My book life is going well. Goodreads tells me I’m five books ahead of schedule for my 2022 reading goals, so I want to keep up with the progress there, and stay ahead of the goals.
My March Word of the Month
Priorities
My March Haiku of the Month
Stay focused they say
Clarity and connection
Miracles of thought.
Bible Verse of the Month
Let your eyes look straight ahead…” – Proverbs 4:25
My March reading diary is at the bottom of this page, after the book list.
My Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/lindajm
☆ – I own the book and am ready to read.
★ – I’m reading it.
✓ – I finished reading it. Yay!
⇗ – Still reading at the end of the month.
DNF – I did not like it or finish it.
∅ – Stalled – I started but didn’t finish.
↓ – I didn’t even start. Complete fail!
My Personal Challenge This Month
My March reading goals are to continue with the reading challenges I’ve chosen for 2022. I hope to finish reading ten books in March though with better weather, the outdoors look lovely and I might have to read books out there!
A few book choices for this month
✓ Naturalist Memoir: Shadows on the Klamath: A Woman of the Woods, by Louise Wagenknecht
Still reading – I’m in part 2 now. This is a brand new hot-off-the-press third memoir by a woman who grew up in the area I now live in. This should work as part of my California reading and writing challenge for 2022. – Finished reading this on March 7. Great book! Here’s my review. – ★★★★★
✓ Christian Art: Breath for the Bones: Art, Imagination, and Spirit: Reflections on Creativity and Faith, by Luci Shaw
I’m still reading this cerebral and deeply thoughtful book by a Christian poet, recommended by my art business mentor. [Later] . . . finished 3/11/22 . . . . sadly, I ended up having a kind of negative opinion about this book because I didn’t like the vague, philosophical writing style. Here’s my review. – ★
✓ Fiction: The Secret Keeper, by Kate Morton
Still listening to the audiobook of this novel set in England. This is my second experience with a Kate Morton book. – Finished March 3, 2022… My Goodreads review – ★★★★★
✓ Christian: The Bumps Are What You Climb On, by Warren Wiersbe
I read this at night just before sleeping, most nights – just one short chapter at a time. Later – I finished this book on March 15. A useful book that serves a purpose. Nothing I disagreed with. My review. – ★★★★
⇗ Academic Sociology: Hobos, Hustlers and Backsliders: Homeless in San Francisco, by Teresa Gowan
I need to read a book about a current societal issue for the VT Christian Reading Challenge. I chose this because I care about the homeless crisis and because I used to live in San Francisco and care about what goes on there.
✓ Historical Fiction: The Children’s Blizzard, by Melanie Benjamin
I meant to read this in January and again, in February. Will March be the month? This will be my second time to read a historical novel by Melanie Benjamin. This book was sent to me by the Goodreads Giveaways program. The story was inspired by a terrible blizzard that hit the Great Plains here in the USA back in 1888. Later – I finished reading this book on March 17, 2022. It was very sad, yet worth reading and I did get emotionally involved with the characters. My review is here. ★★★★★
✓ Christian Historical Fiction: Finding Lady Enderly, by Joanna Davidson Politano
I noticed this on Goodreads. Hope I like it. Later – I finished this book on 3/10/22. Four stars.
⇗ Christian: The Hour That Changes the World: A Practical Plan for Personal Prayer, by Dick Eastman
Someone mentioned this book in one of my Christian creativity groups on Facebook, and I bought it. Then I felt compelled to read it right away. Life is good.
✓ Romantic Suspense: Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier
Yes, it is about time I got around to reading this one. Finished reading 3/14/22. Five stars.
✓ Historical Fantasy: The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
I intended to read this in 2018 and am finally, just now, getting around to it. This is the first book in a 4-book series called The Arthurian Saga. This one is told from the point of view of Merlin, starting when he’s a young child. Later – I finished this on March 22. Four stars.
✓ Romantic Suspense: Thunder On the Right, by Mary Stewart
Another book by Mary Stewart… more of a women’s mystery this time, I hope. She really is/was a good writer. Later – I enjoyed this audiobook. Good clean women’s fiction, thank you! Finished on 3/26/22. My review. Five stars.
✓ Romantic Suspense: Nine Coaches Waiting, by Mary Stewart
Another book by Mary Stewart… I noticed the main character in this novel has my name! I have to read it!
⇗ Christian: Ragged: Spiritual Disciplines for the Spiritually Exhausted, by Gretchen Ronnevik
I’m reading this for the Christian reading challenge I’m doing this year.
✓ Classic Fiction: All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque
I bought this in 2018 and never read it, but fortunately my copy survived the fire of 2020. I started reading it at the end of February and am appalled by the violence and in general, extremely traumatic events. Later – I finished reading this book on March 20. Sad story! Here’s my review. – ★★★ – Only three stars, because it was too sad and graphic for me.
