It’s the end of March already? That snuck up on me!
March in general:
March was a bit busier than I’d hoped, with some minor dental work ending up causing quite a bit of pain. It’s still not sorted, so there are more appointments in my future, annoyingly enough. It really impinged on my urge to read, so I’m getting a bit behind on my reading goals…
But I did also have the first of two graduation ceremonies! This one was from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, while the one in April is from the partner university, University of London. I was presented my award by the programme director of my course, who knew who I was even though I was always a distance learner, so that was preeeetty cool. My wife and I stayed in London for the week, so I also went to museums, the zoo, and a bunch of bookshops — a very satisfying trip.
I’ve done a fair bit of gaming against this month, with a particular shoutout to a chill and beautiful puzzle game that’s been eating my brain, The Artisan of Glimmith. I also had a great time with Sticky Business (you design your own stickers and sell them, unlocking little customer stories through the types of sticker you make!) and A Little to the Left (a tidying/puzzle game).
But now it’s time for the books!
Reading stats:
Total books read: 25
Total pages read: 6,873
Rereads: 2
ARCs: 2
Series finished/up to date: 3
Books owned pre-2026: 2
Books owned from 2026: 17
Borrowed books: 2
Fiction: 13
Non-fiction: 7
Poetry: 5
Comics, manga, manhwa, etc: 5
As you see, a quieter month by my standards is still quite a bit of reading! Somehow I had quite a bit of trouble settling down to read while in London, and before that my teeth got in the way, but some short books and some exciting new finds perked me up.
I was surprised by the proportion of non-fiction this month, but I do always lean into non-fiction when I’m stressed.
Progress on reading goals:
Overall total books read: 93/400 (7 books behind)
Overall total pages read:Â 22,962/100,000 (2,243 pages behind)
Books read from backlog:Â 23/100
Books owned since 2026 and not yet started: 20/20
Definitely slipping a bit on the yearly goals, but a good month will quickly put that right! It’s amazing that I stayed under the 20 limit for books owned and not started, but it did involve a marathon day of starting books, ahaha. I’ve got a few more on the go than I typically like these days, but it is also a bit of a nice nostalgic feeling, since I used to read like that before I found bookish social media and started focusing on finishing books. It’s not a bad thing to have that feeling again.
Blogging stats:
Views: 10.3k
Visitors: 9.2k
Likes:Â 317
Comments:Â 346
Reviews: 30
Other posts:Â 20
The stats are a bit down from last month, but that’s not too surprising since I didn’t have as much time to visit and chat this month.
Most viewed posts:
- Review – Platform Decay (128 views)
- Review – Strange Buildings (89 views)
- Review – Heaven Official’s Blessing vol 3 (75 views)
- Review – The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga), vol 2 (62 views)
- Review – The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (light novel), vol 1 (55 views)
High views continue for The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter and Heaven Official’s Blessing reviews, but this month my review of new release Strange Buildings and advance review of the new Murderbot topped the list. Not too surprising!
My own favourite posts:
- Top Ten Tuesday: Microhistory
- Review – The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish, vol 4
- Review – A History of England in 25 Poems
- Fantasy with Friends: Underrated Fantasy Books
- Top Ten Tuesday: Surefire Tropes
Stuff I loved from elsewhere:
- From Keira’s Bookmark: [Review] The Forgetting Navigations by Marlee Jane Ward, by Keira
- From Strange Horizons: Into the Midnight Wood by Alexandra McCollum, by Jenny Hamilton
- From There’s Always Room for One More…: Top Ten Tuesday: fantastical pasts, by imyril
- From The London Review of Books: A Way to Be A Person, by Paul Taylor
- From The Bibliosanctum: Book Review: Dollface by Lindy Ryan, by Mogsy
- From Reactor: How to Read Sixteen Books At Once (At All Times), by Jo Walton
And th-th-that’s all folks! Onward into April, and here’s hoping for a lot of fun reading time for all of us, but especially for me. 😉
I just got a gaming laptop and Sticky Business sounds like a game that I need to check out! Hope you have a lovely April.
Sticky Business is a lot of fun, I definitely recommend! The stories are pretty small, but it’s nice and bitesize.
wait, 25 books, and time to play games ? where do you find the time?
I also read two books by Mary Oliver in March
Emma @ Words And Peace recently posted…The top 7 books to read in April 2026
I’m even a high-end raider in Final Fantasy XIV, not a casual player, so that’s even more time… But honestly most days I manage less than an hour of reading, during the week. It’s partly that I’m a fast reader, and partly that I very carefully keep my weekends free.
By my standards you did great with your reading, even if it was low for you. I need to check out Sticky Business
Sticky Business is cute and a lot of fun! I usually end up playing it when I have twenty minutes or so between other things, it’s nicely bitesize… but I definitely spent a weekend glued to it, ahaha.
Much respect for staying within 20 books owned and not started. I’ve lost track of how many books I own that I haven’t read, especially since I started buying ebooks and audiobooks. Physical books on the shelves are much harder to ignore than digital books, but at least I don’t accidentally buy multiple copies of a book anymore like I did with physical books!
I love these Storygraph charts so much and I’ve been trying to make the switch from GR to SG, but struggling because I barely keep up with my GR updates as it is. Maybe one day I’ll make it stick!
Haze @ The Book Haze recently posted…Book Review | Replay by Ken Grimwood
To be fair it did involve starting a lot of books at once. A lot. But I still find it a useful exercise and it feels fun to have such an embarrassment of riches on the go.
I struggle with keeping up with all the websites I use sometimes too… but the stats are so pretty.
So many books (even if it was a “quiet” month) and so many five stars as well! I’m still waiting for my first five star of the year – but that’s probably just because I’m so picky with my five stars. Thank you so much for the love on my review this month!
Keira @Keira’s Bookmark recently posted…Let’s Talk Bookish: Novels in Verse
I’m fairly picky with my five-stars as well: five of them so far in 2026, but that’s out of 95 books read. That’s only 5% of the books I read getting three stars. 😉
It’s true it’s higher than my average, though; in 2025 I gave 14 five-star ratings total in 400 books read, so that’s 3.5%. Still, it might average out over the year.
Edit: oops, math.
Wow, sounds like March was a great month of reading (and gaming)! The Artisan of Glimmith looks like a really neat and cozy game. I’ve played the other two you listed, and they are ones I return to off and on when I need the cozy vibes. I’ll have to check out the demo for The Artisan of Glimmith!
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits recently posted…Mini Reviews: Between the Lines, Three Bags Full, & Finn Family Moomintroll
Belated reply because life caught up to me: The Artisan of Glimmith is a really beautiful world and quite fun and chill, I definitely recommend.