Marvellous March

‘Hare on the Run’: engraving by Kay Leverton

The third month of the year marks the start of Spring – March, named after the god Mars in his agrarian guise, when hares madly box before mating, during which the vernal equinox takes place which is when some cultures chose to start the new year.

March also marks another round of literary events on the bookish blogosphere, inspired by patron saints, author anniversaries and continuing prompts or challenges.

For any bloggers who might be interested, I’m hoping to join in some of these events with at least one title as a way of shaping my reading for the next few weeks. Curious? Here is some of my intended reading.

https://webereading.com/2023/01/marchmagics-2023-all-good-things.html

Kristen of WeBeReading.com has announced that this year’s March Magics celebrating Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett (who both died during this month) will be the last she’s hosting after it started as ‘DWJ March’ back in 2012, the year after the author’s death. The final theme will be All Good Things … (Must Come to an End). “This means that basically anything goes,” she writes, “because, with these two, there are so, so many Good Things to enjoy and they’re different for everyone.”

I particularly want to reread Jones’s early novel Dogsbody (1975) which, in a different edition, I first read and reviewed nearly a decade ago. I also have copies of a couple of Pratchett novels I’ve yet to enjoy (such as 2011’s Snuff, claimed as the third-fastest-selling novel in the United Kingdom since records began) but first of all there’ll be Going Postal (2004).

I’ve been marking these anniversaries virtually since Kristen began posting about them, and along with many others I’m grateful to her for providing a reading focus for these two much-missed writers.

https://bookjotter.com/2023/02/05/are-you-looking-forward-to-reading-wales-2023/

Meanwhile, Paula @ Bookjotter.com is running her annual Reading Wales Month, alias Dewithon, beginning with St David’s Day on 1st March.

I have a couple of titles after last month’s Dewi the Dragon (2006) by Christie Davies: The Green Round (1933) the final novel by Arthur Machen, and The Hill of Dreams (1907), both of which I shall endeavour – though it’ll be a push – to get through and review.

https://746books.com/2023/02/08/reading-ireland-month-is-coming-2/

Cathy at 746books.com is again running Reading Ireland Month (also dubbed the Begorrathon) through March to include St Patrick’s Day. I’ve yet to make any decisions on this – C S Lewis’s Till We Have Faces may be slated in, for example – but may use her optional schedule as a guide:

Intro Week: 1–5 March
Irish Classics Week: 6-12 March
Contemporary Irish: 13–19 March
Short Story Week: 20–26 March
Nonfiction Week: 27–31 March

Other commitments for the month include ongoing reading lists. There’s my own #LoveHain readalong which features Ursula Le Guin’s Hainish novels in publication order. March’s title is City of Illusions but I have a review of Planet of Exile to post first.

I’ve also planned to tackle books which have been on my shelves unloved and unread for too long, way more than a year in fact. This month, for Adam Burgess’s #TBRyear10 I’ve scheduled Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal (2004), which already fits in with March Magics.

Will I get through the half dozen or so books identified on a provisional basis? We’ll see! I wonder how many of you are joining in any of these celebrations, or if you’re going rogue with whatever takes your fancy?