I honestly have no idea where April went. We'll be halfway through the year before you know it...
Anyway, I had a particularly good reading month in April, not because of the amount of books I read, which was 10, but as regards quality... not everything was brilliant but a lot of books were very good indeed and that's a really nice thing.
27. The Wizard's Butler - Nathan Lowell
28. The Horned God, edited by Michael Wheatley
29. Mail Obsession - Mark Mason. Non-fiction. Not reviewed but this was a delightfully quirky book about the author's trip around the UK visiting every postcode region in the country. Loads of fascinating facts about all kinds of things, and quite funny in places.
30. Bleeding Hooks - Harriet Rutland
31. The Blood Gospel - James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell
32. Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come - Jessica Pan. Non-fiction, not reviewed. The author is on a quest to get out more and make more friends because she's a 'shy introvert' and this leads to a lot of loneliness. She's unable to strike up conversations with strangers, go to parties where she doesn't know anyone, that sort of thing. As an introvert I understood but I'm not a 'shy' one, I will happily speak to anyone and have listened to more life histories from complete strangers than I've had hot dinners. Interesting book, but I did find the sections about stand-up comedy and improv. a bit tedious.
33. Winter in Paradise - Elin Hilderbrand
34. A Scream in Soho - John G. Brandon (To be reviewed.)
35. The Library - Bella Osborne (To be reviewed.)
36. Bringing in the Sheaves: Wheat and Chaff From My Years as a Priest - The Rev. Richard Coles. The author is well known as a Radio presenter and occasional TV personality, appearing briefly on Strictly several years ago. I thought his was oddly put together until I realised it was written as a series of thoughts and meanderings about The Church of England, being a priest within that institution, religious festivals etc. but also about life in general. I found it very thoughtful, funny in places, and it made me like him even more than I did already.
So, as I said, a pretty good reading month. Seven fiction and three non-fiction books were read. These were the three standouts:
The Blood Gospel was a rollicking good supernatural adventure yarn that I absolutely devoured.
Winter in Paradise was full of family secrets with a wonderful setting in the US Virgin Islands.
The Library by Bella Osborne is a tale of how two people, an old age pensioner and a sixteen year old boy, meet and connect via the local library and books. Wonderful.
Honorable mentions go to The Wizard's Butler, A Scream in Soho, Mail Obsession and Bringing in the Sheaves.
So, onwards and upwards into May, a month I like very much as it's not usually too hot and the spring flowers everywhere are glorious. I hope you find some excellent books to read this month.
14 comments:
'Bleeding Hooks', 'Winter In Paradise' and 'The Blood Gospel' are already added to my wish list following your earlier mentions and I already have 'The Library' downloaded to my Kindle, so I shall be interested to see what you think of it, as I am unlikely to get to read it any time soon!
Like yourself, I am not one for scorching hot weather, however I do hope that May is just a little warmer than it is here right now, preferably with no rain, as our garden resembles the Somme right now, as it is all being renovated following our subsidence issues!
I have eye issues at the moment, so have only been reading in short spells. I have read quite an eclectic mix of books so far this year though and overall I am quite happy with progress.
Have a great May :)
Yvonne: A friend recommended The Library to me after she read it a couple of months ago, so I was eager to get to it. I wasn't dispappointed, it was an excellent book. I'll try to review asap.
Oh gosh, sorry to hear about your garden. We had several torrential showers last night but today has been bright and sunny. Quite warm but not 'too' hot. I'm hoping we don't get a heatwave this summer like we did last year. That was awful.
Also sorry to hear about yur eye issues, I hope that clears up soon.
Thanks for stopping by to comment!
What an interesting group of books, Cath! Being an introvert myself, I had to smile at the Jessica Pan title. I'll bet that was really interesting! I'm drawn to the setting for Writer in Paradise, too. I'm very glad you had a good reading month this time!
April did go by very fast. I'm glad it's May, though, because now I only have four more weeks until school is out for the summer. (You can't see it, but I'm doing my Snoopy happy dance at the thought!) That James Rollins book is one I want to read, and my library agreed to buy a copy of The Wizard's Butler, so I'm looking forward to checking that one out. And I have The Library on my list of bookish books...can't wait to read your review of that one. Happy May! :D
Thanks, Margot! Yes, that title made me smile too as I used to feel like that quite a lot. I knew nothing about The US Virgin Islands and now I do so it's all good. I'll read the sequel to that soon as the mystery element was quite intriguing.
Lark: April flew by! But it's fine because I like May a lot too. Delighted that school will soon be out for you. I hope you enjoy those three books whenever you get to them! I'll try to review The Library this week.
I am glad you had a good reading month, and three nonfiction in among the fiction books is very nice. I only read 5 books in April, although I did read 10 in March, so I guess it evens out.
The Library sounds good and I too look forward to your review.
Mail Obsession and Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come both sound fantastic. I've got one of Richard Coles' fiction books on my TBR, I didn't know he'd written non-fiction as well - I'll have to see if the library has it - thank you!
Nice month, indeed, Cath. When you enjoy the vast majority of a whole month's reading, you've been very lucky. I plan to take a closer look at a couple on your April list but I'm so backed up on my TBR right now, I'm starting to think that I should ignore all the eye-candy for a while that keeps tempting me.
I hope you are feeling well these days and that you can enjoy the season-change just ahead. It's already getting hot here with temps in the upper 80s most days and a good bit of sunshine most days. I think I may have waited too long to do the outside spring cleaning. ;-)
You and I usually have some overlap but most of these are completely unfamiliar. I think I would like Winter in Paradise and The Library, however.
Tracy: Yes, quite pleased with 3 non-fiction books in the mix and they were all 3 interesting. Exactly, it all evens out. I always find it interesting to look at my monthly average come the end of the year, it's usally at around 8 or 9.
The Library was an excellent read. Must try and get that reviewed this week.
Cassie: Yes, Richard Coles was writing non-fiction long before he took to writing crime novels. I think he has three or four non-fiction books available. Fingers crossed your library has this one.
Sam: I totally agree that when you enjoy most of what you read in a given month then you're pretty lucky! Shiny new books are a real problem. I think I'm making some headway with the TBR and then realise I added half a dozen to my Kindle this month. LOL
I'm ok thanks, quite a lot of arthiticky aches and pains that come with old age but otherwise OK. I hope you're doing ok too? We don't get as hot as Texas so it's fine here. We've had some nice spring weather, temps at around 65, but rain has come in today so it's a bit cooler.
Constance: I think the book I would most recommend to you would be The Library. The heroine, Maggie, is in her 60s or 70s, and is such a great character.
Post a Comment