Prose read in March (or, more appropriately, prose finished in March; I started both It’s Complicated and Sticks and Stones at the tail end of February). This felt like a month when I didn’t really read that much prose – I tore through more comics than usual, instead – but it’s a month when I really appreciated all the prose I did manage to finish.

In particular, Eleanor & Park just killed me, reminding me waaaay too much of YoungerGraeme and of a particular ex-girlfriend of my youth, as well (Not that there are any real parallels in terms of plot, of course). It was interesting reading it after Sticks & Stones; I felt maybe too aware of the bullying subplot, even if I didn’t see the denouement coming.

I picked up Sticks & Stones because I love Emily Bazelon on the Slate Political Gabfest podcast, and even if I wasn’t entirely au fait with the subject matter (I feel I was curiously unbothered by bullying at high school, despite being ideal bully fodder at the time), I feel like it was a worthwhile read. Moreso than It’s Complicated, which failed to land for me in any real way. I was glad I read it, but disappointed in it, somehow? I wanted more, I think.

The same could be said of Double Down, at least in its Obama section – of course, I’d just finished The Message last month, so a lot of that was familiar to me. The material on the Republican race and Mitt’s campaign was far more interesting, I thought. Maybe I need to read about more losers?

The Westlake continues my slow creep through the Dortmunder books, while the Rucka begins my apparently-annual Kodiak re-read. I feel like I need some good recommendations for this month, though. People! What should I be reading?