What I read: March 2025

You can often guess how much I've read lately by how long my hair is.

It’s the first ‘end of the month’ since I started this new Substack / website, and one thing I liked to do on my old, long dormant, Wordpress site was a little round-up of what I read each month - and more specifically, what I FINISHED each month.

I am one of those people who tend to have loads of books on the go but don’t always finish them, even the ones I want to read, despite my best intentions.

Not only that, but ‘not reading much’ is one of the canaries in my personal coal mine of stress indicators - along with ‘not getting my hair cut’ and ‘making poor food choices’.

Obviously this isn’t me, but the long hair/ not reading correlation fits the bill. Photo by Loren Cutler on Unsplash

You won’t be surprised, then, that I only finished two books in March, and they were each read in a single sitting.

However, I’m pleased to announce that I actually did get my hair cut back into a bob last week so perhaps things are on the up, and maybe I’ll start reading more and eating more fruit and vegetables in April.

So what did I finish reading in March 2025?

Heartstopper Volume One and Heartstopper Volume Two, by Alice Oseman

Captures the high school experience in all its exquisite awkwardness

I’m not even going to list them separately because they are continuations of the same story - and I’ve already got the remaining volumes ready to guzzle up.

I went to high school in the last century - in the last millennium, even - so I’m not the target audience for these super-sweet graphic novels about nerdy Charlie and rugby lad Nick who become best friends before falling in love.

But the charming story and deceptively simple illustrations are just captivating, and I can’t put down these heart-warming volumes, in which the high school experience is perfectly captured in all its exquisite awkwardness.

Just incredibly wholesome and a real palate cleanser from all the turmoil in the world right now. Having scrupulously avoided spoilers, including not watching the Netflix series, I just want them to live happily ever after in future volumes… (please let them, please…)

Heartstopper Volume One - Amazon / Bookshop (coming soon)

Heartstopper Volume Two - Amazon / Bookshop (coming soon)

Also on the go this month:

Slow Living: The Secrets to Slowing Down and Noticing the Simple Joys Anywhere - Helena Woods

Meet Me At The Surface - Jodie Matthews