Wow, April went by so quickly. I only noticed it was time for another recap when I saw another one pop up in my RSS feed.

In April I

• reviewed A day in the life of ancient Rome by Alberto Angela
• read and posted a recipe from Two Greedy Italians
• read and reviewed On what grounds by Cleo Coyle
• read and reviewed Fix-it and forget-it: Vegetarian soups, stews and chilis by Phyllis Pellman Good
• read and reviewed Oscar Wilde and the candlelight murders by Gyles Brandreth
• read an excellent German biography of Sulla by Jörg Fündling

Also I

• reviewed another movie, The adventures of Tintin
• hosted the Non-fiction giveaway blog hop. Thank you everybody for participating!
• posted a cute little crochet project of my son’s

This month I am planning to

• finish The Borgias by G. J. Meyer which is a great non-fiction read
• read a couple more books on ancient Rome that I got from the library
• watch another movie for my Baskerville marathon

How was YOUR reading month?

I didn’t realize it was such a busy month until I started writing this post. In March I

• reviewed Diary of a wimpy kid by Jeff Kinney.
• finished and reviewed August is a wicked month by Edna O’Brien.
• read and reviewed Ancient Rome on five denarii a day by Philip Matyszak.
• finished and reviewed The Grass Crown by Collen McCullough. Halleluja!
• went through and reviewed Cooking from Above – Baking by Marianne Magnier-Moreno.
• read Rodrick Rules (Goodreads) & The last straw (Goodreads) by Jeff Kinney, the sequels to Diary of a wimpy kid.
• read A day in the life of ancient Rome (Goodreads) by Alberto Angela.
• DNF’ed Our tragic universe (Goodreads) by Scarlett Thomas. Interesting book but I found it dreadfully theoretical and boring. 

Also I

• reviewed a couple more Hound of the Baskerville movies.
• posted a delicious ancient Roman recipe or rather, one that the ancient Romans considered a delicacy.
• reviewed the movie Let the right one in (Swedish version).
• re-did my blog design – once more.
• started a crochet scarf.
• became more involved with and entered quite a few of my books on Bookmooch. Feel free to check them out. You will find English and German ones there.

This month I am planning to

• go ahead with the new Non-fiction giveaway blog hop that will take place the last weekend in April. You can sign up for it here.
• read a biography of Sulla by Jörg Fündling

How was YOUR reading month?

In February I

• read “Hector and the secrets of love” by Francois Lelord  -Goodreads
• read and reviewed Let the right one in by John Ajvide Lindqvist
• read and reviewed Crochet One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant
• read “Diary of a wimpy kid” by Jeff Kinney  -Goodreads
• DNF’ed and talked about Started early, took my dog by Kate Atkinson
• decided to acknowledge the fact that I dislike audio books and give up on Junot Diaz’ “This is how you lose her”. I will enjoy reading it though.

Also I

• started my Baskerville movie marathon and reviewed a few of the movies
• participated in the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop and gave away a copy of The Gargoyle
• crocheted a Spiral Mesh Bag

This month I am planning to

• continue “The Grass Crown” by Colleen McCullough. I got back into it again, I just wish it wasn’t so bloody heavy in weight.
• finish “August is a wicked month” by Edna O’Brien

How was YOUR reading month?

In January I

• read and reviewed 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith My review * Goodreads
• read and reviewed Espresso Tales, the sequel to the previous book My review * Goodreads
• read and reviewed Paper Artist by Gail Green My review * Goodreads
• reviewed Fix-it and forget-it Holiday Dishes and Sides by Phyllis Pellman My review * Goodreads

• changed the look of the blog once more
• started my NEW 52 foodie project
• signed up for the Literary Blog Hop Giveaway
• reviewed a couple of movies: George and the dragon * Jules et Jim

This month I am planning to

• oh, well, continue The Grass Crown which is so so excellent, but at the same time so heavy (weight wise) that I can’t take it anywhere or even read it in bed comfortably.
• continue Started early, took my dog by Kate Atkinson
• MAYBE continue to listen This is how you lose her by Junot Diaz – I realized audio books are not for me. I don’t enjoy being read to. At all.

How was YOUR reading month?

In November I only read

• What matters in Jane Austen? by John Mullan My review * Goodreads
• and Reviewed Shades of Earl Grey by Laura Childs

I decided to join two reading challenges in 2013

This month I am planning to

• watch some Dickens movies for Dickens in December
• participate in the Book Bloggers Holiday Card Exchange

Other than that, no idea, it is going to be a busy month with Christmas coming. I’ll read when and what I feel like.

