These past few months saw a lot of books, both fiction and nonfiction, about violence (war, murder, sexual assault), suicide, mental illness, and adoption. I tend to gravitate towards darker books, so part of this is my doing, but several came to me from the list of National Book Award finalists, which was a pretty bleak collection, subject-wise, this year. Made for some interesting reviews for my Christmas reading challenges.
But now spring is almost upon us and there’s nothing but puppies and picnics in the park and sunshine and rainbows on the horizon (provided I don’t look at the news).
Visual interest: 
Finished in December (8):
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss (audio)
Death Is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa
The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasonga
Idaho by Emily Ruskovich (audio)
Women Talking by Miriam Toews
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson (audio)
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
The Existentialist’s Survival Guide by Gordon Marino
Finished in January (8):
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace by Patty Yumi Cottrell (audio)
Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood by Lisa Damour
Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry
Differentiating Instruction with Menus: Literature (Grades 6-8) by Laurie E. Westphal (ARC)
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The Art of War by Sun Tzu (Cavalcade of Classics)
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Finished in February (7):
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery (audio, re-read)
The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown (twice, once on my own and once aloud to my kids)
Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell (audio)
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (audio)
DNFs (4):
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn
A Short History of a Small Place by T. R. Pearson
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
Currently Reading:
Crossing by Pajtim Statovci
Shylock is My Name by Howard Jacobson (audio)
Napoleon’s Buttons by Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson (R.A. with my son)
Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersley-Williams (R.A. with my son)
To-Read for March:
In addition to the books I’m currently reading, I also have out from the library:
Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby
Ten Years in the Tub by Nick Hornby
And two titles from my physical TBR to read for #bookspin and #doublespin on Litsy:
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
What’s on your nightstand this month?
Are you on Litsy? So am I! Come visit! @ImperfectCJ
Imperfect Happiness 