Somehow April got away from me and I didn’t have a chance to do my monthly summary post for March sooner. That means that I’m going to lump the two months together for one giant post. In total I did fairly well in my reading, with four books read in March and five for April. While I’m not meeting my goal of six books per month, I am making steady progress through my pile of books.
Also – if you’d like to pick up any of these books and support my blog at the same time you can click on any of the book links in this post.
Read in March (1,375 pages):
- Grievar’s Blood by Alexander Darwin is the second book in The Combat Codes series and I listened to this as an audiobook – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow is a stand-alone fantasy novel I had been looking forward to – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst is a YA cozy fantasy novel that I received courtesy of Net Galley for review – ⭐⭐⭐
- The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien is a short novel that I started for Tolkien Reading Day this year – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Read in April (1,957+ pages):
- An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon is the sixth book in the Outlander series and was a solid installment – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett is a book I didn’t get to in time for a book club discussion but still wanted to read – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis was a fun stand-alone fantasy tale that I read for a book club discussion – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- The Time Traveler’s Passport Collection by John Scalzi and others is an audiobook-only collection of time travel themed stories – ⭐⭐⭐
- The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi – I just finished this one last night for an upcoming book club discussion. This book had been on my list for quite a while. It is a book that required careful reading, but I enjoyed it a lot – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reading now:
- Seveneves by Neal Stephenson – I’m having a hard time getting through this one with a lot of technological descriptions that don’t add a lot for me. I’m undecided if I’ll finish it. I’m almost halfway through a massive 872 pages.
- Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon – This is book #8 in the series and I just started it within the past few days.
Another reading event that happened in the last two months was that I got a new Kindle! My old one went missing for a couple of weeks, and while it did eventually turn up, I was convinced that I had lost it. My husband picked the new one out for me because he saw that the Kindle Paperwhite was available in my favorite color – red! While I can’t find a link to that color to show you right now, there are some other pretty colors available (paid link).
Other books I had hoped to get to in April:
- A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas – I expect this to be a fast read, but I just couldn’t get to it this month.
- The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan – This is book 8 in The Wheel of Time series, and at 685 pages, I couldn’t make myself start this until I finish Seveneves.
Books I’m planning to read in May:
- Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight by Don Bassingthwaite – This book came to me as a gift from a friend and looks like fun!
- The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury – Somehow I’ve never read this classic science fiction work, and it is an upcoming book club read.
- The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst – This is the next book in the Spellshop series. I reviewed the first one here.
- The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older – This book is another upcoming book club selection. I’ve never read anything by this author.
- Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue – I picked this ARC e-book up as part of a giveaway. The premise sounds great!
- Quicksilver by Callie Hart – Since I didn’t get to this book earlier in the year, I’m bringing it back into the queue for May.
New books acquired in March and April:
- Weavingshaw by Heba Al-Wasity (Fairy Loot)
- The Last Starborn Seer by Venetia Constantine (Fairy Loot)
- Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue
- Unidentified Funny Objects 10 edited by Alex Shvartsman
- Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight by Don Bassingthwaite
- Starside by Alex Aster (Fairy Loot)
Uh oh – I ended up with six new books when my new rule for the year said that I can only acquire four! I suppose that the first one on here shouldn’t count because it was the delayed February order from Fairy Loot which I didn’t make up for with another book at that ime. I had forgotten that I backed UFO 10 on Kickstarter, and then when I clicked on Steelborn for the giveaway, I had thought that only gave me a chance to win the book rather than gifting me the book immediately. At least two of these are e-books and won’t take up room on my shelves.
Overall I think that my reading for the year is going well. I made some changes to my cell phone that limit how much time I can spend on social media and gaming apps, and I think that has really helped me to focus on more important things. Do you have tips or strategies that help you to read more? Let me know in the comments.