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Rearview Mirror // April 2021

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Well, it’s been less than three weeks (barely) since I posted March’s Rearview Mirror, so that means I’m getting caught up, right???

Favorite April Read

If I’m honest, my favorite read was actually my reread of Prince Caspian, but since I like to chose new books for this slot, I’m going with Blue Lily, Lily Blue.

Most Disappointing April Read

I had a lot of reads I was ambivalent towards this month, but the one that really was the worst was Shoot the Moon, which was especially annoying because it was the middle book of a trilogy.

Other April Reads

April Stats

  • Total Number of Books Read:  17 (9 Kindle, 8 physical)
  • Total Pages Read:  6075
  • Average Star Rating for September:  3.7
  • Longest Book: The Raven King (475 pages)
  • Shortest Book:  Mansfield Park Revisited (201 pages)
  • Oldest Book:  Parker Pyne Investigates (published 1934)
  • Newest Book: Off Script and A Lady’s Guide to Mischief & Mayhem (both published 2020)
  • Number of New-to-Me Authors:  4

April DNFs

None this month!!

TBR Update

This I keep updated as I go, so it’s current as of today, rather than as of the end of April. I am also making progress on winnowing down the unread blog emails!!! Under 1000!!!

For those of you who don’t know, I’m weirdly obsessive with organizing the TBR, and have it on a spreadsheet divided into six different tabs:

  • Standalones:  508 (down three)
  • Nonfiction:  126 (up two)
  • Personal (which includes all books I own (fiction and nonfiction), but lists any series I own as only one entry…):  648 (down two)
  • Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series):  251 (holding steady)
  • Mystery Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 115 (holding steady)
  • New Arrivals – (I have a lot of books that I have been gifted or that I pick up somewhere and they get put on my “oh I’m so excited about this shiny new book” shelf… and then of course don’t actually get read.): 137 (holding steady)

Current Reads

  • I’m trying to read some nonfiction every day while I’m on my summer break.  Yesterday I started a book about unusual words called Horologicon by Mark Forsyth.  It’s pretty entertaining.  So far my favorite new word is zwodder which means “a drowsy and stupid state of body or mind.”  I definitely suffer from zwodderness frequently!!!
  • Jane Austen Made Me Do It by various authors – I got this one on the cheap from Book Outlet, a collection of Jane Austen-inspired short stories by a bunch of different authors.  I’ve been reading one a day this month.  I’m better than halfway through, but so far not a single story has been over a 3* rating for me, and a lot of them have been more like 2*.  They’re just… boring and kind of pointless.  It’s quite disappointing.
  • Jane Fairfax by Joan Aiken – after finishing Emma in June (and disliking it just as much as ever), I was interested to revisit this alternate story that focuses on “Emma’s other heroine – Jane Fairfax.”  It’s actually been pretty good so far, although a little slow in spots.
  • The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis – the final book in the Narnia series, and the one I’ve read the fewest times because it makes me SO sad.
  • Sons of Pemberley by Elizabeth Adams – I’m actually working my way through the next batch of 87th Precinct mysteries and thought I would take a little break from the gritty by reading another P&P variation.  This one isn’t exactly bad but it’s complicated because Adams has decided to add a BUNCH of Darcy family members (including more siblings for Darcy and Georgianna!) and has two timelines going with loads of names that are the same for the two different generations because basically everyone in the younger generation is named after someone in the older generation.  This is definitely a book that needs a family tree and list of characters!

Up Next

The probable next five(ish) reads…

  • The next two 87th Precinct books, The Big Bad City and The Last Dance.  After this, I’ll only have five books left!!!!
  • To Have and To Hoax, which is my choice for the next round of the traveling book club
  • Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman – this is the next book in the Leaphorn & Chee series.  The first book was decent but not amazing, so I’m giving the next two books in the series a try.  If they’re also just meh for me, I’m not going to bother with the rest of the series, since there are around 20 books.
  • Abandoned by Lisa Jackson – a while back someone gave me a box of books, mostly mysteries.  I’ve never tried anything by Jackson before, but several of the books in the box are by her, so I’m interested to see if I like them, or if I’ll be adding several books to my giveaway box!
  • My Lady Jane has been on my TBR forever.  I actually ended up getting a copy from Book Outlet (okay, so I’m a sucker for brand new books that are under $5!) so I think I’m finally going to get to it!!!

So those are the current updates plus the April sum-up.  Doing May minireviews feels like it’s a lot closer to current, so I’m excited to delve into them next!!  Happy reading!!