April and May Reading

Though I've practically given up on posting, I haven't given up on reading.   It looks as though I reached my goal of one fiction and one nonfiction per month, but actually I read only one book in April. The other three were from May.  But, hey, I am doing some reading.

• A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead.  The only book I finished in April! Nonfiction, it tells the stories of many French women who were arrested and send to prison and work camps for their efforts to resist the Nazis in World War II. Compelling reading.

• The Organized Heart by Staci Eastin.  This small book is not an organizational how-to, but rather an exploration of why we can't seem to get organized.  I have to admit it wasn't all that helpful to me - I really wanted it to be!  But none of the causes of chaos the book addresses really fit me.  I'm not a perfectionist, and I don't hold on to possessions.  (Those are not the only problems she addresses.)  I think some people might be helped by this book, but I am not one of them.
     
• Between Shades of Gray by Ruta  Sepetys.  The story of a family in Lithuania, deported to Siberia during Stalin's purges.  I wanted so much to like this book too, but it didn't grab me the way I thought it should.  The story is important - so much of World War II is devoted to the Holocaust, but there are other stories too. 

• The Distant Hours by Kate Morton.  I had rejected this book once, but picked it up again based on Sarah's review.  (Actually, I got this again after reading her review of The Forgotten Garden which I had also rejected.  But this was available at the library that very day, while there was a queue for the other.)  Other than the slightly-annoying first person narration, I enjoyed this gothic-y story and am glad I picked it back up!  

I've also kept up on my daily Bible reading, or perhaps I should say my monthly reading.  I don't always read it all every day, but an occasional marathon at the end of the month keeps me on track.  I do find I am looking forward to reading it more.

For schooltime I am reading The Fellowship of the Ring alongside my children (we read and discuss and they do some writing using a Progeny Press study guide) and I am reading aloud The Ecclesiastical History of England by The Venerable Bede.  It is more fun than you might think.

I started and rejected a few other books but can't even remember what they were. 

And there are a few books lined up for June, so I'd better go get started.