It’s the last day of March and I think we are all probably collectively drawing a sigh of relief, amiright? I’m linking up again with the lovely Leigh Kramer to share What I’m Into Lately – all the things big and small that I’m enjoying in the worlds of movies, music, tv, books, the interblag and more.

March Reading

This month I finished two books:

1. The Last Word (Spellman Book 6) by Lisa Lutz – Finished March 2, 2014 – I always enjoy the Spellman Files books though I’ll confess this one was a little harder for me to get into initially because I was still a little shell shocked by the last book. However, once I settled into the story it was fantastic in all the ways that Lutz’s books usually are. I cannot tell from the way this book ended if it will be the last one or not, but I hope that it isn’t.
2. Mary Poppins by PL Travers – Finished March 8, 2014 – There were some things about this book that I really loved and other things that I didn’t but I can’t really be fair to the book given that I read it after having viewed the Disney movie at least two dozen times. I couldn’t help but compare the two by both plot and characters and Disney definitely creates a kinder and more likeable Mary Poppins (not to mention a much more frequently appearing Bert). But PL Travers is a wonderful writer and there are some stories in her books that don’t occur in the movie at all that are definitely worth a read.

I spent a good bit of March also reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman which my book club discussed last week. I haven’t for sure, 100% given up on it, but I lost my motivational steam after book club came and went and found myself reading Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery and now I’ve loaned American Gods to my husband so I’m in no hurry. It was one of those books that I genuinely enjoyed when I was reading it, but felt no compulsion to pick up – it did not rivet me, so much as mildly intrigue me. Several of my book club friends agreed with me on this actually – even the die hard Gaiman fans amongst us.

 March Watching

I’ve been hooked on American Idol this season and I think I can safely say that my favorite contestant for Season 13 is Alex Preston but I like a lot of the other contestants also. And I would be negligent not to also add (again) that I am loving the judging panel, especially Harry Connick Jr. Love. I think they have finally gotten a lot of things right this year – and I was stoked to see a 30 minute results show last week – finally!!

We’ve been binge watching Veronica Mars on Amazon Instant Video like it’s our job around here – we finally finished Season One and are a few episodes into Season Two and anxiously anticipating eventually finishing up so we can rent / buy the movie at some point. We’ve been watching it so much that it’s starting to consume my waking thoughts – for better or worse.

We watched the first episode of Surviving Jack and really liked it – will probably continue to watch this one. The dad and sister are probably my favorite characters.

Still loving Kissing in the Rain online which stars Mary Kate Wiles (Lydia Bennet from the Lizzie Bennet Diaries) and Sean Persaud (from A Tell Tale Vlog). It’s a lot of literary / kissing in the rain goodness that makes the nerdy shipper in me very happy. And of course Emma Approved continues to delight me. I hope these people continue to do other books and projects because I’m loving this whole thing madly.

Shows I’m anticipating: Mindy Project finally comes back this week!!! Yay!! Also Brooklyn 99‘s season just ended and I’m already counting down the days until it comes back. Mr. Selfridge came back last night and I haven’t had a chance to watch but I’m highly looking forward to it – and I’m thinking I may need to look into Call the Midwife because I’ve heard such good things. Meanwhile Sherlock and Doctor Who continue to be all not there and stuff and I’m not amused.

As for movies it’s been nearly all Frozen all the time here and nobody in the house is complaining yet. When will we get our fill? No clue. We rented Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian and loved it just as much as the first – and we are looking forward to visiting Washington DC this summer even more now! Looks like they are making a third movie and I’m definitely looking forward to that.

March Listening

When the kids are in the car, we’re mostly listening to the Frozen soundtrack – the music in that movie was just the best, no? On my own, I’ve been really into Lorde, all things Rebecca Loebe, John Mayer (what else is new?) and Macklemore. Basically same as usual I guess. Oh I also have really been enjoying John Legend‘s song “All of Me.” Every time it’s on the radio I’m like “ooohhh I love this song!”

I think that’s pretty much it for this month – what have you been into lately?