April TBR

I feel like I'm kind of setting myself up for failure by doing this, but I really love the whole list making, goal setting aspect of it so I will continue. Here's my (total failure) picture from March: 

Basically, I finished two books. The Library Book I was really close to finishing but I had to take it back to the library as I'd renewed it like... four times? and they really wanted it back. I seriously have no idea why it took me so long, but I figured that now I have an excuse to go buy it which is good as it supports The Reading Agency, so it all works out for the best, really. Also, the only reason I didn't read The Treasure Seekers was cos I lost it. I really have no clue how as it must be somewhere in my house but for the life of me I cannot find it, so I gave up on it and started The Railway Children instead, which you will see appears in my picture for April! I've only managed to actually review Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, as ages has gone by since I read Cleaving and although I liked it, I didn't love it enough for details to stay in my head in such a way that enables the writing of a review. I really need to come up with some kind of note taking system...

From April's pile you might be able to tell that I'm on a bit of an environmenty/self-sufficiency/growing stuff kind of kick at the moment. I'm two thirds of the way through Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and it's really having an impact on me. I won't say much more as the review of it is going to be really fun to write! 

Because my photography's shocking, here's what's in the pile:

• The Railway Children by E. Nesbit - about a quarter through this already and I love it just as much as I did as a child. One of my favourite things as a child was the description of Phyllis 'who was extremely well-meaning'. I have no idea why I liked it so much but it still makes me giggle to this day, and even more so in the film. (The original with Bernard Cribbens and Jenny Agutter as Bobbie. Not the horrible travesty they made a few years back with her as the mother. Urgh)
• Mystery in the Minster by Susanna Gregory - this is the latest in the Matthew Bartholomew chronicles - a series of murder mysteries set in Cambridge in the 1300s.  This is my mum's and that's pretty much the reason I'm still reading the series. The books are all very similar but the writing's pretty good and they're enjoyable even if only for the historical aspects. Also, the characters are pretty great, and my  mum passes them on to me after she and my Grandma have read them, so that's nice. 
• Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi - I'm a little bit wary of this as I loved Persepolis so much a couple of years back and have heard mixed things about Embroideries. I guess if I don't try it I'll never know, though.
• Bluestockings: the Remarkable Story of the First women to Fight for an Education by Jane Robinson
• No Impact Man: Saving the Planet One Family at a Time by Colin Beavan
• The Innocents by Francesca Segal is the Mumsnet Book Club choice for April and there were no free copies left, so I ordered it in to the library. Now I just have to read it before the end of the month...
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver - seriously the best thing ever right now. More will follow. 
• Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer I got from the library because it seemed along similar lines to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and I'm so into that right now. Also I had some vague memories of Laura saying it was good a while back, which is usually a good sign!

Massively optimistic, as usual, but at least I've got a good start on a couple of them! I'm also expecting Fables Vol. 9 into the library, so there'll be that too. 

March TBR!

This is my first month taking part in Jenn's Monthly TBR meme and I'm quite excited about it. You know that I'm kind of a fan of photos of piles of books, and since I'm trying to keep myself at least vaguely on track with my challenge reading (for updates, see here and here) it kind of makes sense to do this I think. 

So here's my pile for March. Once again, I'm being ridiculously ambitious, especially considering that I have My Life in France by Julia Child and Wild by Cheryl Strayed to finish before the end of February (I'm writing this on Wednesday but won't publish it till Saturday, because I'm logical like that... :-/

You might recognize some of these from my February post. I had a bit of a library problem the past couple of months and that coupled with my slow reading pace at the moment has led to a bit of a backlog!! 
Anway, here's my pile. There are a few that I absolutely must read this month and some which it would just be nice to get to. 
Books in the pile are:

