April 2020
Last month I was finding it harder than normal to concentrate on reading. I found myself picking up other hobbies like knitting or taking an online course to learn Python coding. And if it wasn’t an audiobook, I likely didn’t pick it up.
But April seemed to be a total 180! Work was even crazier than the month before (I work in the lab at a hospital) and I found myself reaching for the old familiar comfort of reading and finishing a book. It felt great to get lost in books again.
Once again, audiobooks ruled the month! Nearly 46% of the titles I read where audiobooks. I even managed to finish 2 shorter ones in one day! The secret? I would listen to them as I played Animal Crossing (the old school Wii version City Folk since I don’t have a Switch). They make great company when virtually fishing and catching bugs 😛
And I also set a mini challenge for myself to catch up on some ARCs that I had let slip to the wayside. I finished all of those up within the week which was great!
For May I’m hoping to tackle the titles I took out from the library before it shut down back in March. That includes finishing the final Throne of Glass novel (which I had been reading a bit at a time) and rewarding myself with 2 Cassandra Clare novels.
I hope everyone is staying safe and listening to their local health experts. There isn’t a minute of my day where I don’t think about the state of the world given my job. And when I think about what we are being asked to do (literally just staying home) and how doable that is when other generations before us were asked to leave their homes and travel to places unknown. I know it challenging (my dog and I definitely have cabin fever) but doing your small part as an individual helps the greater good in the long run. And thank you to everyone who is working on the frontlines–whether that’s in healthcare, food services, cleaning, delivery–keep up the great work!
Total for April 2020: 23 Books Read + 3 Novellas Read
DNF’d: 1 Books
Last April: 12 Books Read + 1 Novellas Read + 0 DNFs
Standout Read (★★★★)
Piper Lawson is a favourite author of mine and I’ve been eagerly awaiting her brand new spin-off series! I loved all the tension and angst this brought and THAT ENDING!
Biggest Let Down (DNF’d)
I was really excited to start this book for a number of reasons. The diverse cast was the main one. But the “hate to love” you trope was more “hate” than “love” so I failed to see the chemistry between them and that bored me enough to put the book down.
Previously posted series reviews that got updates:
You can always get the full details on all my challenges on my dedicated page but here is a quick update:
5 Year 5 Book Challenge: 3 books added | 10 of 31 Titles Read – 3 books behind!
Goodreads Challenge: 14 books added | 64/155 Books – 13 books ahead!
Tackling the TBR Challenge: 7 books added | 9/24 Books – 1 book ahead!
View my Challenge Progress Here!
This was a crazy month! I’m super ahead in my Goodreads Challenge (probably the most I’ve ever been ahead in my life) which is great because it gives me some buffer room for when normal life resumes. It was also a great month to catch up on reading books I already own. I was super behind on my Tackling the TBR Challenge so it was great to make up some ground.
I used to do a big Goodreads Purge twice a year but I like the idea of doing a little bit at a time and had great success last year doing this on a monthly basis. The idea is to go through 5-10 books on your Goodreads TBR list chronologically and decide if they should stay or go. My 10 titles consist of 7 “new to me” titles and 3 “previously started series” titles.
This month:
|
|
 Pass |
 Pass |
 Keep |
 Pass |
|
|
|
|
 Keep |
 Keep |
Pass: 6 | Keep: 4
Grand Total YTD: Pass: 20 | Keep: 20
Did I give up on any too soon? Let me know in the comments below!
I’m going to keep the focus on books I already own for May–particularly cleaning up some series and crossover series I have on the go while everything is still fresh.
What were your biggest reading or personal accomplishments of the past month?
Leave a comment below!
I totally forgot about drifting into darkness by JM La Rocca. I think i read the first part of the professor and never finished it. I liked it from what I remember. Maybe might need to finish it now
Truthfully, the main reason I opted to pass on reading it was that the sequel was never published and I didn’t want to start something that might never finish. So if you get around to it and think it is worth the time, let me know!