April Overview/ Month Ahead

Seriously, April is over already? This has been the fastest month yet.  At least it feels that way. It has been a good one though. Despite exams and essays I managed to read a fair few books. I think I mainly thank the readathon for that mind you. So here is the months book list;

1. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
3. Empire State - Adam Christopher
4. Freedom - Jonathan Franzen
5. Angelmaker - Nick Harkaway
6. The Doctor Will See You Now - Max Pemberton
7. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie
8. Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
9. The Grass Is Singing - Doris Lessing
10. Me Before You - Jojo Moyes
11. Revenge of the Tide - Elizabeth Haynes

I very much enjoyed most of these books that I find it difficult to choose a favourite. I sobbed over Me Before You, I laughed through The Doctor Will See You Now and the rest are all up there. It's a hard call. I can tell you my least favourite which was Revenge of the Tide. It was a disappointing read since I enjoyed the authors debut novel so much last year. It was a first though. I don't think I have started off liking a character and ended up really hating her.

Challenge Overview

 Still managing to keep up with this one. It's not really a struggle since I do enjoy my classics. Aprils choice was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. I really loved this book. Just a great boys adventure story. I also loved the challenge prompt since it was about book covers and I do love classic book covers. I have decided that May's choice will be Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. I am looking forward to this as I have heard so many good things about this author. This will be the first novel I will have read by Virginia Woolf.

 This book for this challenge was another by Mark Twain which was why I picked the classics challenge book. This time it was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the focus was on Tom Sawyer. As much as I love the book I do think Tom is the odd one out the bunch in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Plus if memory serves he was rather annoying. Not so in the book. In the book he is full of mischief and adventure yet lovable. Next up is The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Like last month this will be a re-read. I enjoyed it the first time round so I expect to this time. Having to borrow my dad's copy though as mine has went walkies. Since I am still not buying books there will be no pretty covers this time (for some strange reason my dad doesn't care about the pretty).

The Mixing it up challenge's category for April was Modern Fiction. I picked Freedom by Jonathan Franzen because I had heard many wonderful things about the author but had never read anything by him. Am pleased to say I loved the book and found it difficult to put down. I stopped reading another book I was enjoying just so I could concentrate on it. May's category is Graphic Novels. I attempted to read some of these last year and enjoyed them but the genre is still new to me. I am going to read The Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. It was one that I didn't get round to reading when I had graphic novel month last year (actually it was about this time last year).

For the sci fi challenge I once again went with my own choice but mainly because I am trying to get through my tbr pile before I buy any more books. I read Empire State by Adam Christopher which was a great noir story set in a dark and alternative New York. Very atmospheric and I enjoyed it. For May I am again choosing one off my own pile. It's Cities In Flight by James Blish. Part of the sci fi masterworks series. I actually think this one originally belonged to an ex boyfriend (in my defense I am sure he has a few books of mine). It's a classic sci fi again so I am looking forward to it.



No other plans for this month I have been reading A LOT of American and British authors so if I finish my challenges I might hunt out a book from my pile that wasn't written by someone whose first language was English. Unlike other students in my uni who are now off for the summer I have another semester to do which starts next week. Will involve being back on the wards as well as a lot of course work so I don't know how much reading I will get done or how interactive I will be. I may end up resorting to some light reads.

How has your reading month been? Was yours helped by the readathon like mine was? Anyone else on a book buying ban?