second chance. I see all these great reviews on 
book tube and so I’m starting to wonder if it was me, not the book. You see, I really enjoy books set in Russia and I am interested in the history, so why do I remember hating this book so much??? Maybe I read it at the wrong time in my life or I was just in a very bad mood for three months 🙂 Regardless, I am going to give it another shot – also, I am such a sucker for those cloth-bound Penguin editions. Love them!
Whatever you are reading this weekend, I hope it is bringing you joy. Gwen
indydriven 
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