- So you think you know about Britain? by Danny Dorling
- Enduring Love by Ian Mcewan
- Meeting Mr Kim by Jennifer Barclay
- Desert by JMG Le Clezio
- The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery
- The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
- Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick
This month and the next is all about Orange Prize’s shortlists. A mix bag of books read, non-fictions, three Orange short-lists and a children classic, The Little Prince. I was doing so well trying to surpass 10 books in a month, making headways by reading 7 books by 17th April only to finish the last book in two weeks. It’s been pouring cats and dogs every single day in South England and I have been ill again so does everyone at home. We took turn to fall ill, resulting all my reviews this month posted out of order. 
My favourite this month is Enduring Love, The Song of Achilles and The Forgotten Waltz, Korea travels stories of Meeting Mr. Kim was an interesting read as well.
Another highlight of this month was the World Book Night 2012. I didn’t manage to post about the day I collected the books but I will do so as soon as I can. I have been giving out books, The Time Traveler’s Wife, one by one, or twos by twos, looking for deserving people who are not regular readers, to encourage them to read.
I’m proud to announce that I haven’t bought any book this April. Surprisingly.
Plan for May
I haven’t got any plan for May except finishing off the other 3 shortlist books – Half Blood Blue, Painter of Silence and State of Wonder before the Orange Prize announcement. On the second week of May I will be attending a week-long Quality Management course and that will involve a lot of technical reading.
In the UK, the horsepipe ban to use less water is on in spite of the wettest April in record. I hope we will see more sunshine this May and that we can go out doors and play again!
Happy May everyone.
Good luck with the rest of your Orange reading! I’m reading Half Blood Blues now and really enjoying it. It’s the last one on the shortlist, and then I’ll get back to the longlist.
Posted by nomadreader | May 1, 2012, 2:31 pmNomadreader,
Me too! 226 pages on now.
Posted by JoV | May 1, 2012, 2:36 pmSo much rain! We’ve had some but nothing like that. We had thunder at 7am this morning (and rain) which is a really odd time for it, I think.
I did the opposite from you this month I started really slowly, then speeded up towards the end of the month. I have A LOT to read for May though. Nice books, but even so: sigh.
Hope next month will be better for you. Two five star books – out of 7 – is not bad, though.
Posted by Leeswammes | May 1, 2012, 3:00 pmJudith,
I know. I have my colleague asking me if I heard the thunder and lightning yesterday and I slept like a log, I heard nothing! I can’t read as fast as you do, you are a star. Thanks for the wishes. Hope you have a happy one as well.
Posted by JoV | May 1, 2012, 3:21 pmSounds like a good week. You have such a good variety of books on your April list. I had a poor April with only 3 books read, but I am hoping that May will be better. Why do I think it will be better given that it’s the busiest month of the year? Ever the optimist!
Posted by Helen Murdoch | May 1, 2012, 5:45 pmHelen,
but really there are better things to do than reading books all day. So I hope you enjoy the outdoors in this beautiful weather!
It’s great to be an optimist!
Posted by JoV | May 3, 2012, 7:57 amLucky girl – two five stars in one month! I love it when that happens. Stay dry (I hope you had a happy May day!)
Posted by Shellie | May 1, 2012, 5:55 pmShellie,
Thanks! it’s been a good month. I hope you have a happy May too.
Posted by JoV | May 3, 2012, 7:57 amWhat a pain the rain is, and we can’t say “go to Spain” because it is there also! To my shame I’ve only read two of your books, but I do love Ian McEwan. This particular one isn’t my favourite but I did like it a great deal. I didn’t think the film did it justice despite having Daniel Craig in it – for one thing they changed his profession from the book’s science writer which is a pity as one of the nice things about McEwan is how he engages with science, very unusual for a British fiction author (and not that usual for all fiction authors, in my experience).
Posted by Maxine | May 2, 2012, 4:56 pmMaxine,
Oh No! They change the profession of Joe in the movie? The thing I dislike about Hollywood is they don’t usually stay faithful to the book.
I’m amaze with McEwan’s ability to talk about science like an expert and also relate that to our everyday life philosophy. Thanks for dropping by! Hope the rain ease soon.
Posted by JoV | May 3, 2012, 7:55 amReally looks like I went on holiday at the right time, couldn’t have dealt with all that rain. But atleast you got a lot of reading done even if you didn’t quite reach the amount you hoped for, still loads compared to me
Posted by jessicabookworm | May 6, 2012, 10:06 amJessica,
Thanks for liking my post! Not as many as I would like but I’m not complaining. Glad you had more sunshine last month than we did!
Posted by JoV | May 6, 2012, 10:11 am