April Wrap-Up and May TBR

How is it already May?  We're almost halfway through 2015, and I am feeling jet lagged.  How is it that time moves so slow when you're a child, but increasingly picks up speed as you age?

With the first of the month comes my wrap-up from last month.  And even though I don't normally do TBRs, I started a few books last month that I want to continue, and there are two books I already know I have to read, so I decided to do one.

Wrap-Up

April was not an amazing month of reading for me, but I am happy with the books I did finish.  As I've said before, I am in the midst of a prolonged reading slump due to lack of time and motivation.  Therefore, I'm not pressuring myself to pile up the finished books until I come to loathe my reading time.  Hopefully, though, the summer will bring less on my agenda and more time to read.

The first book I finished this month was Calvary Road, by Roy Hession, which was part of my discipleship with my pastor's wife.  I really didn't expect this book to be what it was.  I thought it was about inspiring revival in your community or country, but it's really about letting revival happen in yourself first.  And then it talks about how much of our relationship with God is directly related to or reflected by our relationships with others.  It was a truly convicting and enlightening read, and I gained so much from it.  I gave it 5 stars.

I also finished The Hero of Ages, the last book in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Trilogy, which I read for #YearofCosmere.  I have a full review that you can check out, but suffice it to say that this book was amazing.  The entire trilogy was good, but Sanderson ended it perfectly and managed to completely blind me from where it ended.  I would recommend this series to anyone.  I gave it 5 stars.

Lastly, I finally picked up the first Lunar Chronicles book, Cinder, by Marissa Meyer.  There has been so much hype surrounding this series, and many people have pressured me to read it.  Despite all of that, my expectation was only to be entertained.  It's not that I don't trust public opinion; it's that popular preference often differs from mine.  And I was right to be cautious because, though I was completely entertained, I wasn't wowed by this book.  The plot was great, as well as the idea of retelling a classic in a futuristic setting, but the character development was weak, there was insta-love, and the themes did not stand out.  I would recommend this as a "snack" read, but it's not great literature.  I gave it 3 stars.

May TBR

Last month I started reading The Time Traveler's Almanac, a chunky collection of stories about time travel.  I haven't made a dent in it, but I'm enjoying it, and I will continue it through this month.

I also just started reading Samuel Park's This Burns My Heart, a piece of literary fiction that takes place in postwar South Korea and tells the story of a woman who married the wrong man.  I hauled this ages ago, and I'm so happy to finally be starting it.  I think that I'm really going to love this book since it has so many aspects that I enjoy: 1) it's literary fiction, 2) it's Asian literature, 3) it's about a person reconciling the rest of their life to one wrong choice they made, 4) the writing is gorgeous.  It's been awhile since I've picked up a book like this, so I'm hoping that it will motivate me to read the rest that are sitting unread on my shelves.

To continue on with my discipleship, I will be reading How to Have Real Joy, which is by Charles Spurgeon.  The content is obvious by its title, and I'm happy to read anything by Spurgeon, so I'm looking forward to this, as well.  I know that it will be dense, though, so I anticipate this taking me awhile to read, but I also know that I will grow.

Lastly, I will be rereading Harper Lee's classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, for the first time since high school.  Max from Well Done Books has put together a really casual read-a-long, so I decided to join in anticipation for the sequel.  I don't remember much from this book besides loving it since I read it over ten years ago, so I'm really looking forward to experiencing it as an adult.

Those are all the books I finished in April and hope to finish in May.  What books are on your TBR?  Tell me in the comments below.

I also announced that I'll be participating in Bout of Books 13 this month, so check that post out if you want to learn more about that read-a-thon.

Happy reading!