This month’s theme was TEXAS! I’ve been following the thematic reading calendar Claude built for me, which made adding George Saunders’s new release an easy yes. Of course, because I’m a human reader, not a robot, my favorite book of the month had literally nothing to do with Texas. And yet, I loved having connective tissue across most of the books this month - especially since I just so happened to end the month in the Lone Star State.
John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie
Their collaboration, even at its most competitive, was a duet, not a duel.
I’m ready to proclaim this my favorite book of 2026, and it’s March. Y’all, this book is everything: cultural history, celebrity gossip, music theory, love story. You do not have to be a fan of The Beatles to read this book, but I’d bet my house you will be by the last page.
Obviously, because of Pantsuit Politics, I am particularly interested in creative partnerships, but really these stories offer so much even if you aren’t in a creative partnership. There is so much depth to human relationships when you strip out romantic attachments or familial connections. Add in one of the most influential musical relationships of the 20th Century, and you’ve got yourself a fascinating drama full of bops! Every chapter is organized around a song. Sadly, the audio doesn’t include the music (because I can only assume that would cost a million dollars), so I just listened on Spotify as I went.
I read this with Mike and Smith and texted them at one point - “I don’t want The Beatles to break up! 😭” That’s how immersive this book is. Reminds me of when I wept when Lincoln was assassinated at the end of Team of Rivals.
The only thing better than fiction, in my opinion, is nonfiction that makes it feel like fiction, and that is this book. I wish I could read it again for the first time.
Giant: A Novel by Edna Ferber
Bigger. Biggest ranch. Biggest steer. Biggest houses. Biggest hat. Biggest state. A mania for bigness. What littleness did it hide?
Now, let’s get to Texas. The first book in our America250 Book Club, I am now worried about everyone else living up to Edna’s epic. The characters! The setting! The intergenerational drama!
I could not get enough. We are going to have such an incredible time discussing this novel. Make sure to subscribe so you can join the meeting AND the watch along of the classic film based on the novel.
🎬 Movie Watch-Along: Sunday, March 15th
📚 Book Club Discussion: Thursday, March 26th
Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid
To look up at the nighttime sky is to become a part of a long line of people throughout human history who looked above at that same set of stars. It is to witness time unfolding.
More Texas! This time I spent time with Joan, an astronaut coming into the space program in Houston in the 1980s. Look, I love Taylor Jenkins Reid. She’s an excellent writer, and you can feel her hands firmly on the wheel most of the time. I think this subject area intimidated her, and you could feel some of her hesitancy. There were also a few soliloquies about God and space where I thought, “Taylor, sister, people do not talk like this in real life.”
However, that barely impacted my enjoyment of the novel. I scarfed it down and ended it crying my eyes out.
I’ve Got Questions: The Spiritual Practice of Having It Out With God by Erin Hicks Moon
Ok, not about Texas, but by a Texan, so I say it counts! Erin H Moon is a friend and a gift. I was so excited to read her book but saved it for our annual book club at my church. We read this together over the first two months of the year, and it was an incredible experience. We had everything from cradle-born Episcopals to former evangelicals, and Erin’s words led us expertly through some of the toughest questions about faith a person can have. Is there a God? Why do terrible things happen? What about hell? How can we stay in church knowing what we know?
It was a truly powerful experience, and I highly recommend reading this book in community.
The Chosen: A Novel by Chaim Potok
I've begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own.
The March selection from Well-Read Mom, this novel tells the story of two young Jewish friends - one Modern Orthodox and one Hasidic - over the course of several years beginning during World War II. This quiet story was unlike anything I’ve read recently, and I really enjoyed it. I learned so much about Jewish history, and the depths of difference within the Jewish community itself, which is so easy to think of as a monolith.
The ending, in particular, was incredibly affecting and asks what parents owe their children.
Vigil: A Novel by George Saunders
That’s what powerful men did. Stayed quiet. Held secrets.
I love George Saunders. I love how his novels always deal with death and the in-between and ghosts. His newest is about K.J.Boone, a Texas oil tycoon on his deathbed, and what is really important at the end. Is it comfort? Is it judgment?
This is a short novel, not as deep or rich as Lincoln in the Bardo, but I liked it just the same.
What did you read in February?
Sarah, I am so grateful for your book recommendations! I read What is Real and Fully Alive because of you! And....I just finished Giant, and I agree that I can't imagine how the other America250 books will possibly measure up, but I already ordered Ragtime to find out. My other favorite read recently was Belle Burden's Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage. It was outstanding and stayed with me long after I finished reading it.
I was thinking about what book I might have added to the America250 list, and the one I came up with was Katharine Graham's Personal History. It covers the Watergate era but mostly I recommend it because it is a tour de force about a woman finding her confidence and letting us in along the way as she does it. If you have not read it yet, you must do so as fast as you are able!
I read three books I wanted to like better than I actually did:
The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins
Heartwood by Amity Gaige
Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell