Dancing out of April 2017

April brought me lots of reading, Easter and King’s Day. Plenty of ebooks for a change too. But there were also some warm days and very rainy days. And running after Merijn.

The Reading Challenge

The Numbers

# Read 60 Books

Read this month: 11
Total: 33/60

1. Makkelijk Leven by Herman Koch – 2 stars (novella)
2. The Blazing Star by Imani Josey – 4 stars
3. Wintersmith (Discworld, TIffany Aching 3) by Terry Pratchett – 5 stars
4. Veiled Intentions (Dragon’s Blade 2) by Michael J. Miller – 3,5 stars
5. The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli – 4 stars
6. Heartsnare by Steven B. Willaims – 3 stars
7. Stalking Jack the Ripper (Stalking Jack the Ripper 1) by Kerri Manisculco – 3 stars
8. Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton – 4 stars
9. Bloodfever (Fever 2) by Karen Marie Moning – 3 stars
10. Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children 1) by Seanan McGuire – 4 stars
11. Talon (Talon 1) by Julie Kagawa – undecided

Technically I haven’t finished Talon yet as I am buddy reading it. But we are finishing it today. So it still counts for April!

It has only been four months but I am already over the half of my reading challenge. Hey, I might actually finish it during the Summer if I keep reading like this. Though with Merijn I doubt it, haha. At least I should at least manage to finish it by the end of the year, regardless of how things with Merijn turn out.

 

The TBR and Backlist Challenge

# Unread Books
Total unread books on shelf start of April – 145
Books read in April (that count, no ebooks or classics) – 5
Books bought/received in April (no ebooks or classics) – 4
Total unread books on shelf end of April– 144

With all I read and I still only managed to get one ahead. The downfall of ebook reading for my tbr challenge.

#Beat the Backlist
Backlist books read in April – 8
Total – 24/50

Almost half way with this so I’m doing rather well! I’m trying to get some more points for Ravenclaw but filling the extra challenges is hard.

How Was April for Me?

⌘ The start of the month my parents were here. It is always a bit bitter sweet, you know. Like they live so far away (for Dutch terms anyway) so I love seeing them for a half a week like this, but on the other hand they do not stop talking, haha.

⌘ The weather was a bit weird. We had some great days at the start of the month but the last few weeks were mainly sun and then a minute later rain or even hail. It messed with my mood a bit.

⌘ Merijn is being fairly active he is tummy crawling backwards a lot and started going backwards on his knees as well. So mommy can now run after him the whole day. Pity me. But really I am proud of him. He also seems to be fond of sleeping on his stomach all of a sudden.

⌘ He really has found my bookshelves. I swear, he might become more obsessed with books than I am.

Eight months old!

⌘ Easter was spend at home. We did go to a brunch with the inlaws second Easter day but not too long. Merijn had a cold and a fever the first Easter day. Colds sucks, especially when you are teething at the same time. And he woke up a few times during the evenings and sometimes start of the nights which lasted a bit. And of course I got that cold/fever as well. I lost my voice at Easter and it was gone for almost a week. I haven’t had a bad cold this year yet so it was bound to happen I guess.

⌘ I keep dropping things on my right foot. It is a wonder it still works this month. Honestly. And then I bumped it into something and bruised it… So that was some fun walking for a while.

⌘ Mood wise I was kind of struggling at the end of the month there. That was bound to happen. It is a depression. Just taking medication isn’t going to make it go away. Also the medication is making me gain weight (I am more hungry and such). So that stinks.

⌘ It was also King’s Day last Thursday where we celebrate the King’s birthday. I never cared much for it, not even when it was Queen’s Day. But I still wore a orange dress. Until Merijn puked on it, haha.

⌘ Yesterday it was Bookstore Day in the Netherlands here and I decided to have a look at Westerhof in Zwolle of course what their program was, with Merijn. Marieke Nijkamp was there and since I was gifted her book last year I thought it would be great to go. I actually tried reading it last week but as it has so many point of view changed in first point of view I could not get in to it. Not now anyway. In any case I forgot my book so I got nothing signed but I did get a picture with her, Merijn and me. I might write a post on Bookstore Day/Marieke Nijkamp this coming week. I haven’t decided yet.

⌘ I scored the bookstagram cards that publisher Blossom Books created for their non-bookish line (webshop linked is in English) yesterday. They look like so much fun.

What Happened on the Blog?

