All the books I read in March

 I didn't realize that I'd forgotten to write up the books I read in March until this morning when I finished a book and thought, "Why is that stack of books still on the coffee table?" 

Ooops.

I'm pleased to report that I am already way ahead for the year. To hit 52, I only need to read a book a week, four a month more or less, but at the end of February I was already at 11 books for the year and now I'm even further ahead, so I feel comfortable saying I've shaken off the slow reading slump I fell into at the beginning of the pandemic, and am back to a more normal speed for me. It bodes well for hitting my goal.

Anyway, here's how March went:

12/52 - Modelland, by Tyra Banks, is probably going to count as the worst book I read this year, and is honestly in the running for the worst book I've ever read. It's hard to pick out, specifically, what's wrong with it but in broad strokes the world-building is inconsistent, Banks can't decide what the tone of the book should be, and the plot is often just dull.

13/52 - Four Lost Cities, by Annalee Newitz, was fascinating, and I couldn't stop reading it. Newitz travels to four ancient cities, participating in archeological digs and interviewing the archeologists themselves, to tell the reader how the cities rose, how the common people in them lived, and how a city becomes "lost", if it really can at all. Travelling to Catalhuyuk, Pompeii, Angkor, and Cahokia, Newitz explores why people began to live in cities and why they still do, and writes in a way that makes it fully accessible to non-archeologist readers. 

14/52 - I didn't realize that You Don't Own Me, by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, was part of a series, as it reads like a stand alone mystery. I'll definitely want to look for the others, though, because this was a sharp, quick, entertaining read. Laurie, producer of a true crime show, is investigating Kendra, widow of a murdered doctor. While Kendra is obviously keeping secrets, do they have anything to do with the man following Laurie who almost kills her? And if Kendra didn't kill her husband, who did? And what will they do to stop Laurie from finding out and broadcasting it to the world? Like I said, this was solid entertainment.

15/52 - Do You Dream of Terra Two?, by Temi Oh, is a long book, but a fast, absorbing science fiction story. Terra Two is an earth-like planet in a nearby solar system, and ten astronauts are going to leave on a 23 year mission to fly there and begin colonization for the waves of people who will come after them. Four are veterans of the space program and colonization of Mars, and six are teenagers who have trained for this mission for most of their lives. They think they're ready, but a tragedy just before launch casts a shadow over a mission that isn't going exactly as planned. Will they still reach Terra Two? And will they even want to? This book and "Four Lost Cities" are tied for best book I read this month.

16/52 - Ararat, by Christopher Golden, is a fast-reading horror novel. An earthquake on Mount Ararat opens a cave that's been sealed for thousands of years, and competing teams of archeologists rush to be the first inside to explore the wooden ship inside. Believing they've found the remains of Noah's Ark, the archeologists waste no time prying open the sarcophagus they find on the lowest level, but discover the mummy of horned, inhuman creature rather than a lost prophet. Now, as a storm descends on the mountain, the archeologists, their documentary crew, and a UN science team are trapped in a cave filled with secrets and something that wants to be sure they never leave. This was a fairly standard horror novel, and would probably be fine as a distraction for a trip or vacation.

17/52 - Admission, by Julie Buxbaum, is a novel about the recent College Admissions Scandal, and tells the story of the family of a former sitcom star who tries to buy her daughter's way into college and is totally not Lori Loughlin even though she totally is Lori Loughlin. This was well written, and asks some hard questions about wealth and privilege, but it's a little too sympathetic toward the perpetrators for my taste.

18/52 - Standard Hollywood Depravity, by Adam Christopher, is really more of a novella than a novel. It's another entry in his Ray Electromatic mystery series about the last robot in Los Angeles, who works both as a private detective and as an assassin for hire. Ray has arrived at a club in Hollywood to kill one of the dancers, but the club is full of gangsters and the dancer isn't who she seems. What else is going on, and can Ray turn it to his advantage, or will he find himself in over his head and out of batteries before he can wrap everything up? This was entertaining, but I think I read it in one sitting.

So, that's it for March. I thought I'd read eight books, but it turns out that I can't actually count.