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in Lifestyle · April 13, 2018

2018 Recent Reads: January-March

It’s here – the first 2018 Recent Reads post! Basically, 4 times a year, I’ll have a post where I talk about the books that I read in the previous 3 months. I did this last year, and I loved looking back at the books that I had read and recapping them in one post.

What has been really nice this year is that I have more time to read for fun. Since I finished my MA in December, I haven’t had buckets of homework to do, I can actually relax and read. Check out what I’ve read so far in 2018, and send me your book recommendations in the comments!

All book posts

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Kate the (Almost) Great!

Looking for book recommendations? I'm recapping what I read in the first quarter of the year, including my personal rating of each book, so you can find something to read. I read a wide variety of genres, so you're sure to find something that you'll want to read!

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Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How To Edit Yourself into Print – Dare I say this? This is an absolute necessity for all writers. You know that feeing when you finish the first draft of a book and you’re super proud of it but you also don’t want to show it to anyone yet? Get past that with this book. It is super, super helpful. Here’s what makes it extra great: at the end of each chapter, there’s an overview of the lessons from the chapter and exercises for you to practice the lessons from that chapter. I can’t recommend this book enough.

Rating: 5/5

If you write fiction, you need Self-Editing for Fiction Writers! I'm sharing my review of this book, plus all of the other books I've read in the first part of the year.

The Lost Order – You know the National Treasure movies? I think this is along the same lines, plus the risk of someone trying to change how the US government works. Here’s the official description: “As [Cotton] Malone tries to uncover the truth about one of the United States’ most legendary secrets, he finds himself on a perilous adventure that takes him from the Senate floor and the backrooms of the Smithsonian Institution to the deepest woods in rural Arkansas and finally into the rugged mountains of New Mexico.” It turns out that this is part of a series, but I’ve never read any of the other books and had no problems. It’s really good!

Rating: 4/5

Reviewing The Lost Order and every other book I read in January through March.

Life After Life – What if you died over and over and kept living the same life in different ways? As the book blurb says, “For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in any number of ways. Ursula’s world is in turmoil, facing the unspeakable evil of the two greatest wars in history. What power and force can one woman exert over the fate of civilization — if only she has the chance?” This is a fascinating and engaging book that I couldn’t put down. I would give it 5/5, but I wish it had a more satisfying ending.

Rating: 4/5

The Handmaid’s Tale – I never read this in high school or college, but I’ve been hearing about it for years, so now that I’m not in school, I figured it was time to read it! I loved it. I couldn’t put it down; I finished it in two days. I actually read it during the Superbowl! I’ve started watching the series with my sister, too, and it’s amazing. I also read this to fit the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2018 Reading Challenge in the category of a banned book.

Rating: 5/5

Have you read The Handmaid's Tale yet? Here's why you should, plus whether or not you should read the others that I read in January through March.

Three Sisters, Three Queens – I’ve read a lot about Henry VIII and his wives. I’ve read a book about his little sister, Mary, Queen of France. But I’ve never read a book about his older sister, Margaret, Queen of Scots. This book is told through Margaret’s eyes and focuses on her relationship with her sister and her sister-in-law Katherine from when Katherine arrives in England to marry Arthur, Henry’s older brother who was supposed to be king, until just before Henry splits with the Catholic Church to divorce Katherine. It’s fascinating. (For those curious, Margaret was the grandmother of Mary, Queen of Scots, and therefore the great-grandmother of James VI and I of Scotland and England, who succeeded Elizabeth I.)

Rating: 4/5

Drums of Autumn – This is one of my favorite Outlander books, and it’s the one that the next season of the show is based off of! I knew that I wanted to reread it before the show comes out, but not so soon before the show that I remember every detail and am sad with any and all differences. What I love about this book is that Claire and Jamie finally get a home after 3 books of never being in one place long enough to really, truly make one. Plus, one particular very exciting event leads to other exciting events that I can’t share without major spoilers. (Note: you do need to read the other books to understand this one, but trust me: they’re worth it.) This book fits the reading challenge in the category of book that’s more than 500 pages.

Rating: 5/5

Reviewing what I've read so far this year, including Drums of Autumn.

Everything I Never Told You – This is a really beautifully written book, but it’s a sad one. In the 1970s, a teenage girl goes missing and is found dead. This book is about her family and their life after. By the end of the book, we know the family’s background (how the parents met, what happened in the decades leading up, etc.), what happened to the girl, and what happens in the months after her death. But it’s absolutely wonderfully written and I loved it. This book fits the reading challenge in the category of a book by an author of a different race, ethnicity, or religion than your own.

