APRIL 2020 WRAP-UP
My introductory paragraph could be a simple copy and paste from last month. We know by now that life will never again be like BEFORE Covid-19.
However I try to go back to my usual blogging, but my teaching and lots of homework preparation and corrections keep me very busy. I have been teaching online for 12 years, so nothing new for me. It’s just that this year I’m preparing students to two different and very demanding exams, that on top of everything, have a new revamping – and one has nothing to do with the virus.
So lots of new classes to prepare. And one book is very fat, so it will take a while…
And suddenly I have four new students.
We still haven’t been able to go back to Church. I dare hope it will be possible in June, but who knows at this point?
The one good thing is that finally Spring is coming more consistently in Illinois, and the garden is already growing!
I have read less books than last month, but more pages. And I’m in the middle of The Mirror and the Light. After listening to Au Soleil Redouté, I’m also reading it, with one of my students. It’s also fairly big. So when I count them in May, that will raise the stats, lol.
📚 So here are the titles I read in April :
Exclusively international, and mostly French!
And 3 books are actually a mix of different genres!!
6 books:
5 in print
= with 1,348 pages, an average of 44 pages/day
1 in audio
= 10H57, an average of 21 minutes
3 in mystery:
- Le chien jaune, by Georges Simenon – ebook, in French, read with one of my students
- La nuit du carrefour, by Georges Simenon – ebook, in French, read with one of my students
- Au soleil redouté, by Michel Bussi – audiobook, in French
2 in literary fiction:
- Summer of Reckoning, by Marion Brunet – received for review
- Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, by Haruki Murakami – ebook, read with the Murakami Online Book Club
1 in historical fiction:
- Wild Dog, by Serge Joncour – received for review
MY FAVORITE BOOKS IN APRIL
READING CHALLENGES & RECAP
Classics Club: 26/50 (from October 2019-until September 2024)
Japanese Literature Challenge: 8 books read
Total of books read in 2020 = 37/110
Number of books added to my TBR this past month= 15
OTHER BOOKS I REVIEWED IN APRIL
Besides the books above listed, this month I also reviewed:
GIVEAWAYS
The open giveaways are on my homepage
MOST POPULAR BOOK REVIEW THIS PAST MONTH
click on the cover to access my review
MOST POPULAR POST THIS PAST MONTH
– NON BOOK REVIEW –
Top 10 books to read in April 2020
BOOK BLOG THAT BROUGHT ME MOST TRAFFIC THIS PAST MONTH
Caffeinated Reviewer
please go visit
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Davida at The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog
Judy at Keep the Wisdom
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please go and visit them,
they have great book blogs
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Come back on Monday
to see the books I plan to read in May
How was YOUR month of March?
Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction
has created a Month In Review meme
where you can link your monthly recap posts
Thanks Nicole!
Words And Peace 
Seems like we’ll never be back to normal right? You managed to have a great month and love the mix of genres you were able to get in. Stay safe!
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Stay safe. Yes, I guess it will be before and after…
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Any month with Murakami in it can’t be bad. I also don’t have much of a different life either during the Stay At Home weeks though I miss my reading groups. Three of them have met on Zoom last month which was good but not the same.
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Murakami has written a lot, that will allow me many great months, lol.
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Love the cover of Wild Dog! Rebecca is a classic I want to read some day. Hope that May is good for you and that you get to go back to church soon!
Lisa Loves Literature’s April Wrap-Up
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you really need to read Rebecca, so good! We hope to be able to reopen our Church early June, but nothing is sure
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Rebecca is one of those books that I’ve ALWAYS wanted to read but have just never gotten around to it.
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Hesitate no longer, it is so so good!
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I’m slowly reading my way through Daphne Du Maurier. I just read The Scapegoat – recommended as a followup to Rebecca.
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hmm, I didn’t realize it could be considered as a followup!
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Not directly – but there are interesting thoughts about identity and deception…
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Sounds good enough!
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Somehow I missed the book after Wolf Hall and before this new book. I put in a request at the library for it.
I am not surprised that you have had four new pupils. You are an experienced online teacher and your knowledge of both languages is extensive. Students would do well choosing you as a teacher.
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you are very sweet. Are you able to get Bring Up the Bodies? Let me know if you need it as ebook, and which format
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I’m happy to read that you are doing well and that you already had your online teaching skills ready and ongoing when your state was locked down. Here in MI, we are seeing numbers of cases and deaths rapidly decline, but that was before the Big 3 went back to work yesterday. I’m worried about Memorial Day weekend coming up as people will throw all caution in the trash and take risks. I will be keeping my “normal” routine and continue social distancing.
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yes be careful. staying a long time in a room with little ventilation and lots of close-by people is very dangerous. Keep safe
we see friends and neighbors bringing chairs and gathering on front lawns in my city, with distance between them, it’s really cool to see. thankfully, I really haven’t seen many covidiots in my city
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