Books I Read in April

This first photo is a collage of all the books I read independently during the month of April. I am impressed that I read this many books, however, there is a specific reason why I was able to do this. Firstly, we have our two week autumn break between Term 1 and Term 2 in April, and secondly, I was sick with a head cold for pretty much the entire two weeks. I wasn't sick enough to be in bed, and I still did normal chores and work around the house, but I kept my work and activities to a minimum and spent most of my time sitting and reading. So with that explanation out of the way, I'll take a moment to say something about the books I read.

"Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky was a book that has been on my TBR list for quite some time. It has an older publication date at our library (early 2000s) which means it is always at risk of being culled from the system. I have a list of library books I want to read, in publication order, typed and printed and I'm working my way through it chronologically (mostly) so this was the next book for me on that list. 

It was somewhat of a challenge to read it (I focused on reading it in the mornings when my brain was fresh) but I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of a difficult classic. I wouldn't say I would read this book again, nor would I read other Dostoevsky books without a particular reason, but I did enjoy this book and I'm glad I've read it.

"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" by Agatha Christie was a recommendation from my uncle and a few other book lovers in my life. I have been wanting to give Agatha Christie a try for a long time but wasn't sure detective books were really my style. However, the library has a recent biography about her and has also purchased her autobiography so I thought it only fair to read some of her books before learning about her life. This title was one of many on a short list my uncle suggested as good ones to start with and I'm glad I picked this one as my first. I enjoyed the read and was pleased that I worked out "whodunnit" before the end of the book. I'm looking forward to reading more Agatha Christie in the future now.

"Saving Francesca" by Marcheta Mallina was a book that had been sitting on my bookshelves for YEARS. Along with working through my library TBR list that contains HUNDREDS of book titles now, I'm also making a concerted effort to read my large collection of owned books. After I read a book I determine if I will either read it again myself, or read it to grandchildren in the future. If the answer to either of those questions is no, I pass the book to someone else. Anyway, this book sat on my bookshelf for years and finally I decided to pick it up and read it - and what a treasure it was. I passed it on, I wouldn't bother reading it again, but it took me back to high school and early university and reminded me of the importance of a good peer group at that time in my life. It was a fun read and I'm glad I finally took the time to enjoy it.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque was chosen for a specific reason. As many of my readers know, my middle son (Monkey) is doing a year long unit study on World War I this year. I decided that I would read several books independently that take place during or near the war. This was the first title I chose to read - others will follow through the year and will appear in later "books I've read" posts. I chose this one first because I felt like it was a book I should have read many years ago. I'm not even sure why I haven't read it up to now. It was a difficult read (it certainly tells it like it is) but an important one.

I'm going to talk about three titles at once now: "The Red Shoe", "Abyssinia", and "The Blue Cat" all written by Ursula Dubosarsky. Previously in our homeschool journey I have read aloud "The Word Spy" and "Return of the Word Spy" to the three boys and we've thoroughly enjoyed the books. I knew the author also wrote novels but had never given them a try. I owned the first two of these books, and the third was a library book that my middle son read independently as part of The Premier's Reading Challenge. So I read all three books in April and I have discovered that this particular author is not my cup of tea. Don't get me wrong, she is an excellent writer, but her style just seems to rub me the wrong way somehow. So I placed the two books I owned in a free little library after I read them, and returned the third to the library. 

"Cinnabar" and "Shiloh's Choice" were books two and three of a trilogy written by Lee Roddy. The set was given to me by a dear friend just before my youngest was born, so again, were books that have sat on my shelf for too long. This was an enjoyable trilogy to read but I wouldn't say there was anything magical or wonderful about the books. They were simply a nice balance for some of the much tougher and meatier books I was reading.

"Pure White and Deadly" by John Yudkin was a suggestion from another dear homeschool friend of mine. She had recently read an updated edition of the book and said it was a worthy read as a reminder or just how horrible and unnecessary sugar is in the human diet. I discovered the library had the updated edition and immediately borrowed it and read it. I needed a reminder of why it is always important for me to keep my sugar intake as low as possible since periodically it starts to creep back in. What amazes me about this book is the knowledge this man had back in the 1970s. He suspected that sugar was the cause of diabetes, heart disease, and many cancers all those years ago and people called him a fraud and utterly disregarded him and his research. It is rather eye-opening to read what he suspected back then given what we know now, and I wonder how different things would be now (and how much healthier the Western populations might be) if he had been believed.

