March 2020 Reading List

A Good Neighborhood

Author: Therese Anne Fowler
Source: St. Martin’s Press via Edelweiss
Publish Date: March 10, 2020

The summary of this character-driven book about neighbors in conflict reminds me of Ask Again, Yes and Little Fires Everywhere. Single mother Valerie is not happy when her new neighbors raze their old house and all their trees. Relations are further strained when her son starts seeing the Whitman’s daughter.

I’ve seen mixed reviews, but this is usually the kind of book I love. Tell me what you thought if you’ve already read it!

Privilege : A Novel

Author: Mary Adkins
Source: Harper via Edelweiss
Publish Date: March 10, 2020

At an elite southern university, the lives of three women converge after a sexual assault. The first: the accuser, a second-year scholarship student. The second: a first-year student in the Justice Scholars program, assigned as the advocate of the accused. The third: an employee in the campus coffee shop. Told from all three viewpoints, this is being called a “campus novel for the #MeToo era.”

The Mountains Sing

Author: Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
Source: Algonquin Books
Publish Date: March 17, 2020

Continuing my historical fiction reading trend of books about Vietnam/Laos (and not WWII), this one is a multi-generational family saga, starting with a North Vietnamese family in the 1920s. I know little about the history of Vietnam before the war so I think this will be fascinating. Like Ocean Vuong, who wrote last year’s brutal and beautiful On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (and blurbed this book), Quế Mai is a poet. That doesn’t always work for me, but descriptions are leaning more toward “epic” than “poetic.” I’m hopeful that I’ll love this.

Beheld: A Novel

Author: TaraShea Nesbit
Source: Bloomsbury Publishing via Edelweiss
Publish Date: March 17, 2020

This book is another veer into less common historical fiction territory (something I’ve taken on as a bit of a personal challenge), and it’s a time period that’s totally new to me in fiction. Ten years after the Mayflower landing, the Plymouth that began under the notion of religious freedom is dominated by Puritans. Beheld is the story of a murder, told by two women, revealing politics, personal motivations, and ways that history gets written.

Darling Rose Gold

Author: Stephanie Wrobel
Source: Berkley via Edelweiss
Publish Date: March 17, 2020

Rose Gold was sick for the first 18 years of her life–or so everyone thought. Five years after her mother, Patty, was convicted by her daughter’s testimony, she is out of prison–and Rose Gold has taken her in. But neither one fo them has forgotten–or forgiven. Darling Rose Gold promises to be a dark, twisty thriller highlighting a severely dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship.

The Hidden Life of Trees

Author: Peter Wohlleben
Source: Library
Publish Date: September 13, 2016

After being blown away by The Overstory last year, the topic of trees has become something of a favorite in my reading. I find their perseverance, ability to survive and adapt, and methods of communicating with one another fascinating. Wohlleben delves deep into the complexities of the forest. I’m listening to this now, and while I confess to my mind wandering at times, I’m still picking up interesting tidbits and finding it a soothing listen–especially while on a long walk through the trees. This, of course, is my nonfiction book for my 2020 reading challenge.