All The Books I Read in March! 📚🧐 Reading Wrap Up

[@jenvcampbell]

Let me know what you read last month :) x

[@fionaboyle7616]

My favourite book I read last month was Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup- lots of lyrical descriptions of nature and landscapes, and magical realism elements incorporating South Asian folklore

[@gabrielle_vx]

I read a bunch of middle grade books and Marvel comics featuring BIPOC girls/women superheroes :D

[@michelepastele5347]

I read a book by CJ Box - Shadows Reels. He's very prolific, writes based in the SW US, and I felt it was kind of a 'man's book,' but ok. I also read Finlay Donovan Knocks Em Dead which was a lightweight type book but enjoyable. Also read Sex and the City and Us - meh. Also am reading My Faraway One - letters of Georgia O'Keeffe and Steiglitz - loving it. Also reading biography of Australian painter Margaret Olley - really enjoying it!

[@mycupoftea3767]

This is my first time commenting on KZbin. I had to tell you, you are one of my favorite people on KZbin. Your recommendation Never miss and I would not have know about half the books I’ve read and loved if it wasn’t for you. Thank you for being you, and sharing with us! 💕

[@asunnybooknook]

great wrap up Jen!

[@jenvcampbell]

♥️

[@whatsthetemma1308]

loved your review today and this is one of my favourite looks you've done. Always have a note book at hand so I can write down any books that appeal from your videos. you open my eyes to genre's I wouldn't naturally choose. I love that you have a constructive discussion even when the book isn't for you .

[@jenvcampbell]

Thank you, Emma. x

[@babblingbooks2839]

Piranesi and The Need were my favorite reads from last month. You recommended them and they didn’t disappoint.

[@fmarginalia]

Outside Over There was my favourite book as a kid! 😱 it gave me nightmares but I wore it out at my local library because I was so obsessed.

[@fmarginalia]

Other faves that are associated in my mind are Faeries by Brian Froud and the de La Mare / Le Cain edition of Molly Whuppie

[@alattemorning]

Stumbled on your channel after searching through Booktube, and I'm so glad I did!

[@jenvcampbell]

☺️♥️

[@keiichifuruya]

I don't know of you are pronouncing all the authors name correctly but I LOVE that you say the names with such authenticity. Very respectful 💕

[@jenvcampbell]

I do check so I hope so! x

[@jess2424ica]

I could say this with every video of yours, but I absolutely love listening to you talk about books! Your level of insight is off the charts. I’m waiting on my copy of Elena Knows and I think my current TBR will be shoved aside to get to it :)

[@jenvcampbell]

♥️

[@christinacampbellbooks]

Really enjoyed hearing your thoughts on all of these, Jen. I can't wait to read The Creatures of Passage. I'm on the waiting list at my library for it. It sounds unlike anything I've ever read before! ☺

[@jenvcampbell]

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. x

[@RenFriend]

Hi Jen! My favorite book of last month was One For All by Lillie Lainoff (let's go dysautonomia/disability rep!!!!) and I really enjoyed Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo. I cannot wait to get my hands on Elena Knows this month. You've convinced me entirely!

[@jenvcampbell]

Hurray, I hope you enjoy it! x

[@manoeksbooknook]

the representation in One for All is so good !!! loved it too

[@mradcaqbdb]

I know what you mean about being fixated on a painting. Mine is The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Delaroche. I go to see it in the National Gallery whenever I am across the pond and I’ve got a print of it above my fireplace. No idea why. It just speaks to me. I read/listened to a ridiculous 18 books in April! My favorites were: Elena Knows The Trees by Percival Everett Heaven I Am I Am I Am Ghosts of the Tsunami AllowMe To Retort by Elie Mystal The Need I also finished listening to Shari Lapena’s books. Pretty good for the most part, but not my favorite. I’m working my way through the Dr Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths now. These are a lot of fun.

[@michelepastele5347]

When I was going thru chemotherapy, I would go to the Art Institute and 'absorb' the Paul Gauguin and Chagall paintings. I really believe the color and the feelings of those works helped heal me.

[@springintoreading7225]

I recently read Grania by Emily Lawless for victober. This book spoke about changlings throughout...crazy time in history for sure!

[@sarahwsheher2442]

My favourite read this month has been a brilliant poetry pamphlet- swell by Christopher Lanyon. It's about the sea and family and transformation and was just so good. The imagery was really clear and evocative. Also, it's published by Bad Betty, who I think are really cool. I also read Julia and the Shark, which I thought was stunning! Can't wait for their next book later this year. Tom de Freston's art is beautiful and Kiran Millwood Hargrave managed to address really hard topics with care and simplicity. Wonderful. Highlights in a mixed bag of a reading month!

