April Wrap up and What's on the Nightstand


April is a promise that May is bound to keep.
Hal Borland


April passed by in a flash and I'm looking for a slower, lackadaisical May. However that's probably not going to happen until mid June when James graduates from 6th grade.  Our schedule has changed somewhat since he began working more diligently and suddenly having the desire to get his work done earlier. "Mom let's do math NOW" is the new morning mantra.   We discovered Life of Fred math books written by Stanley Schmidt and now math is fun and interesting.   Which means my writing time in the morning is being taken over by lessons and now I have to figure out where to fit it all in. Treadmill or write for an hour? Start dinner or write a blog post?  Read or browse the blogosphere.  Haven't quite gotten there yet. 

Even though I instituted a buying ban for the first half of the year, my TBR pile seems to have grown.  They keep having babies and the babies are having babies.  I managed to review one book - Illusions by Frank Peretti.   For the month of April read 14 books of which 6 were by new to me authors including Jennifer Estep and her paranormal series -  Elemental Assassin.

  1. Illusion - Frank Peretti
  2. Fit to be Tied - Robin Lee Hatcher 
  3. Hear the Dead Cry - Charlie Price
  4. Halfway to the Grave - Jeaniene Frost (ebook) 
  5. One Fine Cowboy - Joanne Kennedy (ebook)
  6. Spider's Bite (Elemental Assassin 1) - Jennifer Estep (ebook)
  7. Web of Lies (Elemental Assassin 2) - Jennifer Estep
  8. Venom (Elemental Assassin 3) - Jennifer Estep 
  9. Tangled Threads (Elemental Assassin 4) - Jennifer Estep
  10. Revision and Self Editing - James Scott Bell (non fiction)
  11. The Witness - Nora Roberts
  12. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (dnf)
  13. Spider's Revenge (Elemental Assassin 5) - Jennifer Estep
  14. By a Thread (Elemental Assassin 6) - Jennifer Estep
I had designated April as Read a Russian Author month for my 52 Books group and tried to read The Brothers Karamazov.  I gave up on it a 3rd of the way through when reached the chapter in which one of the brother's - Ivan - started going on and one about children being tortured and killed in great detail and it did me in.  I couldn't take anymore.  The characters were all overly dramatic and irksome and it was like one long soap opera.  I also shelved One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez because it's one of those books you have to be in the mood for and I just couldn't get in the mood.    Nora Roberts saved my month with the release of her 200th novel  The Witness.



What's on the Nightstand for May?   I'm starting my month with another new Nora The Last Boyfriend  #2 in the Inn Boonsboro Trilogy.  For my A to Z by author and title challenge, the books on deck right now are: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, Helpless by Daniel Palmer (review book), The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears,  The Inquisitors Key by Jefferson Bass (review book from William Morrow) and  The Cottage at Glass Beach by Heather Barbieri for TLC Book tours.  I thoroughly enjoyed her first book Lacemakers of Glenmarra.    And just picked up Cherry Adair's newest Afterglow which of course I'll have to read soon. It just happened to jump into my cart while I was shopping at Target a few days ago. *grin*

I'm still listening to J.D. Robb's In Death series on audio book and currently on Judgment in Death.   Plus the writing craft book I'll be studying for the next month or so - James Scott Bell's Plot and Structure.

What's on your nightstand for May and which books are you looking forward to reading the most.

6 comments:

  1. It is always a decision on whether to read or listen to the In Death series. I read the latest installment only because it came in first! Have a great reading May!

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  2. My mom loves the J.D. Robb books and eats them up like candy. It makes gift shopping very easy for me! With mother's day coming up, these are the things that cross my mind ;)

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  3. The In Death series is one of my favorite on audio. As as for One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez -- I was *never* in the mood. I tried at least 3 times.

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  4. Oh. What a great idea to list your TBR pile for the next coming weeks. Over at the blog Bodice Rippers ...there's a blogger who is starting a blog about TBR piles (she's working with a few others I think)...anyway...they're asking for bloggers to leave lists of their books-in-waiting. You should so add yours! I might give it a whirl...if I can steal a few minutes.

    Have you choked the air out of Inner Critic yet? Ha...your comment was so funny!

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  5. Thanks Nadja for the support!! You are the very best!!

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  6. You homeschool, too?

    I haven't read ANY Nora Roberts. Is there a good book to start?

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