April was an unusual reading month because I spent the first two weeks reading very long, intense books. Once I finished those, I read some shorter works. It was a good reading month in retrospect, and I suspect I need to get in the habit of reading longer books more often! Crime and Punishment, in particular, was quite satisfying.

My May focus is on Milton, as is evidenced by yesterday’s post. I am enjoying Paradise Lost and I want to read and discuss some of his other works as well. In a sense, Milton in general is my project for the month. If I feel so inclined, I also, for my “project book,” may revisit a nonfiction book I read a decade ago that I loved. Jerusalem: The Eternal City by David Galbraith is a book about Jerusalem history and religious context. I read it in the months before my two months living there, and since this month marks the ten-year anniversary of my time there, I thought it might be appropriate to revisit it now.

Besides those reads, I saw a tweet on May 1 about “A Story a Day in May.” Apparently, this is a writing challenge. Since I am a reader and not a writer, I decided to make it my reading mini-challenge for May: I’ll read a short story every day. NextRead is also highlighting short stories this month. I’ve begun the month with a Dover Thrift anthology called Great Short Stories by American Women, which has short stories from the 1860s to 1940s. So far, I’ve enjoyed my daily selections. I have dozens of short story collections and anthologies, so I may dabble in a few different collections as the month goes by. Since reading short stories is part of my yearly goal to not “forget” the easy-to-forget genres, this seems quite appropriate. (I’ve “forgotten” to read any short stories thus far in 2010.)

My other May reading plans focus on my book club read (The Painted Veil) and the Classics Circuit reads (Murder on the Orient Express and Strong Poison). I also want to read Silence by Shusako Endo for the Japanese Literature Book Group for next week, and I’d love to finish off the Lord of the Rings trilogy this month (I’ve come to the conclusion that I am definitely not a fan, but I might as well finish it now that I’ve read 2/3 of it!).

I was a bit ambitious with my library requests last month, as I discussed in my vlog a few weeks ago, and I have made little progress on those world lit books I checked out. I’m enjoying God’s Bits of Wood (if “enjoy” is the right word) and The Makioka Sisters. As both are rather long, though, it is taking a while. God’s Bits of Wood is a mere 240 pages, but the print is quite small it feels like a dense read. The Makioka Sisters, on the other hand, is more than 500 pages. While it is engaging and a somewhat fast read, I’m still taking a while. Needless to say, I’ll probably have to return many of the books I checked out and get them again another time. I still have a few weeks, though, so I may surprise myself.

April in Review

Here is the month in review, with links to any posts on Rebecca Reads.

Finished Previously/Reviewed April

• The Masterpiece by Emile Zola
• Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki

Finished reading in April

• Blake: Everyman Library Pocket Poets (260 pages; poetry).
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. (550 pages; fiction)
• The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares (100 pages; fiction)
• The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, translated by Richard Pevear (675 pages; fiction)
• Poetry Speaks to Children (100 pages; poetry anthology/plus audio CD)
• The Enchanted April by Elizabeth van Arnim (250 pages; fiction)
• How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry by Edward Hirsch (260 pages + end matter; nonfiction)
• Poems of Nikki Giovanni (about 200 pages read; poetry)
• The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkein (400 pages; fiction)
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (100 pages; fiction)

Children’s Books Reviewed

• A Day with a Mail Carrier by Jan Kottke
• Baby Happy, Baby Sad by Leslie Patricelli
• Brushing My Teeth by Elizabeth Vogel
• David Gets in Trouble by David Shannon+
• David Goes to School by David Shannon+
• David Smells by David Shannon+
• Eyes, Nose, Fingers, Toes by Judy Hindley
• Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein*+
• Lots of Feelings by Shelley Rotner
• No No Yes Yes by Leslie Patricelli
• Oh, David by David Shannon+
• Siesta by Ginger Guy*
• The Body Book by Shelley Rotner*+
• The Snow Day by Komako Sakai+
• Carl’s Afternoon at the Park by Alexandra Day
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.*+(again)
• City Signs by Zoran Milich
• Good Dog, Carl by Alexandra Day+
• Hands Can by Cheryl Hudson
• School Bus by Donald Crews+
• Thomas’ Wonderful Word Book
• Waddle! by Rufus Butler Seder
• Carl Goes Shopping by Alexandra Day+
• Carl’s Christmas by Alexandra Day

Non-Review Posts

• National Poetry Month Call for Poetry Posts
• March in Review, New Challenges, and A Brief Reading Journal
• Milton in May Paradise Lost Read-a-long Information
• (Reading Journal) How Reading Order Affects a Book
• Library Loot and Friday Finds (April 16)
• Call for Poetry Posts : Deadline Extended
• Bookworms Carnival: Poetry

For challenges progress and my reading projects, see the specific pages.