What a month. I can’t believe how fast the month has gone and things were definitely not boring here in Boston with the marathon bombings and ensuing chaos. I’m glad to see the month go, but not ready for May or the summer that follows shortly after.
April felt like a short month for reading, but I actually read an above average six books: one for book group, three challenge books (two pre-listed one additional) and two ‘trashy romance’ novels/galleys. (I don’t really think they’re trashy, well some are and some I read are, but I just love to call them that.)
Recent Acquisitions
Well I was doing really good about not buying books and then in the last week of the month all of a sudden I bought three books and downloaded two galleys (one of which I completed); story of my life right? I bought one kindle book for $1 (it sounded too good not to buy) called No Strings by Nick Nolan which I’m excited about. In addition I bought two physical books, Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, Peark and Sir Orfeo translated by J.R.R. Tolkien, above left, which I saw on someone else’s blog and I wanted a copy; and I purchased a copy of Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, above right, for my May Books into Movies book group.
What’s super cool is that I got my copy of Girl, Interrupted from a small nonprofit called More Than Words through Amazon. Whenever I buy through Amazon I try and get it from a local source and this time I’m glad I definitely glad I did, in their own words:
More Than Words (MTW) is a nonprofit social enterprise that empowers youth who are in the foster care system, court involved, homeless, or out of school to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business. By working as a team to manage their own retail and online used book business, café, and community space, youth develop the employment skills, leadership, and self-confidence they need to successfully transition to adulthood.
What a great mission right? I definitely plan on trying to buy from them more often and hopefully I can visit one of their shops in person. And you can support them by shopping at their local storefronts or any number of places linked from their website.
Challenge Progress
For a change of pace this month I was able to squeeze in two listed challenge books, both of which I previously owned plus another unlisted Mount TBR challenge book. Of the other two books I read this month one was a galley/ARC and another was a digital library book for book group. In addition one of the two challenge books plus the bonus Mount TBR book were nonfiction books. So YAY for expanding my horizons a little more each month.
- Mount TBR Reading Challenge
- Monthly Progress: 2 books + 1 not listed
- Overall Progress – 5/12 (42%) + 6 not listed
- Back to the Classics Challenge
- Monthly Progress: 1 book
- Overall Progress – 3/11 (27%)
- Tea and Books Reading Challenge
- Monthly Progress: 1 book
- Overall Progress – 2/4 (50%) + 1 not listed
- The Classics Club
- Monthly Progress: 2 books
- Overall Progress – 22/100 (22%)
What’s Next
Well I somehow squeaked in Loot: The Battle Over Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World by Sharon Waxman and that response as well as Down and Out in Paris and London scheduled to post in the first week of May. The first book I plan to read in May is an ARC followed by Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s assuming I don’t get distracted by a great galley or my book group book for the month Girl, Interrupted.
In addition, I have plans of broadening my blog scope with a couple of monthly (maybe weekly) posts to help get me in the habit of having regularly scheduled posts. I’m thinking about a workout type post to hold me accountable and I might join Reader’s Workouts, but I do like the idea of Workout Wednesday because alliteration is awesome (see what I did there :-D). This stems from having almost completed two full months of CrossFit.
The other posts I’m considering are more along the lines of talking about my seemingly regular visits to the local museums and my reactions to the pieces/shows/exhibits I see there. I’ve already got one lined up from this month when I went to the MFA here in Boston to visit the new Samurai! and The New Blue and White exhibits.
I have a friend who calls them “schmaltzy novels”. Nothing like a good schmaltzy novel now and then. 🙂
Now that the warmer weather has arrived, I’m ready for time to slow down a bit, too. I don’t have any big plans for the month of May, but speaking of museums there’s a Giacometti exhibit at our local art museum that I really would like to see.
Hope your month of May is a good one!
Oh I like “schmaltzy novels”! Oh Giacometti is really cool, the MFA has a few of his works and there’s a great TED talk that incorporates some of his work. I hope you have a great May too!
I’m laughing at myself for thinking Down and Out in Paris and London might be a fun read. ORWELL? Unless you tell me it’s that good, I think I’m passing on that one. 🙂 I’d love to hear about museum shows you are seeing — they just might be coming to Chicago!
I don’t know if I would say it was fun, but I definitely enjoyed it. It was a different take on Paris and London in the 1920s and really showed the seedier side which I’ve never read about.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I’m really looking forward to eventually reading it, especially after returning to 1984 and loving it.
It’s nothing like 1984 and yet at the same time you can almost see that he might’ve taken some of his jadedness of this time period in his life and brought it forward.
Posts about museum exhibits sound like a fun idea. I hadn’t known about the Tolkein translations, so I was confused at first when I looked at the cover!
I didn’t know either until I saw it on someone’s blog and I was like wait a minute he didn’t write that! And I loved the cover so had to pick up a copy 🙂