Books to Check Out: March 2021 Reads

I was lucky enough to have three interesting books come up on my radar in March. Poetry, non-fiction, and self-help. Again, I’ve stayed away from fiction to switch up my usual reading habits, and I’m happy I did. It was a fun month for reads, and these are definitely picks to get your hands on.

Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes

I wanted to try something different this month, and so I searched “poetry” in the audiobook section of my library. This was the first available one to come up.

What a fantastic book. This is a memoir told through poetry, and it’s both beautiful and heartbreaking. The author recounts her life through writings, from great abuses to great triumphs. It’s a mesmerizing read, and another I’m happy to say I read via audiobook. Grimes herself narrates, and it makes the emotional impact of what’s happening hit home harder.

The writing in this is also fantastic. Grimes is so good about when to use metaphors and imagery and when to leave things to the reader’s mind. She weaves words in a way that forced me to pause at points to digest what I’d heard before continuing. I’ve never been a huge poetry person, but this book has opened me up a bit to the possibility of reading even more in the future.

I won’t spoil any of the events in the book, but overall this is a powerful and engaging book that’s more than worth your time.

What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

It’s not secret by this point that I love Gladwell’s writing, (see insert other articles here). What the Dog Saw is another Gladwell masterpiece, this one a collection of some of his celebrated New Yorker writings. In fact, this one might be my favorite.

What the Dog Saw has genius essays about topics that grab your interest immediately, yet wouldn’t be things you may think about on your own. Like the variations of mustard compared to ketchup, for example. I’ve never thought about it, but after reading Gladwell’s writing, it really is fascinating how ketchup has stayed so consistent as compared to the crazy amounts of mustard out there. There’s a wide range of things in here, such as economics and psychology, to dive into.

As always, the intelligent writing and in depth analysis from Gladwell is just so captivating, that you’ll learn while being engrossed in a story. He has a talent for storytelling while conveying information, and this book showcases that talent in spades.

How to be Mindful by Anna Barnes

This is one of the most fun picks I’ve ever done. How to be Mindful is really more of a coffee table type book to have whenever you’re feeling down. It’s a book of short paragraphs, beautiful illustrations, and quotes and mantras about being mindful. It’ll give you useful tips and tricks to combat things like anxiety and depression, and it can really just be used to thumb through once in a while. I bookmarked certain pages with mantras and sayings that particularly resonated with me, and I’ll for sure be looking back at them on my bad days. This is a cute book that I think everyone should own, your mental health (and even your physical health) will thank you for it.

I had a great time reading this month, and each of these are strong picks that anyone can enjoy. If there’s anything this month taught me, it’s that picking all sorts of different genres can really be a blessing. Next month, I may try to throw another poetry book in there, or maybe something different altogether. I had a great time reading this month, and each of these are strong picks that anyone can enjoy. Until then, happy reading!

Check out my February 2021 picks here.