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Yay, May! It was already 10 degrees outside yesterday, and we took a nice walk. Felt good to wear a spring jacket for a change.
Reading wise, it was an odd month. I struggled with some slumps, which usually doesn't happen. As a result, I have several books now that I have started but have put aside for time being - "A Tale of Two Cities" by Dickens and "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel. I have been struggling with classics, I only read one Classics Club book in April and that is not good. My main steam has all gone on books from Women's Prize longlist - three of those last month.
What I read in April 2013:
* E. Zola "Germinal" (for Zoladdiction event and the Classics Club)
* K. Atkinson "Life After Life" (Women's Prize shortlist)
* K. Garcia and M. Stohl "Beautiful Creatures"
* G. Willow Wilson "Alif the Unseen" (Women's Prize longlist)
* F. Segal "The Innocents" (Women's Prize longlist)
524 + 473 + 563 + 426 + 436 = 2522 pages (why can't I sometimes pick, like, really short books?)
Plans for May:
- I want to read more classics. Currently I am half-way through Margaret Atwood's "The Blind Assassin", which I added to my CC list, and I would also like to proceed with "A Tale of Two Cities".
- I decided to take part in my first readalong - we will be reading "The Hound of Baskervilles" by Arthur Conan Doyle (hosted by Unputdownables). It won't enable me to tick off a CC book, as I have added the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes stories there, but it will be progress.
- I am also fairly sure I will try to take part in the week long readathon Bout of Books 7.0. It's going to be interesting choosing books for that week.
Every once in a while I have to pick a short book on purpose, especially if I'm in a slump or am really busy -- it usually helps be regain some steam!
ReplyDeleteIt may be *only* 5 books (heck, I WISH I read 5 this month!), but over 2500 pages ain't too shabby :)
Yeah, page count is okay. I think I just have a bit of reader jealousy when I see those bloggers who read 10+ books a month (every month). And I haven't been that busy or anything, have quite a bit time to read. Maybe I'm just slower reader...
DeletePicking a short book is great idea, although, when I take a look at my bookshelves, they seem to be dominated by the Bricks :D Maybe I should make a special purchase for a bunch of short books :)
I hope you will have more time to read soon :)
Thanks Riv! I know am a slower reader and will never be a 10+ book a month person, even though I wish I could be :) And there are so many good books that are chunky -- I can't blame you one bit for liking them!
DeleteI guess to an extent it also depends what kind of books one reads, for example if it's a classic, then even a slim one can take quite a long time... I think young adult novels can be such that go fairly fast, although I would need someone to confirm it because I lack particular experience on that field myself.
DeleteBut of course a good idea is to actually add some really good children's/middle grade books to the list (that reminds me I still haven't read Harry Potter and Narnia and all those other lovely books - o the joy once I finally get to them :) )
I think it's also maybe good to be slower reader because then you have more time to reflect and process what you read, and you probably catch on more details than someone who just zergs through books (not that there is anything wrong with that if this is one's style - I just try to avoid it myself because it's annoying if I can't remember details).
Ooo yes you should definitely read Harry Potter -- they are chunky (particularly the later ones), but I flew through them, they are just that good! And I do hate missing details which is probably why I do read slower :)
DeleteI had a bit of a slump in April too, here's hoping May will be better on the reading front!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to read more classics, I tend to forget them and become distracted by shiny, new books. A Tale of Two Cities is worth revisiting when you're more in the mood for it, I absolutely loved it.
Exactly, I also get distracted by shiny new books. I think I'll try what some bloggers do, making reading plans for a month or so, and then stick to it, and not start 7 books at a time :)
DeleteI remember your review on "A Tale...", and what I've read so far has been nice. I read out loud parts where Dickens was describing streets and the Mud to my boyfriend, and we had a big of a laugh (I swear the man had some mud-obsession!).
You did great in April, even with a reading slump!
ReplyDeleteHow are you liking The Blind Assassin? I have that on my CC list as well. I think. Lol.
*cough* says the 13-books-a-month-girl ;) Just joking. Actually those numbers aren't important (unless I go and look at my Goodreads challenge bar...), it's just the occasional whiny mood that comes on and thinking that if I would read more books, I would get more books read (before I die or something). Well that doesn't sound that good but it makes sense to me :)
DeleteInteresting you ask about The Blind Assassin because I haven't been able to decide anything about it yet. It's so different from other Atwoods I have read, the text is so... (searching for word - sucks to be non-native English speaker :p) tense, or cramped even, or full of thoughts, that I have to pay a lot of attention... It's interesting concept (story inside a story inside a story basically) and written from different angles (also newspaper cuts - yay for epistolary). But it's too early to tell, it's like I'm reading bit by bit and waiting for something to happen. I've read a few people saying ending kind of "saved" the book, so I have high hopes that it will be good!