Hello & March in Books

Hello!

So it would seem that I've had a month-long unplanned hiatus from Lit Nerd and blogging. I've not posted on here since International Women's Day and I've taken a semi-conscious step back from twitter (although instagram still kept a firm grasp of my heart and imagination). I'm not sure what prompted my withdrawl from the interwebs; I think it was the combination of being simultaneously busy and un-busy, with the vague fuzzy haziness that seemed to settle on me somewhere towards the beginning of March. Thankfully things seem a bit clearer and brighter now, no doubt as a result of the clocks going forward - the lighter evenings are making such a difference - and a few weekends spent outside of London.

I'm not going to apologise for my absence. Neither will I make empty promises about regular posting schedules or suddenly becoming a social media whizz. Yeh...not happening. What I will say is that I missed this - I always do - and that I'm going to focus on talking about the things I want from now on. If I want to write about another serendipitous Simenon find (for real, that guy is haunting my life), the frustrations of not being able to run (for the millionth time), or the things I did at the weekend (which is frequently little more than drinking coffee, perusing bookstores and walking), then I'm sure as hell going to do it.

And now, without further ado, I'm going to crack on with talking about the books I read in March.

Harriet by Elizabeth Jenkins

Poppyganda by Matthew Leonard

The Playroom by Olivia Manning

Pretty Is by Maggie Mitchell

Four Frightened People by E. Arnot Robinson

The Suffragettes by various

The Circle by Dave Eggers

March turned out to be an excellent month for reading (with the exception of The Circle, but we won't talk about that). I've been feeling quite disconnected from books and reading for the most part of this year so far, moving from reading enthusiastically to almost hitting slump point, and this month was no exception. However, looking back I read some absolute corkers in March, even though one of those novels almost made me abandon my kindle on a tube platform (we definitely won't talk about The Circle). 

I seem to have rekindled my love for Virago Modern Classics, which means that I'll be shopping my own shelves much more as I have plenty of VMCs pre-loved by my Mum. Four Frightened People was decidedly odd, but interesting in how before its time it is. The Playroom was brilliant and has encouraged me to give Olivia Manning another go after I set aside The Great Fortune after only a few chapters.  

If I were to recommend only one book from this selection it would have to be Harriet by Elizabeth Jenkins. This was recommended to the bookshop crawl gang by the lovely people at Persephone Books, although it was actually on my list for the day too! It's a fantastic, if sad and frustrating novel and the character of Harriet still lingers in my mind a month later.

I don't plan on writing about any of these books - clean slate and all that - but if you would like to know my thoughts on them let me know in the comments.

What did you read in March? Do you have a favourite from the month?

If you're still here after my disappearing act then thank you for sticking around!