How was YOUR reading month?

I thought October was another slow reading month for me, but when I look at my compiled list it wasn’t so bad after all.

• I reviewed Come together by Josie Lloyd & Emlyn Rees 
• I reviewed Never seduce a Scot by Maya Banks 
• I reviewed Is Heathcliff a murderer? by John Sutherland 
• I read and reviewed Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone for the Harry Potter readalong 
• I read and reviewed The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne at Elena’s recommendation 
• I looked through and reviewed the Duchy Originals Cookbook
• I read Shades of Earl Grey by Laura Childs

• October also was the month of the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop where I gave away a set of bookmarks.
• I visited our new library.
• I gave my blog a new look and got a couple of new features: 
• My new template has various post types so that I can just slot in a little quote post without a title, which I find rather cool. I haven’t tried out other post types as I find the WordPress interface for writing posts rather clumsy – frankly, I hate it. 
• At the top menu there is an item called Archives now which lists all blog posts arranged by date. So with one click you can find all posts from, let’s say, a specific month in list format. I quite like that.

In November I really would like to get on with The Grass Crown, especially because I want to have it finished by the end of the year for Birgit’s Tea & Books Reading Challenge.
I want to finish “What matters in Jane Austen” by John Mullan and “All the money in the world” by Laura Vanderkam. I am not sure whether I actually will finish the latter, I think I am not in this book’s target group.

Did you have a good reading month and what is on your reading list now? 

In September I

• read and reviewed A chance acquaintance by Charles Chadwick
• reviewed Coraline by Neil Gaiman
• read Come together by Josie Lloyd & Emlyn Rees
• read Never seduce a Scot by Maya Banks

• started and finished my 30 Days of Lists project
• participated in Bloggiesta
• finished my first set of bookmark calendars

This month I am planning to:

oh, I have no idea. September was so busy with various projects that I had hardly any time for reading, so I will just see where October will take me. 

How was YOUR reading month?

In July I

• reviewed "The first man in Rome” by Colleen McCullough
• read Death of a Scriptwriter by M. C. Beaton
• read and reviewed “The Love Object” by Edna O’Brien
• read and reviewed “Girl reading”. My posts about it are here, here and here.
• read and reviewed “Election"!” by Dan Gutman
• read Death of a dustman by M. C. Beaton
• read Death of a celebrity by M. C. Beaton

• celebrated my 4 year blogoversary

This month I am planning to read a bit more as I will be off for a few weeks. I want to

• continue The Grass Crown by Colleen McCullough. Be prepared to see that book on my list for the next few months.
• finish Latte Trouble by Cleo Coyle

and read

• Coraline by Neil Gaiman

The rest is up to my mood.

How was YOUR reading month?

In June I

• read and reviewed Death of a Macho Man by M. C. Beaton
• read Death of a dentist by M. C. Beaton
• started reading Girl Reading by Katie Ward for the readalong with Caroline and Judith. Caroline finished it already, Judith gave up on it. Its book beginning is here and my thoughts on the first two stories are here.
• started reading The Love Object by Edna O’Brien, another collection of short stories
• Hallelujah! FINALLY finished “The first man in Rome” by Colleen McCullough. My (incoherent) thoughts on it coming soon. 

• participated in the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop
• purged my Goodreads lists and went on a book buying ban
• talked about the TV series with Hamish Macbeth

This month I am planning to

• celebrate my four year blogoversary on July 15 and the following week. Watch out for different giveaways , they are a very eclectic mix!
• finish “Girl Reading”
• finish “The Love Object”
• start with The Grass Crown, the second book in the Masters of Rome series. Can’t wait!

How was YOUR reading month?

In May

• I DNF’ed “The Get Yourself Organized Project” by Kathi Lipp
• I read and reviewed The Accusers by Lindsey Davis
• I reviewed It’s Tyrannosaurus Rex, an e-book/audio book for kids for iPhone
• I read and reviewed in a nutshell Death of a Glutton by M. C. Beaton
• I read and reviewed in a nutshell Death of a Travelling Man by M. C. Beaton
• I read and reviewed in a nutshell Death of a charming man by M. C. Beaton
• I read “Death of a nag” by M. C. Beaton
• I continued “The first man in Rome” (its book beginning is here) by Colleen McCullough. I have reached the 30% mark!
• I started “Beyond Snapshots” by Rachel Devine, a book about taking your camera off auto mode.

