April has been a quiet month for the most part. I’m still adjusting to medication changes, although that has been slowed down a bit now, so I haven’t felt up to doing much beyond my normal daily stuff. I did go out once this month with my husband, which was fab. We went record shopping on record store day, you can read about that in my weekly wrap-up post from yesterday. My husband collects records in the same way I collect books so our house is getting a bit full with both of our collections but at least we understand each other’s hobby!
In terms of blogging it’s been a good month. I was thrilled to have a few of my reviews from this month move into my most liked posts on my sidebar – and even had the top spot change a couple of times. First SweetPea got there and that was then knocked into the number two spot by See What I Have Done. Yesterday I got a notification telling me that I’d had my most likes in one day ever so that was lovely to read. I don’t obsess over my stats but it’s always nice to have a gauge that my blog is steadily growing as time goes by. I was also thrilled to discover that my review of See What I Have Done has been quoted on the new Lounge Books website, it made my day!
Here are the 19 books I read this month:
First Love by Gwendoline Riley
One of Us by Asne Seierstad
Deconstructing Dirty Dancing by Stephen Lee Naish
The Power by Naomi Alderman
The People at Number 9 by Felicity Everett
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
No Turning Back by Tracy Buchanan
Luuurve is a Many Trousered Thing by Louise Rennison
He Said / She Said by Erin Kelly
Titanic Lives by Richard Davenport-Hines
Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
Foxlowe by Eleanor Wasserberg
The Wild Air by Rebecca Mascull
April Blog Posts & Reviews
I managed to write and post eight reviews in April, which isn’t quite the three per week I was hoping to achieve but an average of two a week isn’t too bad. I did also post my regular posts: WWW Wednesday, Stacking the Shelves and Weekly Wrap-Up every week, which I’m happy about. Then I was lucky enough to interview two authors for my blog this month, and I got to feature a lovely author’s guest post. So all-in-all I’m happy with how many posts I shared on my blog this month but I would like to try and get some more reviews written and posted in May if I can.
Here are my reviews from April:
Deconstructing Dirty Dancing by Stephen Lee Naish
Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller
See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt
Here are the author interviews I was lucky enough to do in April:
Jennifer Gilmour, author of Isolation Junction
Kay Langdale, author of The Comfort of Others
I also featured a guest post on my blog in April:
Lynda Renham, author of Remember Me, wrote a guest post about changing genres for her new novel
The state of my TBR:
The state of my TBR is something I’m starting to wish I’d never shared on my blog as every month I’m becoming more aware of how little willpower I have when it comes to books! I started the year with 1885 books on my TBR (these are all books that I own but haven’t read yet) and as of the end of April I now have 1933 unread books! I’m very aware that the number is going in completely the wrong direction but have so far being quite powerless to stop it.
I joined the Mount TBR challenge on Goodreads a little while ago and challenged myself to read at least 100 books that were on my TBR before the start of this year. I began to realise that I would struggle with getting my TBR reduced (although I am still trying to work on that) so am now trying to at least make sure that I’m reading a similar number of books I’ve owned a while to the new books I acquire. I’ve so far read 90 books this year and 41 were on my TBR before the start of 2017 so I’m happy with that ratio and hope to keep it up.
How was your April? I hope you all had a good month and that you read good books. Did you read many books? What was your favourite book of the month? Please tell me in the comments, I’d love to know. Also, if you have a blog please feel free to leave a link to your month’s wrap-up post and I’ll be sure to read and comment back. 🙂
RatherTooFondofBooks 
I am truly glad you managed to have a great time with your husband between adjusting to the meds and the pain. You deserve so relief time 🙂 It’s a really nice feeling when you see proof that your blog is growing, right? I try not to check my stats and keep in mind there are just numbers, but I like the notifications that numbers are going up and that the effort I put in my blog is not just for me 🙂
19 books! 🙂 You always impress me, although this month I’m proud to say I reached 10 !!! 😀 A bit low compared to you, haha!
