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| April Reads |
April Wrap-Up
- Finished: 3
- Started but not finished: 2
- Total pages read: 1,758
- Average rating: 4.25
I did not finish that many books in April, and there are two reasons. First is that I was reading quite thick books. The other is that I prioritized Camp NaNoWriMo in April, which meant that I had less time for reading. I finished only one contemporary novel, The Dragon’s Promise by Elizabeth Lim (4/5 stars). I loved Six Crimson Cranes, but the sequel didn’t quite live up to my expectations although I did enjoy it for the most part.
The two other books I finished are part of my ancient texts project, where I’m trying to read all the remaining translations of ancient Greek and Latin works that are on my bookshelf. In April, I reread The Aeneid by Virgil. To be honest, it’s not my favorite ancient epic – that title would go to Homer’s Odyssey. That’s also the reason why I prefer the first half of The Aeneid with its sea travel and mythological creatures to the battle scenes of the latter half in the epic.
The second ancient book, however, is one of my all-time favorites, Medea by Euripides. It’s hands down my favorite ancient Greek tragedy about a vengeful woman who is abandoned by her husband for a younger woman. I cannot recommend it enough if you love ancient literature or ancient retellings. The edition I read this time had four different translations of the play as well as several essays on it.
May hopefuls
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| May hopefuls |
My goal in May is to finish seven books and start one that I will finish in June. Two of the books are fantasy, Legendborn by Tracy Deonn and The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake (the latter is the one that I’m going to continue reading in June).
I’m also going to read a graphic novel. I’ve been wanting to read Maus by Art Spiegelman for years, and now I finally will. I visited my local library a few weeks ago and spotted it on the shelf. It was the perfect opportunity to get it, as one of my goals this year is to read more library books – I haven’t visited a library in a while, first due to the pandemic, and then due to the fact that I had too many unread books on my own shelves that I wanted to read first. Reading a graphic novel is on my book bingo this year – actually, it was in my book bingo last year as well, and I didn’t get to it then. So now I can rectify the issue and read my first graphic novel!
I’m currently in the middle of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I started reading it in March, and I’ll finish it in May. Another book I’m in the middle of is a book about Sappho’s and Alcaeus’s poetry edited by Deny Page. They were both ancient Greek poets from the island of Lesbos, and it’s been fascinating to read their poetry in the original language as well as to read notes and commentary on the poems.
The three remaining books are part of my ancient texts project as well. I’m planning to reread Aeschylus’ Oresteia, a trilogy of three tragedies, and The Art of Poetry (Ars Poetica) by Horace. The final book in my May hopefuls is Naiset pyhyyden tulkkeina, a collection of translations of ancient and medieval women writers’ texts that talk about religion and gender.
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You can watch more about my April reads and May hopefuls from the Youtube video below!
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