Books acquired: “Get Back,” The Beatles; “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino; “Empire of the Summer Moon,” S.C. Gwynne; “The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood,” Sam Wasson; “Queens of Noise: The Real Story of the Runaways,” Evelyn McDonnell; “King of the Jews: The Greatest Mob Story Never Told,” Nick Tosches; “The Mojave Project Reader Vol. 1,” Kim Stringfellow; “Joshua Tree: Wildsam Field Guides,” Rebecca Worby, ed.; “A People’s Guide to Orange County,” Elaine Lewinnek, Gustavo Arellano, Thuy Vo Dang

Books read: “Suite Alice of Riverside, Tahoe and Laguna,” Barbara Burns; “Everything Now,” Rosecrans Baldwin; “Tom Sawyer Abroad & Tom Sawyer Detective,” Mark Twain; “The Best of L. Sprague de Camp”; “It Calls You Back,” Luis J. Rodriguez; “Ramona,” Helen Hunt Jackson; “All’s Well That Ends Well,” “Measure for Measure,” William Shakespeare

Here we are, one-fourth of the way into 2022, and if that sounds startling, wait until next month when it’ll be one-third. My reading pace is better than expected, and possibly better than desired (more on that later), counterbalanced by new arrivals to my shelves. I read eight in March while acquiring nine — gulp. Only the last three listed above were purchases, with the first six being birthday gifts. I feel a little like I’m running in place, or reading in place, a status that will change as spring progresses and turns into summer and the “books acquired” section shrinks (let’s hope).

Well, let’s get on with it. Here are my summaries of what I read in March.

“Suite Alice” (2020): Local history from Riverside on an important but overlooked California businesswoman of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the manager of the famed Mission Inn. Burns makes a good case for Alice Richardson’s vision and impact and for why history has minimized her contributions in favor of her better-known brother, who built the hotel.

“Everything Now” (2021): An up-to-date look at L.A.: homelessness, inequality, self-help culture, fires, an actor’s struggles and more. With a lot of original reportage, this is insightful and compassionate, but clinical (chapters are called lessons, with sections numbered like 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, etc.). A worthy heir to Mike Davis’ class-based, relentlessly negative view of the city, which is refreshing for a while, then tiring.

“Tom Sawyer” (1892/1896, 1982): Keep your expectations low for these two novels for children, collected in one book in 1982 with the original illustrations. “Abroad,” about an impossible balloon trip from Missouri to the Sahara Desert and back, is slight, and embarrassing in its depiction of Jim. “Detective” is stronger, sending up the tangled plots and explanations of mystery stories while also touching on Twain’s fascination with doubles and dual natures.

“de Camp” (1978): De Camp was educated across history, science and language, and his stories are slightly fussy as a result, and not particularly deep. They’re amusing, though, like the one about the haunted house that is disassembled, leaving behind haunted lumber. Whimsical, unpretentious tales of a type that long ago fell out of favor, and we may be the poorer for that. Also, “A Gun for Dinosaur” treats the idea of a time-traveling safari more rigorously, but less poetically, than did Bradbury.

“It Calls” (2011): In this sequel to “Always Running,” Rodriguez is honest about his failings, which seem to be legion: gangs, machismo, broken relationships, a wandering eye, absent parenthood, anger, drink, drugs and more. It’s to his credit that he gradually pulled himself out of all that, and he has a lot of sharp observations along the way, but that doesn’t mean 400 pages doesn’t get tedious.

“Ramona” (1884): I listened to the 1995 audiobook version read by Boots Martin, who really throws herself into it. She’s over the top, but then, so is “Ramona,” a romance where all emotions are heightened. This is abridged, which I didn’t realize until later, yet it’s probably all the “Ramona” most of us need. Campy and dated, but kind of fun regardless, especially if you live in Southern California and like history. Every time Martin as Ramona lovingly says “Alessandro!,” take a drink.

“All’s Well” (1603): The heroine gets her man after great effort, but since he hardly seems worthy of her, it’s hard to say if this ends well or not. Has its moments, though, and a title that has passed into the vernacular ought to be worth something.

“Measure” (1604): Another bed trick, just as in “All’s Well,” but this story of a morally hypocritical leader and a prisoner facing unjust punishment is clearer and better executed (pun intended), with a strong female lead, and the jokes are funnier too.

None of these was better than 3 stars out of 5, and some were more in the 2-star category. De Camp was the most genial and “Measure for Measure” the best of the lot.

I checked out “Ramona” from the Pomona Public Library just to have it in the photo while downloading the audiobook from the LA County Public Library system; the Shakespeare volume is also from Pomona, checked out because it’s portable, unlike my all-in-one book bought for college in 1984. So those two plays are my oldest unread books (or “books”) this month.

Twain came from Glendale’s Brand Books in 2003; de Camp from the Covina Bookshop in 2007 (where, at $2, it was a “pity purchase” to make up for the time I browsed, and one that was to haunt me for 15 years — sigh); the others were all picked up in late 2021, Burns and Rodriguez from the authors and Baldwin from a Little Free Library in Los Feliz.

I hit my kinda-sorta monthly goals for this year: a Shakespeare (two), a book by a woman (two), books bought in the ’00s (two), recent books (two). I might be boxing myself in, though.

To be at 20 books already is a surprise, especially when I’d expected to average four or five per month, due to some longer books that I was hoping, and am hoping, to tackle. For good or ill, instead I’ve been knocking out some shorter or midsized books (de Camp was 360 pages, Rodriguez 400, both on the long side for me this year). I’m unsure if I’m having trouble slowing down or focusing, or if blazing (for me) through 20 is simply what I feel the need to do.

April is likely to be more of the same, five to seven books, given that I have three in progress, plus an audiobook. After that, maybe I can read something longer off my list.

Readers, how was your March in books, or your (gasp) first quarter in books? Reply below, please. We have to keep our files updated.

Next month: H.P. Lovecraft listens to Bob Dylan while exploring King Solomon’s Mines in Joshua Tree…or something like that.