You reminded me I am taking part in a challenge for my TBR…I’d forgotten! 8 of the 10 books I read were ARCs, oops, hahahahaha! Let’s not worry too much about our TBR and just enjoy the view of books everywhere 🙂 xxxx
Thank you, it really was lovely to go out with him as it’s so rare that we mange to get out together these days with my health being as it is.
Yes I’m the same – I don’t check my stats very often but it’s nice to get a notification that shows my blog is still growing and interesting to people.
10 book is fab in a month – I think I read more these days because my medical treatments mean I’m forced to rest more than I’d like so I read a lot then. If I was busy with other things I wouldn’t have the time to read this much.
Well done on reading 8 ARCS in April – I need to catch up with some of my NetGalley books so I’m going to try and do that this month. 🙂 xxx
Little respites from the illness and escapes with loved ones are an amazing boost to the spirit 🙂
I’m so happy to see I’ve been reading ARCs… but my NG shelves are staying full as I put authors and publishers contacts first. I’m so far away from the 80% ratio hahahah! xxx
Yes they really are 🙂 It took me so long to get to 80% on NG as there are always more books on there to tempt me. You’ll get there! 🙂 xx
You did, indeed, have a good month, Hayley. And I’m glad that you had some fine reads, too. I really do want to read Sweet Pea. And I keep hearing great things about He Said, She Said, too. As to reducing the TBR, I face that challenge, too *sigh*.
Thank you, I enjoyed most of what I read in April and some of the books were real stand-out reads. I still hope to reduce my TBR one of these days but it’s going to be a lot harder than I thought it would be.
Wow you are doing well reading your own books – my percentage is nowhere near that and of course I’ve read far fewer books too! Here’s to some fab May reading 😊
I was pleasantly surprised when I worked out how many of my own books I’d read this year so far. It does mean that I’ve got some catching up to do with review books but I think it keeps me enjoying reading when I can reach for my own books in between review copies. Hope May is a fab reading month for you too 🙂
Thank you – I’m looking forward to June and my holiday where my own books will get a chance although I have a bad habit of buying new ones to read!!
I’m always buying new books too so I know what you mean! I hope you have a lovely June full of fab books from your TBR 🙂
Looks like a great list of books you read and glad your meds are helping 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Sounds like a great month for you, over all. You read a lot of books…and some are on my list. I recently downloaded The Affair, and received He Said/She Said from NetGalley.
Enjoy your May reading…and life!
I did read some great books in April, I’d recommend most of them. I hope you enjoy The Affair and He Said/She Said as much as I did. Thank you – hope you have a lovely May too 🙂
I’m so glad things with the med change are starting to slow and that you got out last week, I missed record store day this week which is a shame…next year.
You can always stop sharing your TBR if it’s feeling too much of a stress, I just find keeping track of it stressful let alone sharing the numbers publicly!
Sending big hugs and hope you have a lovely week. 💜
Thank you. I’m still facing lots of ups and downs with my meds so I’m really trying to make the most of the times when I’m on an even keel. It’s a shame you missed Record Store Day, it was really good this year. We missed it last year so wanted to make sure we got to go this time.
I don’t really mind sharing my TBR numbers – it’s probably good for me to be aware of how many books I’m acquiring. I may start sharing them monthly rather than weekly in the future though as the fluctuations will show more evenly then.
Thanks so much 🙂 Hope you’re having a lovely week too. x
19 books!! Teach me your waysssss. I read only 5 haha. April was hectic! It seems like you had a great reading month though, that’s great. ❤
I just read every chance I get – even during the ad breaks when watching TV or when I’m in a queue etc. I’m also not working at the moment due to illness so have times where I have to rest due to my treatment so that gives me lots of time to read. Five books in a month is great when life was so hectic for you.
