March Books 2023
March Books 2023: 8 Books I Read this Month
By: Brittany Shields
This was quite the month for books in terms of my challenges. Plus almost all of these were released in the last year or two.
I fulfilled three prompts for the Shelf Reflection’s 2023 Reading Challenge and two categories for the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge.
PLUS a couple of these were on my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2023!
Spotlight of the Month
I think my spotlight of the month would be Leave Only Footprints by Conor Knighton because it surprised me the most on how much I liked it, plus it was the most inspiring and made me want to go out and do something— namely visit all the National Parks.
With winter ending and spring peeking through, I’m itching to be out in nature and this book reminded me why.
1. An Affair of Spies by Ronald H. Balson
Genre: Historical Fiction/ Spy Thriller
Ronald H. Balson, author of Once We Were Brothers, has written another WWII novel. Once We Were Brothers focused on familial relations between a Jew and a Nazi during WWII intertwined with a mystery of identity in the present day.
However, An Affair of Spies has a different WWII focus. As the title suggests, it is a book of espionage. But not just any espionage— these agents are sent to evaluate the Nazis’ nuclear bomb program.
Two agents must enter Berlin to exfiltrate a German scientist claiming to have valuable information about the Nazi nuclear program, plus one of the agent hopes to locate the family he was forced to leave behind and bring them safely to America.
This is was an interesting and action-driven book but probably less intense than you would think.
I learned a lot of cool things— including Iowa State’s role in providing uranium for the Manhattan Project.
Read my full review for some fun facts and a few things I didn’t like.
2. The Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There by Angela Kinsey & Jenna Fischer
Genre: Memoir/Humor/Non-fiction
[Winner for ‘Humor’ category of the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]
[Fulfilled ‘Book written by more than one author’ for Shelf Reflection’s 2023 Reading Challenge]
This was an enjoyable read!
I’d already read The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s by Andy Greene and Jenna Fischer’s memoir called The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide so some of the information was overlap.
The former is full of interviews with a lot of people involved with the series. The latter focuses more on Jenna’s journey to fame and not necessarily just about The Office.
The Office BFFs tells stories of The Office from two best friends and how the show shaped their friendship.
I hadn’t realized that Angela and Jenna were such good friends. It was fun to not only get behind-the-scenes info and pages of color pictures, but to see how they supported each other throughout the show was special.
They also run a podcast called The Office Ladies if you’re more of a listener than a reader.
Check out my full review for some fun facts and see what my favorite chapter was.
3. What Have We Done by Alex Finlay
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2023]
[Fulfilled ‘Book with a title that is a question’ for Shelf Reflection’s 2023 Reading Challenge]
“No matter how bad the person, we all cling to the days of innocence we remember from our youth.”
The book begins with a group of kids standing over a grave taking turns shooting a gun into its depths.
“What have we done?” one of the boys asks.
This is an action-packed thrill ride as the kids from that grave site are now adults and find themselves being hunted down.
I enjoyed this read, but I admit there’s quite a bit of violence considering the presence and job of the assassins and the characters weren’t really that likable, but there was definitely edge-of-your-seat action!
Read my full review for a cast of characters, more plot info, and some side comments!
4. Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton
Genre: Non-fiction
[Fulfilled ‘Book about nature’ for Shelf Reflection’s 2023 Reading Challenge]
“Take only memories, leave only footprints.”
This book is part fun-facts-about-National-Parks, part memoir, part conservation commentary.
In 2016, on the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service, Conor Knighton, CBS correspondent, was inspired to take a year of his life to visit all 59 National Parks.
His fiance had also just broken off their engagement and he needed an escape from his life. Nature was his medicine.
Conor moved out, sold his stuff, and began life on the road, criss-crossing the road for 52 weeks, exploring both what the country’s national parks and each area’s Tinder pool had to offer.
I was actually surprised how much I loved this book. The book cover doesn’t do much for me. And I was worried it would become repetitive to talk about each park.
But Conor is a brilliant writer. This book was informative, entertaining, funny, thought-provoking, and inspiring. Plus he’s not afraid of using a pun and I’m a fan of that.
Check out my full review for some side bars on nature & God, climate change, environment conservation and some fun facts about most of the national parks!
5. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Genre: Romance/Humor
[Winner for ‘Best Romance’ category of the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]
“There is always fear. Fear of the money running out again. Of hunger. Of failure. Of wanting anything badly enough that it will destroy me when I can’t have it. Of loving someone I can’t hold on to, of watching my sister slip through my fingers like sand. Of watching something break that I don’t know how to fix.”
I mean… was I ever NOT going to read a book called ‘Book Lovers’?
You know how the Hallmark movies are typically just versions of: ‘Big-city-career-driven-person visits small town for some reason, falls in love with a simple-life-local, breaks up with city-lover to move to said small town and find the more important things in life.’ ?
Well this is about the ‘city-lover’ who was broken up with— Nora.
She’s been the one left behind in New York for the small town magic. Four times.
Will ice-queen, literary agent, Nora, find her own Hallmark ending in small town North Carolina while on a trip with her sister or she destined to be a city-girl working her way up in the book industry?
What I love most about this rom-com is that it’s more than just a funny love story. It’s also a story of the friendship of sisters and the process of grief.
Read my full review for more on the plot, the things I liked, and the things I didn’t.
6. Sex, Race, and the Sovereignty of God: Sweet and Bitter Providence in the Book of Ruth by John Piper
Genre: Theology/Christian Living
“Ruth answers the question ‘Can I trust and love the God who has dealt me this painful hand in life?’”
Based on the primary title of this book I thought it would be a more political book or one with a lot of statistics or modern context. I suppose Piper’s book Bloodlines is for that.
I was pleasantly surprised that I was wrong about this book.
The story of Ruth has a special place in my heart and it was really insightful to read about all the things I missed about a story I loved!
A Piper teaches through the four books of Ruth, his words are expositional, conversational, and applicable.
Ruth is…
“a love story”
"a portrait of manhood and womanhood”
”about racial and ethnic diversity and harmony”
”about how God’s purposes are good”
”meant to release radical, risk-taking love”
”a showing of how all of history, even its darkest hours, serves to magnify the glory of God’s grace”
It’s a short book with a lot to take in.
Read my full review to see how I feel connected to this story, what resonated with me most, and some other great quotes!
7. Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ is Essential by Collin Hansen & Jonathan Leeman (& Study Guide with Megan Hill)
Genre: Theology/ Christian Living
“Heaven touches down on planet earth through our gathered churches. And when this happens, you offer the citizens of your nation the hope of a better nation, the residents of your city the hope of a better and lasting city.”
Covid-19 caused lockdowns and prevented churches from meeting in person. Churches adapted by moving to livestream and online services. But the year of 2020 brought divisions over many things— masks and vaccines, race protests, and the election and churches became less unified.
When doors re-opened, many people decided not to go back to church. What was the point? They disagreed with so many of the people and they could just find church online in the comfort of their home.
Hansen and Leeman have written this book to show why gathering as a church— the body of Christ— is so important. They come at it not from a utopian view, but with first-hand knowledge of the struggles churches have had and a plea for us to endure with each other even when it gets messy.
If you’ve become jaded by church or frustrated with division, this is the book for you. If you haven’t returned to church since Covid because no one has given you a reason to, this is the book for you. If you’re at church but you’re not sure why, this is the book for you. If you’ve never been to church because you don’t want to insert yourself into a mess, this is the book for you.
[Also would recommend reading it with the Study Guide and a group of people.]
Read my full review to see how the authors define ‘church’ and how they formatted their book around this definition, what resonated with me, what I wondered about, a look at the study guide, and some other quotes.
8. Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2023]
“Never defend without a plan to attack.”
This is Robert Dugoni’s latest book with the potential to (hopefully) become a series.
It’s a legal thriller/locked room mystery about an Irish family’s struggling law firm, a daughter set out to prove herself, an investment advisor accused of killing his wealthy disabled wife, and a high stakes game of chess.
The mystery, the clues, the family dynamics, the legal drama— there is a lot to like in this book!
If you don’t like legal thrillers, you probably wouldn’t enjoy this book— there is a lot of courtroom drama and trial strategizing throughout the book.
As long as that doesn’t describe you, I think this book is worth reading!
Read my full review to get the full plot, cast of characters, my critiques, a side bar on chess and some other random things I learned while reading it!
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