What's On Your Nightstand - April

We started off the month of April going ninety to nothing which wasn't very conducive for reading. Thankfully life finally started to slow down and I'm pretty excited at how much I ended up reading.

I only picked one non-fiction for May since I want to take Consider This by Karen Glass slowly. Of course, if I finish early I have more non-fiction books on my shelf just waiting to be read. Baseball season is in full season and I wish I could say it afforded me more reading time, but alas, I feel the need to socialize! Here is what I have been reading lately:

For May:

 

 

From March's Nightstand:

• Adolescence Isn't Terminal by Kevin Leman - I always enjoy Kevin Leman's books and even though this is an older book there was still very useful advice to help parents navigate the teen years.
• How to Have a HEART for Your Kids by Rachel Carman - A Kindle read. I would say the target audience is for homeschool parents. An encouraging read.
• Seventeen A Tale of Youth and Summer Time and the Baxter Family Especially William by Booth Tarkington - After thoroughly enjoying Booth Tarkington's Penrod books this book came up as a recommendation. I didn't find this one any where near as funny or as enjoyable as Penrod.
• The Mitchells: Five for Victory by Hilda Von Stockum - Now this was a thoroughly enjoyable read-aloud. It even captured my newly seven year old's attention.
• What Angels Fear: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery by C.S. Harris - Liked the mystery part of the story, but didn't care for the language or explicit content.

I also read:

• The First Rumpole Omnibus by John Mortimer - This caught my eye, but I must admit I didn't find Rumpole very thrilling. I did get a kick out his calling his wife, "She-who-must-be-obeyed." 
• The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall - Can I just state here I much I enjoy the Penderwicks? This book was definitely different than what I had expected. It did have a different feel with the three girls being older and not so much in the story as the previous books, but the author put a nice climax to bring them all together. I got a kick out of my 15 year old daughter who listened to the audio book and  kept checking in with me to see what I thought. Highly recommended!
• More Things in Heaven and Earth: A Novel of Watervalley by Jeff High - I saw this recommended right here at 5 Minutes for Books and since I really enjoy books like this I asked my local library to order it. This was a good read--not a favorite, but still enjoyable. 
• Canadian Summer by Hilda Von Stockum - Wow! We got two read-alouds in this month. Book 2 in The Mitchell series. Just as enjoyable as the first. A great series for kids.
• Teaching Will: What Shakespeare and 10 Kids Gave Me that Hollywood Couldn't by Mel Ryane - This title caught my eye a while back and piqued my curiosity and I finally ordered the Kindle edition. I really enjoyed this book and was quickly drawn into Mel Ryane's world when she volunteered to share Shakespeare through a Shakespeare Club with a handful of unruly kids. (Please note that their is some language included.)

I listened to:

• Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie - My last Poirot book, since I am refusing to read the last book. Christie always manages to amaze me with her variety of mysteries she can come up with. I do think you can tell that she was weary of Poirot in the last few books. I even figured out the murdered in this one (though I didn't figure out motive).
• The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer - Thoroughly fun and enjoyable read!

See what others have read over at 5 Minutes for Books.