I can’t believe another month is already over!
April was my slowest month of reading yet. I think my March books were not my favorite, so I got out of the habit of reading. But I read some great books this month, so I’m totally back on track!
I read four book this month…
(Yes, I am aware that there are only three books in the picture, but I did squeeze one more book in after I took the picture).
No Biking in the House Without a Helmet. This book was fabulous. Melissa Fay Greene wrote about her and her husbands experience as parents. They started their family with four biological children, then added five adopted children, all international adoptions. Melissa writes this memoir with a sense of humor and with such honesty and clarity. She mentions that she did make sure that what she shared was approved by her children, which made me love her even more. So often we in the adoptive community feel like we can be open books and share our experiences in order to enlighten other people. But in reality we are sharing those experiences at the expense of the adoptee. Anyways, this was a light, humorous but truthful and wonderful book. I highly recommend it to anyone adopting, even if they aren’t adopting domestically. Loved it.
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies. My Mom used to read these books, and I thought they were so old lady-ish. I mean, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency? That sounds so…odd. And uninteresting. Well, let me tell you…this is one of my favorite series! It’s set in Botswana and if you have ever travelled around Africa you will immediately love the stories. It’s a light and easy read, but totally draws me in. I also love these books and have enjoyed reading through the entire series. Each book centers around a mystery that the agency is solving, but within that mystery is interwoven the lives of the characters. There are so many subliminal messages throughout the story about life, character and Africa. I find myself writing down quotes from the book into my journal. SO GOOD!
Big Little Lies. I believe that this book is on the Best Seller list, since every blogger and person out there seems to rant and rave about it. I picked it up and couldn’t put it down!!! It’s almost a mystery, but the way she unfolds the story drew me in and I couldn’t let it go! She has amazing character development as well as real-life realities. This one was all about the drama of a Kindergarten class- no, not the kids- the parents. Their pasts, presents and futures are all woven together. At the beginning, you learn that someone has died. Then you learn that the person was murdered. But you don’t know who the person is throughout the entire story – until the end. So here I am reading this book, falling in love with the characters, knowing that one of them is dead- and another one murdered them. So good. It’s a great little escape-from-reality read. I also highly recommend it!
The Year of Living Dangerously: Adventures in Homeschooling. To be honest, I have no clue why I picked this book up. I mean, we *might* homeschool, but that is a few years away. I think that I pick up books like this that don’t relate to my current life experience because they don’t relate to my current life experience. Haha. It’s nice to be able to put my mind somewhere besides diapers and cheerios and sippy cups every once in a while! This was an interesting read. Not one of my favorites, but I did find the book rather entertaining. A regular Mom decides that school is not challenging enough for her child, so she pulls her out to homeschool her. Throughout the book, she looks for her “homeschooling niche” by exploring many different types of homeschooling. It was thoroughly entertaining, although half the time I was thinking “poor kid. Mom probably should have done all this exploratory research BEFORE trying to homeschool her child.” Ha. I also found it very interesting that the author is NOT a believer and she wrestles through the many different homeschooling factors are religious. I mean, why would a non-religious person homeschool? It was really interesting!