"Animal Heroes" by Anthony Hill was another war themed choice for the month - though he writes about all wars, not just WWI. I do NOT recommend that serious animal lovers read this book as it would be too traumatising I think. But I enjoyed learning about the various animals who worked hard along humans in various wars through history.

"The Angel of Waterloo" by Jackie French was probably my favourite read of the month and I devoured it in just a few days. I am slowly working through all Jackie French's books by publication date so this was the next book on my list and it was fabulous. Her writing is magical and thoroughly engrossing.

"Move: How the New Science of Body Movement Can Set Your Mind Free" by Caroline Williams was another excellent read this month. I always try to read at least one health related book each month if I can. This book gave excellent information and research behind the need to move our body in various ways throughout our day. This is a book that is probably worth me purchasing, or at least re-reading maybe once a year so that I remember how important movement is, especially as I continue to age.

"Sleepless Generation" by Heather Turgeon was a chance find while searching for other books on our library website (which happens quite often). As I have two teenagers and one boy who will be a teenager soon, I felt this book was an important read. It is written from the American perspective which means the start times for high school are much different (Australia has quite reasonable start times comparatively) but it was a wealth of information about the importance of sleep for teenagers (much of it I already knew) and gave me some excellent tips to try with my two younger boys to help them as they transition from a child based sleep pattern, to a teen based sleep pattern.

Finally, "4 Week to Better Sleep" by Michael Moseley was a review for me as my quest for a good night sleep is ongoing. I've read another book about sleep he wrote, but this was a newer version so I read it looking for new information. There wasn't a lot of new stuff in it that I didn't already know, but it was more of a refresher course and I came away with a couple of new strategies to try to see if I can improve my sleep that little bit more.

This second photo collage is all the books I read aloud to the boys in the month of April.

The Bible features in the centre of this collage. We read the Bible every day and constantly. So when we get to the end, the next day we simply start with Genesis again. This year we finished the Bible on the 30th of April and thus start again on 1st of May.

Going down the left-hand side of the collage are the books I read aloud to Monkey.

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain was our favourite for the month, and also a re-read for me as I read it aloud to Monster a couple of years ago. I found it more difficult this time around to get the pattern of speech correct, but once I got it, the flow was fine.

"True Stories of the First World War" by Paul Dowswell was a collection of different stories during the First World War. It was a good read as I always try to find different books to read to each boy as we repeat curriculum topics, but this book wasn't so fantastic as to thrill us.

"Sweat and Inspiration: Pioneers of the Industrial Age" by Martin Worth was a purposeful choice of mine because it focused on British aspects of the Industrial Revolution. It was well written and full of excellent information, but it was much more technical than either of us were expecting.

"Women Heroes of World War I: 16 Remarkable Resisters, Soldiers, Spies, and Medics" by Kathyrn J. Atwood was an excellent read. Again a re-read for me as I read it aloud to Monster, and both Monkey and I enjoyed learning about the brave women who volunteered during the war.

The photos along the right side of the collage are the books I read primarily to Munchkin (though Monkey would often listen in as well). 

"The Borrowers Afloat" by Mary Norton was our favourite for the month. I read the whole series aloud to the older two boys and realised this year that I haven't read it aloud to Munchkin yet so decided to remedy that issue before he gets any older.

"Hatshepsut: The First Woman Pharaoh" by Susanna Thomas was a history read for Munchkin's Ancient Egypt study. We have always been fascinated by Hatshepsut and therefore wanted to learn more about her. The book was well written and interesting.

"The Way We Work" by David Macaulay was absolutely fabulous. It has tons of information about the human body as well as beautiful drawings as the illustrations. This was a wonderful in-depth look at the human body and I'm glad we finally read it.

Finally we read "Fire Country: How Indigenous Fire Management Could Help Save Australia" by Victor Steffenson. This book was absolutely amazing and I recommend it for anyone who wants to learn about Aboriginal fire management and management of Country in Australia.