• I baked The Grinch by accident

This month I am planning to

• guess what! Continue my Rome chunkster
• read "Girl Reading” by Katie Ward together with Caroline. Join us for our readalong!
• read The Love Object by Edna o’Brien
• possibly continue the coffeehouse mystery series of which I have read the second book Murder most frothy already. Not very likely though…
• finish the photography book
• participate in the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop hosted by Judith from Leeswammes’ Blog

How was YOUR reading month?

In April I

• read and reviewed Bodies Politic by David Wishart
• read and reviewed Murder most frothy by Cleo Coyle
• read and reviewed Hector and the search for happiness by François Lelord
• reviewed Encyclopedia of an ordinary life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
• reviewed Delia’s vegetarian collection, The Indian Slow Cooker and 1001 delicious soups and stews

• I received a huge book package from Birgit full of cozy mysteries
• I joined the Readers’ workouts program over at Joy’s book blog
• I (belatedly) joined Birgit’s Tea & Books Reading Challenge
• I realized my blogoversary is coming up soon and that I need to start planning. This time I might celebrate.

For this month I am planning to:

• continue “The first man in Rome”. How long does it take me to finish a 900 page book, for Christ’s sake?
• finish “The Accusers” by Lindsey Davis. I only have one more week to finish it.
• finish the Get yourself organized project by Kathi Lipp (again, this was on my list last month already). I only have it for another week. I need to get going.

How was YOUR reading month?

In March:

• I reviewed Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland
• I DNF’ed and talked about The book of lost fragrances by M.J. Rose
• I read and reviewed the essay A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again by David Foster Wallace
• I read and reviewed Portuguese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith
• I read and reviewed Weeknights with Giada by Giada de Laurentiis
• I read and reviewed Kiss me Cake! by Christine Bergmayer
• I read and reviewed The finer points of sausage dogs by Alexander McCall Smith
• I read “At the villa of reduced circumstances” by Alexander McCall Smith

I participated in the Lunar Love Giveaway Hop

Bloggiesta and the Charity hopping around the world giveaway are still going on.

For this month I am planning to read:

• The first man in Rome by Colleen McCullough. It’s almost 900 pages, I don’t think I will read much more. Except for hopefully:
• Finishing “The Get Yourself Organized Project” by Kathi Lipp.

How was YOUR reading month?

In February:

• I read and reviewed Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry by Leanne Shapton
• I read “Death of a hussy” by M. C. Beaton
• I read “Death of a snob” by M. C. Beaton
• I read and reviewed in a nutshell Agatha Raisin and the vicious vet by M. C. Beaton
• I read and reviewed Agatha Raisin and the potted gardener by M. C. Beaton
• I read and reviewed The comforts of a muddy Saturday by Alexander McCall SMith
• I read “Death of a prankster” by M. C. Beaton
• I reviewed Death of a perfect wife by M. C. Beaton
• I reviewed Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M. C. Beaton
• I reviewed Death of an outsider by M. C. Beaton
• I read and reviewed The world in your lunchbox by Claire Eamer
• I read and reviewed Agatha Raisin and the walkers of Dembley by M. C. Beaton
• I read “Girl in Hyacinth Blue” by Susan Vreeland

• I participated in the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop organized by Judith from Leeswammes’ Blog
• I miserably failed at the Venice in February Reading Challenge

For this month I am planning to:

• continue “The Book of Lost Fragrances” by M. J. Rose, but it doesn’t look good. I am predicting a DNF.
• get hold of a cheap copy of “Prince Caspian”
• read the essay “A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again” by David Foster Wallace
• participate in the Lunar Love Giveaway Hop
• participate in Bloggiesta

The rest depends on my mood…

What was  YOUR reading month like?

In January:

• I read and reviewed Comeback Love by Peter Golden
• I read and reviewed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis for my Narnia reading project
• I read and reviewed Death of a Gossip by M.C. Beaton
• I read and reviewed The right attitude to rain and The careful use of compliments by Alexander McCall Smith
• I DNF’ed The madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley
• I read and reviewed Death of a Cad by M. C. Beaton
• I read Death of an Outsider by M. C. Beaton
• I read Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M. C. Beaton
• I read Death of a perfect wife by M. C. Beaton

I started to read and put back on the shelf for later:

• Changeless by Gail Carriger. Not at all in the mood for vampires and werewolves. Book beginning can be found here.
• A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again by David Foster Wallace. Book beginning can be found here.
• The Prague cemetery by Umberto Eco. Wow, the first sentences was almost a whole page. Too much to handle for me right now. Will tackle this one another time.