• The Library Book - I've been reading this collection of essays about the awesomeness that is libraries for at least a month now and I really have to finish it this month! I've made huge amounts of notes and written down a load of quotes so I'm a little scared of actually writing a review...
• The Fire Gospel by Michel Faber - from the Canongate Myth series, so it would be nice to read it and tick another one off of the list, but if I don't get to it, I will someday.
• The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit - Childhood favourite and part of my Year of Reading Edith Nesbit challenge, for which I've yet to read a single book. It's time to get started, so this one is a must read. 
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor is another childhood favourite and was the book I got for the Classics Club spin, so again this must be read!
• The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald I need to read for Allie's Modernist March event, and I have to say it's probably the book I'm most excited about this month.
• A Cat, a Hat, and a Piece of String by Joanne Harris - a book of short stories I've had out of the library for the past month. I might try to read a story a day or something to get it done as I really do love Joanne Harris' writing and want to read it!
• Brave Old World by Tom Hodgkinson - I've had a bit of a relapse into my self-sufficiency obsession lately and found this in the library. It basically goes through a year and each month he talks about something different. Subjects range from wood chopping, hen keeping and bee keeping through to my favourite, December, 'feasting'. 
• The Poisoned Island by Lloyd Shepherd - this was a surprise which turned up on my doorstep from Simon & Schuster this month and I need to be better about reading review copies, so I plan to start here. The storyline sounds really interesting and I'm looking forward to it. 
• Cleaving by Julie Powell - I'd like to get this read too as it would follow on nicely from My Life in France, being the second memoir by the Julie of Julie & Julia, but who knows. 

I also need to read a graphic novel for the challenge this month but I forgot to put it in the photo! I'm thinking one of the Neil Gaiman's that I have but haven't read, so either Eternals, Midnight Days, Black Orchid, or Mr. Punch. 

I always wonder why it is that I can't limit myself to a reasonable number of books per month, but I think that if I could my blog would probably be a lot less interesting!

February Reading

I know that this didn't work out too well for me last year, but I have been going a little bit mad with the library lately, and in preperation for Modern March, I feel like I should probably try to get through at least some of the mountain!! In fairness, I've kind of cheated as I've glanced through some already. In case you can't see what's in the awful photo, the pile is thus:- 

(from top to bottom)

• The Library Book - produced in aid of The Reading Agency this is a collection of essays by different people about the importance of libraries to them. I've been dipping in and out of it and so far it is ridiculously great. I have pages and pages of quotes for my eventual review and I'm planning to get somebody to buy me my own copy at some point. 
• My Life in France by Julia Child - I've wanted to read this since watching Julie & Julia a couple of years ago and it just happened to be sitting there in the library the other day when I went to pick up another book...
• The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller - so. much. hype about this last year, and it was on the longlist for the Orange Prize which I usually take as a good sign. Also I'm about to start a course on the Ancient Greeks and this is all about the Trojan War, so it seemed a good fit!
• The Fire Gospel by Michel Faber - part of the Cannongate Myths Series that I've been trying to get through for a couple of years
• A Cat, a Hat and a Piece of String by Joanne Harris - I love Joanne Harris, but I didn't even know that this existed. It's short stories which is super great for my limited attention span at the moment, and I'm looking forward to it!
• Great reading, Weaning. Exciting, I know, but Benji is starting to chew on anything that comes near him and stare at my biscuits longingly, so I figured it was time to find out how to go about feeding him something other than milk... Although they recommend waiting till 6 months, if he's ready I can do it from a couple of weeks time. So we'll see how it goes. 
• The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer - I ordered this in for my Wishlist Challenge and I'm already half way through it, so it should just be a little finish up job. So far it's really great and making me think about all the things, which is great. 
• How Not to F*** Them Up by Oliver James - another parenting book, but this seems really interesting and has lots of stats and stuff so I can read it all and weigh up the pros and cons of being a working mother and then completely ignore all the advice and do what the hell I want anyway :-) 
• The Art of Handmade Living - this is just a kind of cute little crafty book with ideas about how to accessorise things around the home to make them prettier. It's more of a flip through book than one that actually needs to be concentrated on. 

The last one is The Vintage Tea Party Year which I've already had a look through. It is possibly the most beautiful book that I've ever seen, and has some really cute invitations you can photocopy or download from their website. Thanks to it, I've already decided that Benji's 1st Birthday party in October will be Circus themed. Yes, I know he'll be 1 and unable to remember anything or really participate at all, but it will be tons of fun for the adults!!

I am also determined to finish reviews of Snow White and Mirror Mirror and of both book and film of Beastly for the Telling Tales Challenge, plus finishing the draft of my review of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce which has been sat in my drafts folder for a few weeks now...