April 2023 Reading Recap

We’re so far into the year that I feel like I can’t even be surprised by how fast the months are going. The days are long, the reading…it’s not enough. Let’s talk the books I got into this April! This was a SUPER busy month for me—a conference, a lot of volunteerism, etc…but I still managed to read, per my extensive spreadsheet, 59 books!

First, let’s check in with my ~goals~

Reading one short story collection a month: I read one this month for Carnegie consideration!

2 Audiobooks a Month: I did exactly two this month! One children’s biography, and one adult book!

DNF’ing: Doing Ok! Still room to grow. I DNF’d 5 books in April, but there were at least 3-4 others I probably should have DNF’d instead of taking forever to finish them.

Tracking My Reading: Doing great on this and tbh may never look back! This spreadsheet is my best friend, and so interesting, and sometimes I have to play catchup, but I love it.

Now, back to some of the raw statistics made possible by the aforementioned spreadsheet:

• Total Books: 59
• DNF’d: 5
• Audiobooks: 2
• Picture Books or PB Biographies: 30
• Easy Readers: 7
• Adult Non-Fiction: 5
• Adult Fiction: 9
• Kids Fiction: 5
• Graphic Novels: 1 (A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat)

It is what it is! I can’t even be mad at myself. I have not a ton of say over what I’m reading right now, so I am making the best of it! I’m reading REALLY widely, which is great, and working on finding the right balance and how to sneak in pleasure reads occasionally.

Looking at May 2023, I have a few goals on top of my normal goals. I want to read a lot more graphic novels this month (SO MANY of my holds came in) and be better about listening to audiobooks instead of NPR. Let’s see if that actually happens.

I have a couple days of travel at the end of the month that I know will throw me off, but maybe I can also use the Memorial Day Holiday and shoot for 65 books read in May.