Rating: 5/5

Need a book recommendation? I've got you covered. I'm reviewing everything I read in January through March, including Everything I Never Told You.

Warning Light – (FYI, I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.) The premise of this book is that a CIA analyst – aka desk job in the office – volunteers for a job in the field and things go haywire. He has to escape people who want to kill him in a foreign country, despite not having ever done anything like that before. Based on the description, it seems like something I would love. But I found it lacking. By the time I was half-way through, it was getting boring because he was basically doing the same thing just in different locations. Honestly, it felt like male escapism (he has never done any of this before but he’s still mastering the tasks). Are books a great way to escape the world? Yes. But it is not the kind of escapism that I like, and, like I mentioned, it was getting boring. To be honest, I couldn’t even finish the book.

Rating: 2/5

The Girl in the Spider’s Web – If the title sounds familiar, it’s because this is one of the books in the Lisbeth Salander series, aka The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This is the fourth in the series, and what’s different about this from the others is that it’s written by a different writer. The first writer died, and the second claimed that he had instructions from and the blessing of the first writer. I was always suspicious of this claim (how is the first writer going to dispute that?), which is why I hadn’t read it before. But a book that book fit the reading challenge in the category of a book in translation, and I really struggled with this category last year, so I decided to give this a try. I did like it, but it wasn’t nearly as good as the first three books. It lacked the same intensity and I-have-to-keep-reading feeling, and I had to kind of force myself to finish it. If you’re spending a day flying on a trip and need something to occupy yourself, give this a try, but otherwise, don’t bother.

Rating: 3/5

Reviewing The Girl in the Spider's Web, as well as everything else I've read in January through March.

What are you currently reading?

Like this post? Check out:

2017 Recent Reads, 31 Historical Fiction Novels To Take You Back in Time, Why You Should Read and Watch Outlander, Best Books about Writing, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert: A Review

Kate Mitchell

Kate Mitchell is a blogger, chronic illness patient, and advocate who helps people understand chronic illness and helps chronic illness patients live their best lives.

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  1. Kate the (Almost) Great | Boston Lifestyle Blog - 5 Books I've Recently Read That Should Be on Your Next Reading List - Kate the (Almost) Great | Boston Lifestyle Blog says:
    April 20, 2018 at 8:01 am

    […] 2018 Recent Reads: January-March, 31 Historical Fiction Novels To Take You Back in Time, Why You Should Read and Watch Outlander, Best Books on Writing […]

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  2. Kate the (Almost) Great | Boston Lifestyle Blog - Currently [Vol. 18] - Kate the (Almost) Great | Boston Lifestyle Blog says:
    April 30, 2018 at 8:23 am

    […] reading … The Girl in the Spider’s Web, the sun and her flowers, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Crooked Kingdom, A King’s Ransom, A Column of Fire – With my bedrest and how little I was doing for most of the month, I got a lot of reading now. I finally finished The Girl in the Spider’s Web, and I was a little disappointed by it. This is mostly because the first three books in the series were just so good and also because the first three were written by an entirely different author. Stieg Larsen died, and a friend of his picked up the mantle with the Millenium series. This was okay, but it didn’t have the same can’t-put-down quality, so I was disappointed. I also went out of my comfort zone and read a book of poetry! I went with the sun and her flowers because of how popular Rupi Kaur has been. I really liked it, but poetry in general isn’t really my thing. I then read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, suggested by one of my Instagram followers (I can’t find the message now). I think it would be a really good beach read. It also didn’t have the can’t-put-down quality, and I actually had trouble getting myself to read it. But there’s a big twist at the end that really god me! But one book that I adored was Crooked Kingdom. It’s the sequel to Six of Crows, and I can’t recommend either enough. Basically, they’re YA fantasy heist books. I can’t really say more without spoiling them! And I’m currently reading A King’s Ransom, which is about King Richard the Lionheart of England traveling back to England after the Crusades. He was captured by the Holy Roman Emperor, which is where the title comes from. This is my second or third time trying to read it, and for some reason this time just clicked and I’ve been devouring it! And I’m still listening A Column of Fire! I’ve just been listening to it less recently because I’ve been reading more hard copies of books. | Check out what books I read in the first quarter of 2018. […]

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  4. Kate the (Almost) Great | Boston Lifestyle Blog - 20+ Dystopian, Science Fiction, and Fantasy Books To Escape With - Kate the (Almost) Great | Boston Lifestyle Blog says:
    May 21, 2018 at 8:02 am

    […] The Handmaid’s Tale – Given the TV show, you’re probably already familiar with this book if you weren’t already. I read it for the first time in February and was astounded by how wonderful it is! “Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men in its population. The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order.” | Check out my review […]

