A selection of quotes and pictures to represent March’s reading:
commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.
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“If one is young enough one can love anything. I expect that is why people cry when youth confronts them suddenly. It is envy.”
Deadly Duo by Margery Allingham (1949)
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“Everyone always has to have the rational, scientific explanation for something, even if it’s so obviously wrong you could scream.”
Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones (1997)
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‘Aqua Tofana’ poison (by Pierre Méjanel)
There are different kinds of human nature, some approaching good, some bad, just as there are different plants in her garden for different needs. Some plants are healing, some are toxic. So it is with humans.
The Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola (2024)
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Any woman who has ever tried will know without explanation what an unpalatable task it is to dismiss, even when she does not love him, a man who has all the natural and moral qualities she would desire, and only fails in the social. Would-be lovers are not so numerous, even with the best women, that the sacrifice of one can be felt as other than a good thing wasted, in a world where there are few good things.
The Trumpet-Major by Thomas Hardy (1880)
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Lord Edward Fitzgerald
They could always take lessons, I told him. As could you yourself.
Do you think it would help?
Immeasurably. To live in an ocean of incomprehension is not only terrifying. Dangerous, too.
The Ballad of Lord Edward and Citizen Small by Neil Jordan (2021)
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It is ridiculous to do a thing merely because others have become the slaves of the idea that one has to be “active”. Are there not a thousand things to be attended to which, though much more important, are left undone?
Count Luna by Alexander Lernet-Holenia (1955)
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The strange thing about good people, Eliza had noticed, was the manner in which they saw that same quality everywhere and in everyone, when in truth it is vanishingly rare.
The Fraud by Zadie Smith (2023)
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Makoko, Nigeria (photo by Collins okoh)
Of course, I’m always thinking about the future, but without money or guidance, the future isn’t something you choose but rather something that happens.
Water Baby by Chioma Okereke
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“In our job we have to think of everything,” said Welby. “If we miss anything, it’s always the things we miss which matter.”
Impact of Evidence by Carol Carnac (1954)
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Favourite books read in March:
Deep Secret and Count Luna
Authors read for the first time in March:
Diana Wynne Jones, Neil Jordan, Chioma Okereke, Alexander Lernet-Holenia, Zadie Smith
Places visited in my March reading:
England, the Koryfonic Empire, Italy, USA, Wales, Ireland, Nigeria, Jamaica, Austria
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Reading notes: I’m pleased to have read two books for Reading Wales and one for Reading Ireland, as well as trying Diana Wynne Jones for the first time for the March Magics event! 1937 Club is coming up in April – I’ve started one book already and hope to read more. I would also like to join in with Lory’s Reading the Theatre, but that will depend on whether I can find anything suitable on the TBR and how much time I have. I have several NetGalley review copies with April publication dates as well, which I really need to get to before I start falling behind again.
How was your March? What are you planning to read in April?
She Reads Novels 
I managed to read a few for Reading Ireland very late in the month Sophie White’s Where I End, Carmel McMahon’s In Ordinary Time and Maureen Sullivan’s The Girl in the Tunnel.
April, I will try and read at least one from the International Booker Prize long list, otherwise mood reading I think. 🙂
I was pleased that I managed to read something for both Reading Wales and Reading Ireland this year, as usually I only have time for one or the other. Mood reading sounds like a good plan for April!
You chose great quotes. I love the ones from The Fraud and Water Baby. By the way, I’m eagerly awaiting your review of The Fraud to see what you think.
I enjoyed the first half of The Fraud but I thought it started to lose direction, with too many separate storylines. My review should be up either this week or next week.
What a wonderful selection of quotes you’ve chosen here, virtually every one had me mentally nodding my head (the one comparing some people to toxic plants)!
I’m especially glad you tried and enjoyed DWJ; and I’m currently reading Eva Ibbotson’s Magic Flutes for Reading the Theatre – so many of her novels for older readers feature the stage, I’ve noticed. 🙂
Thanks – I’m glad you liked this month’s selection! Magic Flutes sounds like a good choice for Reading the Theatre. I haven’t read that one, but have enjoyed some of Eva Ibbotson’s others.
You picked such great quotes! I can’t even pick a favorite, I like too many of them. Have a great week. 😀
Thank you, Lark! I hope you have a great week too.
I’m looking forward to your review of The Fraud, although seeing your comment above I do recognise a Zadie Smith trope there (if trope is the right word?!). I was very pleased to post 2 reviews for Reading Wales, next year hopefully I can manage Ireland too!
I enjoyed The Fraud overall, but definitely had a few problems with it. Still working on the review!
Oh Helen, what a wonderful journey round the world you have done in this last month’s reading! 🌍As for me, I spent a fair bit of time in magical lands, in my March reading, and I plan to do more in April, as I hope to read The Road to Oz by L Frank Baum for the Ozathon event.
Yes, I was pleased to have visited some different countries in my reading last month. I hope you enjoy The Road to Oz and whatever else you read in April!
Thank you 😊