✓ Christian Nonfiction: Good Grief, by Granger Westberg
I bought this after my mother’s passing in 2017 but had to read it this year because of the passing of my dear writing friend, Dennis Day, last September, 2021. After twenty years his friendship came to mean a lot to me and I was so terribly sorry he had to go due to pancreatic cancer.
My March 2022 Reading Diary
March 1 – Oh, March is the month of exciting St. Patrick’s Day, so let’s wear the GREEN all month long. Of course, GREEN is my favorite color. That’s why I live in a forest.
I published this life-update video yesterday.
March 3 – I finished audioreading The Secret Keeper. My Goodreads review – ★★★★★ I’m giving myself permission to start The Children’s Blizzard and Hobos, Hustlers, and Backsliders: The Homeless in San Francisco.
March 5 – I’m developing a new reading habit – reading all my Christian books in the morning and my secular or fiction books in the afternoon and evening hours. Juggling more than a few books, it is good to have a habitual way of getting them all read. Some of the books I’ve classified as long term reads, and I’ll read only a few pages each day. Even if I don’t read them voraciously I’ll get through them eventually.
March 7 – I finished reading Shadows on the Klamath, a wonderful memoir by Louise Wagenknecht about working for the forest service in Happy Camp, California. Loved it. Here’s my review. – ★★★★★ I’m not replacing it with another book right now as I still have others to read.
March 9 – A video posted today on my Booktube channel.
March 11 – I finished reading Breath For the Bones. I became very frustrated with this book because it was heavy on vague philosophy and short on anything I wanted to read about. Here’s my review. – ★
March 15 – So very happy to say we are halfway through the month and I’ve finished a handful of books. Most recently I finished an audiobook version of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. It was suspenseful, mysterious, psychological and altogether an intriguing way to spend my spare time for a few days. Here’s my review, and I gave it five stars: ★★★★★ Now I’ve gone on to an audiobook version of The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart. I’m still wondering if I’ll end up loving this book. Right now, I’m not so sure, but it has received many positive reviews over the years. It is the first of four books in The Arthurian Saga. This one is told from the point of view of a young Merlyn.
In other news re: my life in general… I’m so happy to say I’m now considering moving back onto my property for the first time since the big bad forest fire that ate up my home (and about 200 others) back in 2020. Sure would be nice to be home again! Also, re: art … I’m at a standstill. I want to create more saleable folk art… I’m finding myself as an artist. I don’t think the scribble on this page is saleable but it sure was fun to create – a fun technique I learned in one of my art classes online. This technique came from my mixed media art class with teacher Joanne Sharpe, https://joannesharpe.com. Super fun class! Next month my art here will be the actual art project that came from the technique.
Today I finished reading: The Bumps Are What You Climb On: Encouragement for Difficult Days, by Warren Wiersbe, a well-known, respected Christian pastor who taught at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. My review. – ★★★★
March 17 – Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I finished reading The Children’s Blizzard, by Melanie Benjamin. My review is here. ★★★★★
March 20 – Finished reading a classic: All Quiet on the Western Front. Here’s my review. – ★★★
March 22 – I finished reading The Crystal Cave today. Four stars for book one of The Arthurian Saga by Mary Stewart. It lost a star due to the amount of violence. My review. – ★★★★
Yesterday I spent the day driving to Yreka and back to pick up medications and to get my van serviced. I ended up feeling that the Ford dealership tried to rip me off. Such a terrible feeling. It is one of those things single women have to deal with. There was a nail in one of the tires and it had been losing tire pressure. Ford told me it was unfixable and it would be best to buy 4 new tires from them, so they would wear evenly. They also said I needed rear brakes done, but they didn’t have the parts on hand and they sent me back into the forest with a nail in my tire and bad brakes! I was not happy about that. So I took the van across the street to Les Schwab where they fixed the supposedly unfixable tire and charged me nothing! I have to go back to Yreka next week for the brake job.
March 23 – Already I’m working on my April reading page. Good thing I started early – I still have to scan the art I’m going to use and I have no idea what I want to read next month. Speaking of art – it is 3 months into the year already and I haven’t started on two of my art classes and fell behind on the third. This month I was supposed to create something with gouache and discovered I can’t find my gouache. It is probably buried deep inside my cargo trailer in a place where I can’t get at it. I do love painting with gouache.
March 26 – I finished the audiobook version of Thunder On the Right, by Mary Stewart. I enjoyed that.. it was good clean women’s fiction from the 1950’s… a romantic suspense novel. My review. Five stars.
March 31 – Today I finished listening to the audiobook version of Nine Coaches Waiting, by Mary Stewart. Lovely book with a main character named Linda Martin, just like me. Clean romantic suspense. Five stars, of course!
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