Skip to main content

Month in Review: April 2012

Well, judging by the 90 degree days here, I guess we're just about into summer. Of course, it's still technically more than a month away! I have a feeling it's going to be a long, hot summer here in North Carolina! I'll be hiding inside for a few months, as those of you in the North do in the winter. Maybe that will mean some extra reading time for me! Here's what I did in April.

Books Read in April: 4
  1. Drinking from the Fire Hose by Christopher J. Frank and Paul F. Magnone
  2. Off the Grid by Mark Young
  3. Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall
  4. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Reviews Written: 5
I wrote reviews for three of the books I read in April. I also wrote reviews for two books I read back in March: Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier and If Walls Could Talk by Lucy Worsley. You can click on the links above to read the reviews.

Year-to-Date Totals:
Nonfiction: 6
Memoir: 1
Contemporary Fiction: 3
Historical Fiction: 2
Mystery/Thriller: 2
Middle-Grade Fiction: 4

For review: 13
For book club: 4
For me: 1

Non-Fiction Non-Memoir Reading Challenge
I read two book toward this challenge during April: Drinking from the Fire Hose and The Devil in the White City. I'm keeping track of my progress on my sidebar.

Narnia Reading Project
I didn't read any books toward this challenge during March or April. I really hope to read the next book during May! I'm keeping track of my progress on my sidebar.
Labels:

Comments

  1. fredamansMay 3, 2012 at 7:59 PM

    Happy May reading!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JulieMay 5, 2012 at 9:31 AM

      Thank you! I hope you enjoy all your May reading too!

      Delete
  2. Sue JacksonMay 4, 2012 at 8:23 PM

    Looks like you had a good reading month, Julie! I need to check out some of your reviews - I've missed a lot of blog posts lately :)

    Enjoy your books in May (how can it be May already?) and stay cool!

    Sue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JulieMay 5, 2012 at 9:32 AM

      Thanks! It was a pretty good reading month, although I wish I was finding more time to read in general!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Popular posts from this blog

Getting back to blogging

It seems that blogging has dropped to the bottom of my list for the past year, and was pretty low for the year or two prior to that. I love to read, and am continuing to do so, but as my regular readers know I haven't been around much. My last blog post was almost a year ago!!

There are many things that have taken me away from blogging. Work has been much more challenging and interesting these past few years, but that means I really don't want to get back on the computer when I get home at night - or on the weekends.

Family life has been more busy with kids having multiple activities in the evenings, leaving little time to just hang out and write about the books that I read.

I will admit to a bit of a Facebook addiction, which means way too much time spent scrolling through my newsfeed instead of doing something more productive. This is one of the things I'm working on and hoping that this will free up some time for getting back to the blog.

Overall, life is good. Work is …
Post a Comment
Read more

Book Review: The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett

Peter Byerly is distraught over the loss of his wife nine months ago. He has retreated to their cottage in the English countryside, hoping to return to his love of collecting and restoring rare books. But when he opens a book about Shakespeare forgeries and finds a Victorian watercolor of a woman who looks just like his wife, Peter is soon on a search for the origin of the painting and the truth about Shakespeare's real identity.

The Bookman's Tale: A Novel of Obsession by Charlie Lovett is a wonderful journey for anyone who loves books. It follows Peter's search in 1995, which turns into a bit of a thriller at times. But Lovett also takes the reader back in time a bit so we can learn the story of his relationship with his wife and how he came to be a bookseller. He does a beautiful job of expressing Peter's feelings about the rare books he encounters, and his feelings are contagious.

And then he takes us back even further to the history of one particular volume, whos…
3 comments
Read more

Book Review: The Secret Lake by Karen Inglis

When Stella and Tom move to a new home in London, they are sad to have left their friends behind. But soon they have a mystery to solve. Their neighbor's dog, Harry, keeps disappearing. Where is he going and why is he always wet when he comes home? As they investigate the area in the garden where Harry seems to come and go, they discover a hidden tunnel that takes them back to their garden ... almost 100 years ago.

The Secret Lake by Karen Inglis is a wonderful children's book that reminds me of the adventurous stories I read as a child. I saw other reviewers say something similar. I'm not sure what it is about the way the story is told, but it is reminiscent of children's books from many years ago, yet it will definitely appeal to the kids of today.

Stella and Tom have an adventure in the past that leads to new friends and discoveries. While it's a time travel story, it doesn't have a lot of fantasy elements (although there are some moles that act a bit unusua…
1 comment
Read more