As you may well have noticed, it is rather late in May to be doing a wrap-up of April and planning my reading for May! However, I have been crazy busy recently: in April we had Ugandan guests staying with us (they loved England, especially London!), I was also applying to be Head Boy of my school (I got it!!) and over the past week or two, I have been doing exams and obviously revision has taken priority over reading. I have done my mechanics and further maths exams, leaving French, chemistry, physics and pure maths but now that I am on study leave (begins tomorrow) I should have more time to juggle.
Anyway, I thought I would post even if I don’t really have much to say about reading!
Here’s what I read in April 2013:
The Two Gentlemen of Verona – William Shakespeare
Le Petit Nicholas – Sempé-Goscinny
This is not very good as I aim to read at least three books every month. This is half of what I read in February so I have definitely had a poor month! My aim of 1200 pages a month was definitely not fulfilled, as I read a mere 318 pages which is miles off 1200!
I definitely did not do 30 minutes reading a day, but never mind!
I did not read at least one science book every two months but again never mind.
I actually did manage to fulfil my at least one classic a month target with The Two Gentlemen of Verona!
Lastly, I try to stay an active blogger and this was poor too – when I have more time I really hope to get back into the book blogging world.
Challenge Progress in April 2013:
The Classics Club : 14/60 books read (1 this month: The Two Gentlemen of Verona )
At the moment this is my only challenge for 2013 – maybe I will formalise some of my own yearly reading goals into a challenge.
Currently In Progress:
At the moment, I have just finished The Code Book by Simon Singh and I am a few pages into my reread of 1984.
May Plans:
Books: Well we are already over half way through May but what the hell! The next three books on my TBR shelf are The Help, Rebecca and Suite Francaise but I can’t see myself reaching these before June.
Challenges: If I finished 1984, then it will count towards The Classics Club.
Good luck to anyone else who is linked directly or indirectly to the exam season, I wish you all the best. Everyone else, I hope you are well too and can forgive me for being very silent recently!
The Classics Club Spin
I thought I may as well combine these two posts (as the deadline is tomorrow…) so here is my spin list for The Classics Club. We list 20 books from our original list in whichever categories we chose and then a random number is selected and we are challenged to read that book before the end of June (who knows if it will happen!)
Here is my list:
5 books I am really looking forward to:
1. Othello – William Shakespeare
2. Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien
3. The Comedy of Errors – William Shakespeare
4. The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
5. The Cranford Chronicles – Elizabeth Gaskell
5 books on my TBR shelf:
6. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
7. Suite Francaise – Irène Némirovsky
8. The Mill on the Floss – George Eliot
9. The Warden – Anthony Trollope
10. Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
5 books I don’t own yet:
11. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
12. Nicholas Nickleby – Charles Dickens
13. If This is a Man – Primo Levi
14. Night – Elie Wiesel
15. Conference at Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
5 books I am slightly (!) apprehensive about:
16. Dombey and Son – Charles Dickens
17. Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë
18. A Chocolate Orange – Anthony Burgess
19. Middlemarch – George Eliot
20. Atonement – Ian McEwan