Reviews

⌘ The Young Elites (The Young Elites 1) by Marie Lu
⌘ Memories of Ash (Sunbolt Chronicles 2) by Intisar Khanani
⌘ A Conjuring of Light (Darker Shades of Magic 3) by V.E. Schwab
⌘ The Blazing Star by Imani Josey
⌘ The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase by Greg Cox
⌘ Veiled Intentions (The Dragon’s Blade 2) by Michael R. Miller
⌘ The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard 1) by Scott Lynch

Top Ten Tuesday
Top Fandoms I Am In // Most Unique Books // Top Things That Will Make Me Instantly Want to Read a Book // Things That Will Instantly Not Make Me Want to Read a Book

Other Posts
Dancing out of March 2017 // Six Authors I Want to Read All Works of Previously Published // I Heart Bookstagram Tag // Illustrated Books // Book Haul #21 – March, April and Boekenfestijn

What Did I Watch?

⌘ Beauty and the Beast / Movie
I actually quite enjoyed it. It won’t be my favorite movie but it certainly was a lot better than Cinderella.
⌘ Scooby-Doo and the Blue Falcon Mask / Movie
I love Scooby, I do, and this was enjoyable. But I dislike how Velma, Fred and Daphne were portrayed in this. Again Fred stupid, Daphne bad obsessed and Velma scrunching up her nose at the comic con. It just used such stereotypes for them. It was a shame.
⌘ Home / Movie
Honestly, I expected more of this movie. I think all the fun bits were in the trailer.
⌘ Defiance / Season 3 / Episode 2-6
It is getting a bit more interesting now again. Curious to see where it is all heading as this is the last season.

Best of My Bookstagram

This month I participated in the Beat the Backlist week long instagram challenge to get some more points for Ravenclaw! We need them. I posted a few more pictures throughout the month because of that. And went into the park as the theme was spring.

Best liked

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Annemieke (@signourney)

Other

Elsewhere

Blogs

⌘ Kristen from Metaphors and Moonlight shared using Gmail filters for author newsletters but you can apply it to other things too of course. She also talked about if blogging is a creative outlet.
⌘ Lindsey from Lindsey Reads shared a pro and con list about telling people about your blog.
⌘ The Bookavid shared some of her most anticipated releases for the second half of the year.
⌘ Cait from Paper Fury wrote a very relatable post about book blogging: expectation vs reality.
⌘ Dina from Dinasoaur discussed vagueness in including lgbtq+ characters in tv shows.
⌘ Michelle from The Writing Hufflepuff shared some Dutch Children’s Books she grew up with.
⌘  Ava from Bookishness and Tea shared books with pansexual characters for Diversity Spotlight Thursday

Dutch Blogs

⌘ Eline from All the Feels shared 7 types of book buyers she sees in the book store she works at.
⌘ Tineke from Ogma shares some Stephen King books to try if you are a first time King reader
⌘ Marcia from Oog op de Toekomst muses about when she might not like to read sci-fi anymore. She also shares 12 Young Adult Sci-fi books by Dutch authors. She also wrote a post about being a Belgian Book Blogger which some recs to Belgian blogs. And lastly she explains why all science-fiction isn’t dystopia. Marcia clearly was on a roll this month. 😀
⌘ Melissa van Melissa’s Bookworld shared some of the bookmark designs she created and they are free printables! How cool is that?
⌘ Liesbet from Zwartraafje shares some funny search terms on her blog.

Booktube

⌘Kat from Katytastic did the getting back to youtube tag and that escalated into some thoughts.

What Is Up Next Month?

⌘ This coming month I’ll be buddy reading again! Buddy reading is always fun. I’ll be reading the fourth Tiffany Aching book, I Wear Midnight with La La in the Library. Who else. 😀 And Truthwitch with Kirsten from Boekwereld. Fun times. Other than that two review copies and hopefully some of the pre orders I have coming in. I will also start rereading Percy Jackson and the Olympians. And if I have some more time I might start Red Seas Under Red Skies, the next Locke Lamora book. But since the fourth isnt coming out until 2018 apparently, I am not in a hurry,  haha.

⌘ There is not actually that much happening in May. I’ve planned in most of the month blog wise and have started on June. I’ll be continuing with writing my bookshelf tours. Yes it is that time of the year again! I like doing it but they take so much time. Also it leaves so little room for other things in my blog planning that I might want to have a go at. Oh well.

⌘ Now that I say not much is happening in May, May 14th is of course the first Mother’s Day for me! And coincendentally also my hubby and I’s third wedding anniversary.

Linking Up

The Sunday post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. This is a bit of a recap post of the week (or month) where you can link to the posts you made this week, share news and wrap up your reading.

Links

Instagram // Twitter // Goodreads // Facebook // Tumblr