[@jenvcampbell]

Julia and the Shark is such a stunning book ♥️

[@chantellebehrens]

I lost myself in Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies last month...currently trying to savour The Mirror & the Light because I don't want to leave that world!

[@trishawood2997]

I started this series after watching one of the your videos talking about it. I am on the last book of the Frieda Klein series. I enjoyed them and will be reading their stand alone books as well. 😊

[@jenvcampbell]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@bibliosophie]

Creatures of Passage sounds fascinating -- will definitely look into it. This also reminds me that I've been meaning to check out Mrs Death Misses Death since I first saw it recommended by you...

[@jenvcampbell]

Out of the two I prefer Creatures of Passage but Mrs Death is also fab, especially on audio x

[@rosew.4778]

My favorite of March reads was Still Life (Sarah Winman).

[@jenvcampbell]

I've heard nothing but great things about that book! x

[@Nastya-uj9bg]

yes! the second part of book of mother failed for me too!

[@jenvcampbell]

Glad it's not just me! x

[@reesedonnelly7077]

I ended up reading The Last Revival of Opal & Nev and loved it so much though I am definitely biased as I have a particular soft spot towards music history in the 1970's. Also because of you I read Jane, Red Parts and The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson my favorite of which was Red Parts so thank you for the recommendations! Crossing my fingers that everything goes well with your move!

[@jenvcampbell]

Thank you, Reese! x

[@theuncommonviewer]

Wooow! Can't believe you hadnt read outside over there. Completely seminal book of my childhood. We had it on casette combined with where the wild things are read by Tammy Grimes. Please please look up a clip of the recording. Absolutely terrifying performance!! I just looked it up and it gave me goosebumps!

[@hollypeters6081]

Hi Jen, I recently read (and loved!) your poetry collection and wondered if you had any recommendations for poetry collections/nonfiction books that explore the history of anatomical 'curiosities'??x

[@jenvcampbell]

Thank you. If you mean recommendations for the history of disability and the freak show, there’s Spectacle of Deformity by Nadja Durbach. x

[@YourTrueShelf]

I loved the paper palace so much. Definitely one of my books of the year so far. Also gave the bread the devil knead 5*. I think other than that I've read all opposites to you on the women's prize list! Tonight I'll finish every one in this room will some day be dead - got this recommendation from you and I think it's brilliant. I can imagine it as a Greta Gerwig film x

[@TheIrisMessenger]

Really loved these reviews Jen! Thank you for all these recommendations, I think I'll look into Creatures of Passage. I'm still going to try out Isabel Yap's collection, I don't mind plotty, hehe. I'll try and catch up on your vlogs soon

[@jenvcampbell]

I think so many people would love Yap's book, so I hope you do, too. x

[@rasmusarethebest]

I feel like I'm reading similar stories over and over again between the Women's prize and Man Booker International. Notable exception was Sorrow and Bliss which I suspect will get shortlisted and maybe even win. It's different, at least.

[@jenvcampbell]

Looking forward to reading that if it's shortlisted. x

[@kathleenwalsh3556]

Hi Jen talking about literary device how about Josef's ('Not Polish, Ukrainian!') fall through the ceiling in klein book 1? Really enjoyed the cunning plot and the enigmatic Frieda. Book 2 is waiting for Easter to be over for me to pick it up. Thoroughly enjoyed Love Marriage. Couldnt help thinking of Joanna Lumley as Harriet. After a searing, as they say, of a Irish-born, NZ-based writer's memoir, Grand becoming my mother's daughter (an alcoholic), I'm reading The Anglo-Saxons which is, thankfully, not academicy but so well-researched, easy to read with a comfortable font. Interestingly, Sendak had a v fraught childhood, I believe.

