On the whole, April was a pretty good month. Nice weather, lots of things getting done, and I got both of my Covid vaccination shots! Woohoo! I’m still hesitant to go out and do things with people– especially in groups (which, lets be honest, I wasn’t thrilled about doing in Before Times), but progress is progress. One of these days, I’ll be back to having weekly dinners with friends and hanging out with people face to face and going to movies (not that I went to many movies before) and being a somewhat-social human being again.
That’s going to be weird.
What I Read in April:
I read thirteen books or short stories in April for a total of 4,020 pages:
- The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts that Illuminated the Renaissance by Ross King, ARC provided by NetGalley
- The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (Wayfarers #4) by Becky Chambers, ARC provided by NetGalley
- The Heroine’s Journey: For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture by Gail Carriger, narrated by Starla Huchton
- The Glitter in the Green: In Search of Hummingbirds by Jon Dunn, ARC provided by NetGalley
- Thief of Souls (Inspector Lu Fei mysteries #1) by Brian Klingborg, ARC provided by NetGalley
- When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain (The Singing Hills Cycle #1) by Nghi Vo
- Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers #3) by Becky Chambers, audiobook narrated by Rachel Dulude
- Redoubt (The Collegium Chronicles #4) by Mercedes Lackey
- Monk’s Hood (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #3) by Ellis Peters
- ‘Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory‘(Murderbot Diaries #4.5) by Martha Wells
- Njal’s Saga by Anonymous, translated from the Icelandic by Robert Cook
- Axiom’s End (Noumena #1) by Lindsay Ellis
- Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper, audiobook narrated by the author
Statistically Speaking:
- 69.2% of the books I read were written by women, 23.1% were written by men, and 7.7% were written by anonymous writers
- 69.2% were by American authors, 15.4% were by English authors, while 7.7% were by Canadian or Icelandic authors. Not great numbers for diversity of place when it comes to reading books from around the world, but I think I’ll do better in May
- 92.3% of the books I read were originally written in English, while 7.7% were works in translation– Njal’s Saga is Icelandic.
- 38.5% of what I read were ebooks, 30.8% were physical books, and 30.8% were audiobooks
- Genre-wise, 30.8% each were nonfiction and science fiction, 15.4% each were fantasy and mystery, 7.7% were sagas
- 46.2% of the books I read were from the library, 30.8% were from NetGalley, 15.4% were from my own shelves, and 7.7% were from Tor.com
- Publication years ranged from 1280 to 2021
My favorites of the month were The Glitter in the Green, Record of a Spaceborn Few, and Word by Word.
I didn’t hate anything I read this month, but I wasn’t particularly fond of Thief of Souls or Redoubt. They were average at best.
What’s On Tap for May:
- The Broken Crown (The Sun Sword #1) by Michelle West
- Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara, translated from the Japanese by Cathy Hirano
- Fugitive Telemetry (Murberbot #6) by Martha Wells
- The Tale of Tales by Giambattista Basile, translated from the Italian by Nancy L. Canepa
- A Tip for the Hangman by Allison Epstein
- The Forgotten Kingdom (The Lost Queen #2) by Signe Pike
- Rule of Wolves (King of Scars #2) by Leigh Bardugo
I also have a few ARCs from NetGalley I need to finish or at least start on before June rolls around:
- The Kingdoms by Nathasha Pulley
- Beyond (The Founding of Valdemar #1) by Mercedes Lackey
- The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie Liu
- The Ice Lion by Kathleen O’Neal Gear
In addition to all of that, I want to get to the next entry in Tolkien’s History of Middle-earth:
And then, for the Reading Valdemar project I’m working on with Mel and Jackie, we have the last book in the Collegium Chronicles:
That gives me thirteen books for May, which is not an impossible number for me, but there are a whole lot of pages involved. I may have to put a few of them aside and give them another try in June, as I also want to finish a big chunk of writing for the first draft of my current work in progress. The end of that is definitely in sight, but I estimate that I have at least another 30,000 words to go. If I put my nose to the grindstone on it, I can get most, if not all, of that done in a month, but we’ll see. I also want to get outside and do some hiking before the weather gets too hot for my cold-loving self.
In other words, May is going to be a busy month for me, and it’s going to be great!
Traveling in Books 
It’s great to see your enthusiasm for May. I love it when people (myself included) are able to find those positive things to look forward to. It makes everything so much easier. And I’m glad to hear you’ve gotten your shots. I’ve had mine, as well, though I’m still in that final two week period before it’s fully effective. Like you, I don’t know that much will change for me right away, and I’m not entirely sure yet how or when things will. But as you said, progress is progress.
That final two-week period ends tomorrow for me! I’ve got a few things I want to do, though they’re not particularly social. But I feel better about getting outside my apartment and doing even those singular things. It’s a good feeling. So far, May’s had some great weather, too, so that makes it much easier to want to do things. I hope you’re able to get out and do whatever this month!