Hello! I’m back today to talk about my March reads for the Buzzword Readathon!**And as always, the work to support the Black community is not done, whether there is media coverage for it or not, so here is the link to click in order to support the Black Lives Matter movement in any way you can, and thank you to StarlahReads for compiling these resources. You can also visit the description of this video by booktuber Jess Owens, which has links to several additional resources about global events.**
This is the third post in my “Buzzword-a-thon” series. In case you’re new here, Buzzword-a-thon is a read-a-thon originally created by Kayla at the YouTube channel booksandlala. It centers around readers choosing books that include specific words or ‘types’ of words. This year, all prompts were selected in advance and it’s been loosely hosted once a month. I’m making a yearly challenge for myself to at least read one book with the buzzword each month, and also include one recommendation and one anticipated read in my monthly post. The word for March was “time,” and I think I had an even harder time choosing books for this month to feature than I did in January. Let’s hope this isn’t a theme, me finiding it progressively more difficult to find books to fulfill these prompts. Well, now that we’re here, let’s talk about my picks for March.
Here the Whole Time cover 
This is How You Lose the Time War cover 
As Old as Time cover
Read in March – Here the Whole Time by Vitor Martins
-Back in December, I asked Dahlia Adler over at LGBTQReads to recommend a sweet, soft book that would just get me through the rest of 2020, the bad year it was. She immediately pitched Here the Whole Time, a YA contemporary by Vitor Martins originally published in Brazil 2017, but translated to English (from portuguese) by Larissa Helena and released in the US last November. It follows Felipe on his winter break in Brazil, where his plans are drastically changed when he hears Caio, his neighbor a crush since childhood, will be staying with him and his mom for 15 days. Felipe deals with bullying as he is a fat teen, and is insecure about he is perceived by other people, especially his peers. He used to swim all the time in the apartment pool with Caio when they were kids, but stopped when he started to get looks from other neighbors about his appearance. This was an absolute delight of a book following two boys navigating first love, with all of the awkwardness that comes with it. There was really good therapy representation as well, as Felipe attends sessions with a therapist every Tuesday, and his mother is extremely supportive of who he is. She also becomes a motherly figure to Caio as well, which helps him deal with disapproval coming from his own parents in regards to his friends and his sexuality. Their relationship was just so sweet, and I loved seeing it progress with each passing day of their vacation. This could join my list of comfort reads, just because of how long there was a smile on my face while reading it, and I was able to finish it in one day.
Recommendation – This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
-I feel like everyone was talking about This is How You Lose the Time War, an adult sci-fi novel by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, when it was released back in 2019. It’s a short book, just under 200 pages (at least for my copy), and there were people that adored its prose and those who did not understand the plot at all. The story follows Blue and Red, rival agents on opposite ends of a time war who strike up a written correspondence in the ashes of a dying world. The two share secrets of loneliness childhood, loneliness, and, despite all of the odds against them, even love. I received this book in a care package I ordered from the independent bookstore Mysterious Galaxy (who has become one of my favorite indie bookstores to support) because I asked for some science fiction recommendations, and this was definitely a good pick. I will admit I was confused, but as the story fell more and more into place I found myself immersed in Red and Blue’s letters. I listened to this on audiobook (which has distinct narrators for Red and Blue), and didn’t realize I was more than halfway into the story until I had to turn it off and go to bed. This book won’t work for everyone – the prose is flowery, and I’ll say I’m still not 100% sure what happened, but I think this is a work that I will appreciate even more upon a reread. I’ll have to schedule that in soon.
Want to Read – As Old as Time by Liz Braswell
-In 2019, I was at my local Barnes & Noble with my mom and picked up a book titled Conceal, Don’t Feel, which seemed to be a play on Frozen (it was around the release of Frozen 2, so I wasn’t surprised). I was intrigued to discover that this book was a part of the Disney Twisted Tales series, in which three authors (Elizabeth Lim, Jen Calonita, and Liz Braswell) tackle Disney stories with a twist. There are are 10 in total (as of this blog being posted), and I have more than my fair share of books to go in this series. The one I’m going to focus on for this prompt is As Old as Time by Liz Braswell, a spin on the classic Beauty and the Beast. It asks the question “What if Belle’s mother cursed the beast?” We’ve certainly gotten a plethora of Beauty and the Beast retellings in the past few years, but I’m interested to pick this one up, as well as the others in the series. Luckily most are available through my local library.
So there you have it, the books I’ve read and want to read that feature the word “time” in the title. I really am enjoying these Buzzword-a-thon posts, and can’t wait to see what these prompts will have me reading in the coming months.
Where to find all these books:
Bookshop: Here the Whole Time This is How You Lose the Time War As Old as Time
Amazon: Here the Whole Time This is How You Lose the Time War As Old as Time
Goodreads: Here the Whole Time This is How You Lose the Time War As Old as Time
Authors’ sites: Vitor Martins Amal El-Mohtar Max Gladstone Liz Braswell
Thoughts About Things 