As ever, an amazing monthly total and a wonderfully diverse range of books. I very much hope that May is an even better month as they get to grips with your medication. Congratulations on the growing popularity of your blog – it is entirely deserved.
I’m really enjoying reading lots of different genres of books this year, I’ve definitely got out of the rut I was in last year. My medication changes are ongoing but I’m trying to make the most of the time when I’m on a more even keel. Thank you so much – it’s a lovely feeling to know people are enjoying what I write on my blog. I’m always so aware that my writing is not as good as it used to be so it’s a boost to know people still enjoy it.
Really?? I don’t see any decrease in the quality of your prose – but of course it depends on the timespan you are referring to. You write well, anyhow.
Thank you so much, I appreciate that. I was much better at writing before I got ill and so I’m aware that I’m not as good at expressing myself as I once was. I also notice the difference in my reviews when I’m feeling unwell.
I would say that happens to everyone – I struggled last week to write a couple of the reviews because I wasn’t at my shiny best, too. But even when I’m well, there are days when I feel like I’m wading through quicksand to get my ideas down onto the screen with any fluency and others when the words pour from my fingertips with no effort at all – sadly the latter state isn’t the norm…
Getting out is always such a wonderful treat ❤ I hope the meds are coming along well. I am off in a bit to re-assess my own. Fingers crossed. I cannot believe you managed 19 books! Wowza lady! Mad skills 🙂 Here is to a fabulous May!
It really is, it’s so rare that we get to go out somewhere nice together so it was lovely. 🙂 The meds are due to be reduced again soon so I’m trying to prepare myself for that – I’m just trying to make the most of the less-bad days while I can. It’ll all be worth it in the end. How are you at the moment? Yes, here’s to a great May! 🙂 x
I am sending out all of those vibes! I am going through a bit of a reduction as well. We decided to try weaning some of the seizure meds and Valium before surgery consult. I am okay really. Headaches are the biggest side effect. But I expected it. You are so strong for doing this. ❤ Hugs.
Thank you. I hope you get on ok reducing your meds, it’s such a hard thing to do. I chose to try and get off my super strong pain meds but it’s very hard. I know I’m doing the right thing in the long run but it’s still not easy. I hope the headaches start to settle down soon. I’m sending you big hugs xxx
I am returning those hugs! Thank you for all of the support ❤ The headaches will decrease I think after I fully adjust. Have a beautiful week lovely!
That looks like a great reading month. I’d love to know what you made of the Murakami, although I’m doing a massive blog catch-up at the moment so I might have missed that.
I had a great reading April, including a book that will be a contender for my top 10 for the year (Word By Word by Kory Stamper). I don’t do a round-up as such but I do a State of the TBR on the first of every month and you can see that here: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/state-of-the-tbr-may-2017-and-a-small-confession/ Of course it LOOKS small, but then it doesn’t have the Kindle books on it … plus my Pile is as tall as the space it has to live in …
It was a great month of reading, I really enjoyed just about everything that I read in April. I’ve not reviewed the Murakami fully but I did write my thoughts in a wrap-up post. I’m not managing to review everything I read at the moment but I will try and catch up at some point.
It feels great to read a book that will probably be in your top ten of the year. I’m going to look out for Word by Word.
I’m slowly catching up on blogs this weekend so I’ll go read your post now.
Thanks for visiting my blog, lovely to see you over there. I’m on blog post catch-up again as have been unwell. Will I ever catch up? I’ve read a lot, though, at least …
I never seem to quite catch up with blog posts but I keep trying. At least you’ve got a lot of reading done.
Congrats on such a successful month! April was my best reading month so far, but I think I’m a little tapped out…definitely in time, but perhaps in energy, too. I hope the meds continue to support and maintain your pain levels and you feel better each day. Happy reading!
Thank you 🙂 It seems like we both had a great month of reading in April. I’m sorry that you’re feeling so tapped out – I hope you can find some time to relax in May. It’s hard when life is busy.
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