March 2025 Wrap-Up & Favorites

Source: personal collection

Hi fellow readers! In March, I'm back with my comfort read. Although I'm a bit disappointed, I still read a good book afterward. I watch an excellent limited series on Netflix which I'm pretty sure you've heard of. I also continued my personal Academy Award Best Picture project and ended up loving the film. Anyway, here's the books I read in March.

Books read in March

	Dreamland - Nicholas Sparks (★★)
	Of all Nicholas Sparks' books I read. This is the one I like the least so far. There are two different storylines in this book which are later somehow connected to one another. The first one follows a love story of a farmer and a young woman who aspires to be a musician. While the second one follows a mother trying to runaway with her son from her abusive husband. This one reads like a soap opera, too dramatic and forced. I don't feel a genuine connection between the male and female leads in the romantic plot. I don't recommend this one to read. If you're looking for melodrama, I'd recommend Sparks' older works instead.
	Museum Teman Baik - Ruhaeni Intan (★★★)
	Museum Teman Baik is an anthology by various Indonesian writers. It is in Bahasa Indonesia. The title itself, if I may translate it into English, would be 'Museum of Bestfriends'. As you can guess from the title, the stories in this book revolve around friendship; adult friendship to be exact. There are ten stories in this book, ranging from nostalgic stories, sad stories, bittersweet stories, and touching stories. Some stories are relatable and feel personal to me. Unfortunately, this book hasn't been translated into another language as of March 2025. If you understand Bahasa Indonesia though, I recommend reading this book.
	Crooked: Ito Junji's Selected Collection - Junji Ito (★★★)
	Crooked is a short story collection by Junji Ito. It includes 10 stories along with commentaries from Junji Ito for each story. The stories are as absurd and gory as they usually are. I think his stories have become sort of a comfort read for me. I feel like I've read some of the stories somewhere or even watched the adaptation. I still enjoy reading them though. His horror is the kind of horror which I could tolerate. Another author that has the same kind of familiarity and comfort for me is Agatha Christie, which means if there'll be another manga title by him published, I'd read it immediately. One story from this collection that I love is the one titled Gentle Goodbye. It's melancholic and I know he's done it before but I just love how he uses the supernatural not to scare but to evoke a profound sense of sadness. As always, I'd recommend reading any one of his story collections as a first read if you've never read Junji Ito before.
	Sensor - Junji Ito (★★★)
	This manga revolves around a mysterious village located at the foot of the Sengoku mountain called Kiyokami village. Sengoku mountain is an active mountain which constantly produces pele's hair, a volcanic glass formation made from cooled lava stretched into thin strands. Somehow, many of the strands caught on the buildings in Kiyokami village. Some even caught on the villager's head and stay. The strands weirdly give the villager heightened senses and the ability to see far into the future. It's even weirder when one fateful day, the mountain erupted leaving only one survivor, a girl protected by a cocoon consisted of the pele's hair strands from Sengoku mountain. We follow a male journalist named Wataru Tsuchiyado trying to investigate what really happened to Kiyokami village and its inhabitants. It's absurdly scientific and cultish. It reminds me a lot of his other work, Remina or Hellstar Remina because they both despairingly turn into cosmic horror toward the end. But I like Sensor better than Remina. If you're a fan of HP Lovecraft, you might want to pick this one up.

March Favorites

Series

Adolescence

I'm pretty sure you've heard of this limited series. It was everywhere on social media and for a good reason. It comprises of only four episodes. Each episode is shot in a one-shot style which I think is cool. This show follows a 13-year-old boy who is arrested after there is a murder of a girl in his school. It has a dark theme but necessary to discuss since the creator itself said that it is inspired by real life phenomena happening in the United Kingdom. Since the show also follows the boy's family and people around him, it's heartbreaking to see people's lives affected by his action. It's difficult to watch, at least for me. So if you decided to watch this series, I suggest to not binge-watch it. I still recommend it though.

Film

Tar (2022)

As a part of my personal project to watch all Best Picture nominations from the Academy Award, I watched this film. I was excited because I love Cate Blanchett anyway. This film follows a world-renowned conductor named Lydia Tar, as her career breaks down because of misconduct. I love that this film shows a bit behind the scenes of the orchestra and classical music world, which I'm interested in. I thoroughly enjoyed the musical aspect of this film. The psychological thriller aspect of this film also kept me on the edge of my seat, so overall it was an enjoyable experience watching this film.

That's all for my March wrap-up. I read quite a good amount of books and watch good series and film. March was okay, I guess. Since by the end of March I was already starting my sabbatical leave, I was pretty excited. I hope you had a good March too.