[@megjshark]

So many books!! Love seeing your thoughts on the two longlists, I'm slowly picking away at both of them too. Interesting to hear your thoughts on Heaven especially, which I didn't enjoy much either. The conversation around the narrator's disability frustrated me in a similar way, though by the end I had the impression that was Kojima's view of the narrator, not the book's/Kawakami's. The way she treated him and reduced his identity to his eye, as someone who was supposedly a friend, made her seem to me almost as bad as the bullies. I had similar feelings about The Sentence, definitely felt like it was tackling too many subjects at once. I also really disliked Cursed Bunny. But on a more positive note you've made me even more excited to pick up Elena Knows and Creatures of Passage! My favorites I read in March were definitely More Than I Love My Life by David Grossman and Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga :)

[@jenvcampbell]

Thanks for sharing, and I hope you enjoy Elena Knows and Creatures of Passage. x

[@jacquelinemcmenamin8204]

Have you read The Good People by Hannah Kent? Speaking of Changlings reminded me of it.

[@jenvcampbell]

I DNF’d that; I wasn’t comfortable with the way it was handling the topic x

[@BaileeWalsh]

wait, Outside Over There.... sounds like the movie Labyrinth! Not exactly, but the girl having to go to the Goblin realm to save her younger sibling who she's supposed to be watching is the premise of Labyrinth.

[@jenvcampbell]

Labyrinth was inspired by Sendak’s book (the book is actually in the film at one point)

[@sandeesandwich2180]

I am listening to This One Sky Day right now (published as Popisho in the US), and I think it might be a book better read than listened to, because I am feeling like I might be missing things that I would catch better on the page. I am about halfway through listening to My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh and I am struggling to finish it because, like depression, the book is relentless -- maybe too relentless for me. I read an embarrassing amount of mysteries and romance novels -- because I needed some predictability. (Sometimes you just need a dependable, rather than a challenging read.) I also listened to two memoirs, All In by Billie Jean King and You Can't Be Serious by Kal Penn, each read by the author. They are both excellent. King's book is touching because she often gets choked up while reading -- and at other times gets a bit of the giggles. Kal Penn is very entertaining and also takes advantage of the format by playing an actual recording of a speech he gave instead of just reading the text. He really made the audiobook worth it.

[@jenvcampbell]

Nothing embarrassing about that at all! ♥️ and I definitely think This One Sky Day/Popisho is probably best read on the page if you have that option, you’re right x

[@RomySews]

Think I’ll give Elena Knows a go, I might even try it in Spanish 😊 Also I couldn’t hear any construction noise in the video!

[@jenvcampbell]

It's so odd what the camera microphone picks up and what it doesn't; it was more than just a rumble in the background in real life. x

[@Chocolatetart88]

Always look forward to your Monday videos! Just read Careless by Kirsty Capes which I really loved. Aiming to read all the longest and now onto The Final Revival of Opal and Nev. I didn't like Daisy Jones and the Six and I have similar feelings with this book so think the writing style is just not one I gel with.

[@jenvcampbell]

I'm not a huge fan of books about music which is why I haven't picked that one up yet, though I will if it's shortlisted. Glad to hear you loved Careless. x

[@janethansen9612]

I quite enjoyed The Paper Palace. I read Sorry and Bliss immediately after and though there were some overlapping themes (especially mother daughter relationships) I did not like that book at all. I also did not like The Exhibitionist, it just wasn't anything new. I see what people mean about the incomplete dialogue. There is one character who seems to be unable to finish a complete sentence and it was quite wearying really.

[@Diaryofabooklover]

I finally made it to Pain and Prejudice by Gabrielle Jackson which was great. Liked it more than Unwell women. I will go an look back at your videos to find more inspiration on books about chronic pain. 😊 somehow I’m coming to terms with the idea that this is happening to me, and it’s great finding similar stories. There was an essay in Disability advisability which made me bawl my eyes out and highlight everything.:))

[@jenvcampbell]

I'm glad that reading about it is helping! x

[@BellesBooksbyCarly]

I’m currently reading The Good People by Hannah Kent about a changleling child and it’s so upsetting, especially knowing it’s based on a true story, I’ve been trying not to dnf it.

[@jenvcampbell]

I couldn't read that book, and did DNF it. Obviously it's a very difficult subject but I wasn't convinced it was handled sensitively. x

[@BellesBooksbyCarly]

@@jenvcampbell yes you were definitely right to avoid it, I wish I’d realised sooner, I had it in my head that she writes about magic and thought it was going to be about actual faeries so that’s why I kept going, the more I’ve read the worse it’s got 😬 x

[@jenvcampbell]

@@BellesBooksbyCarly Oh dear! x

[@katrinamuritala3207]

I dnf build your house around your body I just didn’t get it I’ve read bread the devil kneed and careless I can’t get into the others

[@jenvcampbell]

Ah, that's a shame! x

[@dgrvcdftqpxsumhlrstf4322]

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