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  5. Kate the (Almost) Great | Boston Lifestyle Blog - Currently [Vol. 19] - Kate the (Almost) Great | Boston Lifestyle Blog says:
    June 1, 2018 at 8:00 am

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  8. 2023 Recent Reads: January-March - Kate the (Almost) Great says:
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Having decades-long health problems sometimes mean Having decades-long health problems sometimes means coming across something in your health history that you completely forgot about⁣
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4. My kindle for wait time” 
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1️⃣ She’s married!! ⁣
2️⃣ She married the best person in the world for her!!!!!⁣
3️⃣ I got dressed up! ⁣
4️⃣ The reality of doing fun things with chronic illness and pain is that then you have to recover from the fun things. It took … a while. One million percent worth it, but this is why I don’t do big events on a regular basis. ⁣
5️⃣ And then I had to be a person again for an appointment!⁣
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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 7+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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1️⃣ Kate stands hugging Emmie. They're both white woman. Emmie is in a wedding dress and Kate is in a red dress and wearing round tortiseshell glasses.⁣
2️⃣ Kate and Emmie stand next to Matt, Emmie's husband. He is a white man.⁣
3️⃣ Kate takes a mirror selfie. she's in the same red dress but now also wears a jean jacket and holds a cane and mask.⁣
4️⃣ Kate takes a selfie while giving a thumbs up. She looks tired. She's now wearing a pink flowery dress. ⁣
5️⃣ Kate takes a mirror selfie. She's wearing black shorts, a gray shirt, a jean jacket, a blue mask, and black aviator sunglasses. She has a bag over her shoulder and holds a cane.⁣
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On the one hand, you should always believe what pe On the one hand, you should always believe what people tell you about their bodies.⁣
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On the other hand, I’ve had so much ridiculous and unconnected health things happen that I do understand why people might not believe me.⁣
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Last week, I talked about how it surprised me how Last week, I talked about how it surprised me how systemic autoimmune arthritis can be. But something else that surprised me was how much pain can be caused by small things.⁣
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In this picture, I was getting ready to have an MRI on my knee. It has been bothering me a fair amount the last 6+ months, so I'm trying to do something about that. ⁣
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2️⃣ … Which means I am overheating! ⁣
3️⃣ A quick view of NYC on my travels ⁣
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If I met my newly diagnosed self for coffee ... ⁣
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I tell her how things would get worse before they got better. ⁣
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I'd tell her to stop eating gluten, dairy, corn, soy, and eggs immediately (although that would have been a lot harder in 2010, more than it even is now). ⁣
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I'd tell her that she still needs to keep advocating for herself. ⁣
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I'd tell her that having a diagnosis unfortunately doesn't mean everything automatically falls into place. ⁣
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I'd tell her that she'll develop many more illnesses but her quality of life will actually get significantly better. ⁣
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I'd tell her that she would eventually have to get her right foot fixed, although she does expect that.⁣
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I'd tell her that using a cane is not a sign of failure, but a tool to make life better.⁣
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(I did a sort of tongue-in-cheek post about this a while ago and thought I'd post a more serious one).⁣
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The thing that surprised me the most about autoimm The thing that surprised me the most about autoimmune arthritis is how systemic it is. ⁣
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Like with most things, it's one thing to know the fact and it's something else to experience it. ⁣
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Yes, my joints are affected (a lot). ⁣
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But I've had enough serious infections thats I have to see an immunologist because we need to be aware of my antibodies and I sometimes need help recovering from illnesses. ⁣
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And, yes, I see pulmonology because of my asthma, but we also have to keep an eye out on developing rheumatoid nodules in my lungs. (So far so good!)⁣
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Not to mention that, when I developed POTS, the hospital admitted me to run every heart test to make sure that, at 26, I wasn't experiencing heart failure. ⁣
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Plus, when I developed endometriosis, I also went through a number of GI tests because one theory was that I had ulcerative colitis. ⁣
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Anyway, RA is so much more than "just" joints. If it wasn't, I wouldn't have to kill my immune system every 3 months like I am in this picture.⁣
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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 7+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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ID: Kate takes a selfie in an infusion chair. She is a brunette white woman wearing a Boston Red Sox shirt, blue mask, and round tortoiseshell glasses.⁣⁣
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#AlmostGreatHealth #RheumatoidArthritis #RheumatoidDisease #Rheum #Autoimmune #AutoimmuneDisease #InvisibleIllness #ButYouDontLookSick #Sjogrens #SjogrensSyndrome #POTS #PosturalOrthostaticTachycardiaSyndrome #Dysautonomia
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