Read:
Two-Part Invention – Madeleine L’Engle (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1988)
Notes from Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky (Vintage Classics, 1994) (translated from Russian by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky)
Instructions for the Drowning – Steven Heighton (Biblioasis, 2023)
The Memory of Animals – Claire Fuller (Tin House, 2023)
Shrines of Gaiety – Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown Company, 2022)
The Dead Husband Project – Sarah Meehan Sirk (Anchor Canada, 2017)
Womb – Leah Hazard (Ecco, 2023)
Did Not Finish:
Glory – NoViolet Bulawayu
Currently Reading:
Life & Holiness – Thomas Merton
Picnic at Hanging Rock – Joan Lindsay
When Women Were Dragons – Kelly Barnhill
Stone Blind – Natalie Haynes
2023 GOALS:
Books Read: 37/100
Translated Works: 3/15 (Notes from the Underground, translated from Russian)
Books I Already Own: 7/30 (Notes from the Undergound, thrifted)
Books From the TBR pre-2020: 6/20 (Two-Part Invention (2018) and The Dead Husband Project (2017))
Current TBR: 217 (previously 219)
Thoughts:
In my life, it feels like April zipped past, lasting barely more than a week. But when I look at my reading, it feels like the books I read at the beginning of April were far longer ago than a month. I read seven books total which is decent but not my best. We spent 2 weekends in April in the city and that meant 2 weekends in which I didn’t read much because I was visiting family and wrangling kids. Oh, and we got a puppy and that has been a little distracting too! My reading this month was good but without any major standouts. I enjoyed Shrines of Gaiety and The Memory of Animals. Womb was a somewhat unexpected hit and I’ll have a review up in the next couple of weeks. The rest were fine but I don’t have many thoughts on them to share and probably won’t review them.
What’s Next:
I approached April without any real reading plan and I don’t feel bad about that but I do wonder if it contributed to a lower number. Because three of my four current reads are library books (meaning they have due dates) I am already setting up a more structured approach for May. I have 2 ARCS that I’ll read once I finish Picnic at Hanging Rock and When Women Were Dragons. I also have an inter-library loan that I’m waiting on that will hopefully come in around the time I finish Stone Blind. I’ve requested a new release, Fortune’s Bazaar, from my library which comes out in May and I’m hoping I’ll be the first patron to get it! I plan to finish Life and Holiness by this weekend and will then pick another book from my owned titles.
Do you plan out your reading and simply follow the whim of the moment?
Karissa Reads Books 
Has your puppy not chewed the corners of any of your books yet? I always find that to be one of the major joys of pets… 😉
She hasn’t yet! I wouldn’t put it past her if left alone with them but we haven’t given her much chance so far.
I feel like Picnic at Hanging Rock is making the rounds right now! It is also on my TBR. I believe there is a movie version, too. Lately, I haven’t had any sort of reading plans, which is bizarre for me, because I am such a planner. Maybe my desire to control my reading has loosened as I’ve gone through therapy and learned more about perfection, control, worry, etc. As of now, I have book reviews scheduled quite far out. To get closer to publishing date, I’ve been reading more books by men, which means I don’t review them at GTL.
I saw a few reviews of Hanging Rock that tempted me to pick it up. It was nice to be a bit looser in my reading for April but I’m going to try to set at least a couple goals for this month. Partly because I have a busy time ahead of me.
I really enjoyed Picnic at Hanging Rock – I hope you enjoy it too! As for reading plans, I go through phases – I like participating in challenges like the Classics Club and 20 Books of Summer, but I also like having months where there’s no plan and I’m just reading whatever I fancy.