April Book Report

I read A LOT of books this month. Seriously, I was a reading machine. I read seven (7) books which brings my yearly total to 22 books in 2016. I am really enjoying that my love affair with reading has been rekindled.

The first book I read in April was The Light of the Fireflies by Paul Pen. At first glance, this book reminded me of Room (which by the way, I LOVED). I dove in with a bit of apprehension since I read Room before I had children so I wasn't as affected by it. I was a bit worried about this one and it was crazy difficult to read. The premise is a family who lives in a basement. You don't know many details and what you learn is slowly doled out by the narrator, the 6 year old son who has always lived in the basement. I loved finding out why the family lived there and how they got to that place. It was simply amazing.

I initially started reading Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery a while ago with Molly but she lost interest so I decided to finish it this month. I've never read the books even though I was crazy devoted to the show. In fact, I need to watch the show again. Maybe Molly would like that. This is a total classic and one that every woman should read. Anne is the best.

I kept seeing The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes on people's Instagrams and decided to read this one next. It was simply breathtaking. It's the story of a woman left behind in WWI in France, her portrait and a woman in modern times who owns that portrait. The story goes where you least suspect and is beautifully told.

After all that heavy reading, I decided I needed a lighter novel next. I snagged A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan for some ChicLit reading but discovered a topic that was a bit too close to home. The narrator is a middle-aged woman with kids who works part-time for a magazine. When her husband decides to go into law practice for himself, she steps up and into a bigger role at a new company. Her life becomes more stressful and shenanigans follow. Luckily for me, Scott is not going into business for himself and so therefore, I get to keep on part-time work and full-time family joy.

I love books about knitting and I love Clara Parkes. Unfortunately I didn't love Knitlanda by Clara Parkes. Piece by piece it was good but for some reason this book didn't grab me like her other one. I do always enjoy books about travel and yarn so it was still a good read. I still love Clara Parkes though and will have her next book in my cart as soon as it comes out.

Molly's preschool has a book club for parenting books. I've been meaning to read Positive Discipline by Jane Nelson for years and when this was announced as the book, I had a solid reason to read it. I feel like this has changed my parenting. I was already on the Positive Discipline train but now I'm driving the train, yelling CHOO-CHOO! The kids are happier. I'm happier. Scott is happier. READ THIS BOOK IF YOU HAVE KIDS. IT IS AWESOME. THE END!

The last book I read was Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. I loved Moyes other book and quickly reserved all her other books at the library. This is a tale of a girl who becomes a caregiver to a quadriplegic. Her time with him changes her life and the story is so compelling.

I loved almost all the books I read this month and am excited for all the other books on my To Be Read list. I think I read so much this month due to Scott being gone for 10 days and my Social Media Free week. It's amazing how much reading you can get done when you aren't refreshing Facebook.

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