Josephine March Madness

At the top of the white board calendar in our kitchen, for several Marches in a row, I’ve written: Josephine March Madness. It’s a combination of two March-related proper nouns that I love very much: Josephine March, the beloved character from Little Women, and March Madness, the NCAA basketball tournament.

Imagine my absolute joy when, last summer, I read Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, which is a novel inspired by Little Women that featured a LOT of basketball—something I never knew I needed to be added to the classic American novel. It’s a wonderful book, one of my top 10 reads of 2025.

My 2024 top reads featured two more basketball books that I highly recommend: There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib and House of Champions by Kevin Cook.

I’ve been meaning to do a Little Women reread for a long time; my last was in 2019. Maybe this month is finally the right time. I have a few more books on my TBR that would be perfect for this coming month:

• The Black Fives: The Epic Story of Basketball’s Forgotten Era by Claude Johnson

• Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother by Eve LaPlante

• March 1939: The Story of the First NCAA Basketball Tournament Champions by Terry Frei

In March, I’m hoping for great books, Wildcats wins, and pretty weather. I hope your coming month is full of things you love!