• I participated in the Dreaming of Books Giveaway Hop
• I received a box full of goodies from Carin

For this month I am planning to:

• participate in the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop
• and read quite a bit as I will be in hospital for a while. Plenty of time for books – I hope! Alexander McCall Smith and M. C. Beaton will be the perfect bookish hospital fare.

What was  YOUR reading month like?

In December:

• I reviewed Where the God of love hangs out by Amy Bloom
• I read The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith
• I gave up on Empress by Evelyn McCune.
• I also DNF’ed Head over Heel by Chris Harrison.
• I read Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith

I listed a few sites where you can get free e-books.

I talked about Christmas a LOT.

John  posted his second review of a graphic novel.

For this month I am planning to:

• continue Comeback love by Peter Golden
• have a look at Weeknights with Giada by Giada de Laurentiis, a cookbook that I got from Netgalley

In order to succeed with my various challenges I want to read one book for each one every month. So they would be

• Changeless by Gail Carriger
• The lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Together with my current McCall Smith obsession this is more than enough I would think.

You got any plans for January?

In November I read

• “Where the God of Love hangs out” by Amy Bloom (review coming soon)
• “The Winter Palace” by Eva Stachniak
• “Maybe this time” by Alois Hotschnig
• “Easy and elegant beaded copper jewelry” by Lora S. Irish
• “The perils of morning coffee” by Alexander McCall Smith (review coming soon)
• “Der heilige Eddy” by Jakob Arjouni

For this month I am planning to read:

• I want to finish “Empress” by Evelyn McCune
• “Head over Heel” by Chris Harrison
• “Comeback love” by Peter Golden
• “The Sunday Philosophy Club” by Alexander McCall Smith

Everything else is up to my mood, as usual.

What is on your reading list this month?

October was a good reading month (thanks to the fact that I had to stay at the hospital for ten days with my son). 

I read

• “Dead in the Water” by Carola Dunn (review coming soon)
• “Styx and Stones” by Carola Dunn (review coming soon)
• “Falling for me” by Anna David (review coming soon)
• “A taste to die for” by J. G. Goodhind (review coming soon)
• “The imperfectly perfect home” by Deborah Needleman
• “Sweat Shop Paris” by Martena Duss & Sissi Holleis
• “The hottest dishes of the Tartar Cuisine” by Alina Bronsky (review coming soon for German Literature Month)
• “Catherine the Great” by Robert K. Massie
• I decided to give up on “The mysteries of Udolpho”. So, I failed at the Gothinc Reading Challenge.
• I started to read “Everything beautiful began after” by Simon van Booy that everybody is raving about. Somehow this must not have been the right time for me to read it, as I  never got past page 30 or so. I’ll keep that one for later. 

For this month I am planning to read:

“Maybe this time” (Die Kinder beruhigte das nicht) by Alois Hotschnig for German Literature Month

“The Winter Palace” by Eva Stachniak

“Where the God of Love hangs out” by Amy Bloom

What is on your reading list this month?

In September  I read

• Murder on the Flying Scotsman by Carola Dunn
• I wish someone were waiting for me somewhere by Anna Gavalda
• Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck (DNF)
• The dragon and the pearl by Jeannie Lin (DNF)
• A week at the airport by Alain de Botton
• “Death at Wentwater Court” by Carola Dunn (review coming soon)

For this month I am planning to read:

• I am determined to finally tackle that monster of a book “The mysteries of Udolpho”. If I can’t finish it this month I will give up and leave it a DNF. This is getting ridiculous.
• Another cosy Daisy Dalrymple mystery which I got from the library

Unfortunately my e-reader has disappeared, so a couple of books for review are out of my reach at the moment. So annoying! I refuse to read books on the computer screen. If my Sony turns up again (and I sure hope it will). I will continue/start to read

• “Everything beautiful began after” by Simon van Booy
• “Falling for me” by Anna David

What is on your reading list this month?

To wrap up August here is what I read last month:

• Starting from Happy by Patricia Marx
• The track of sand by Andrea Camilleri
• I finished Laughable Loves by Milan Kundera
• Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey
• Dinner for Busy Moms by Jeanne Muchnick
• Stitch ‘n’ bitch crochet: The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller
• The Crochet stitch bible by Betty Barnden

For this month I am planning to read:

• Murder on the Flying Scotsman by Carola Dunn
• Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck
• I’ll see whether I can get myself to continuing The mysteries  of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

Everything else is left to my mood.

What is on your reading list this month?

This was quite a good month. In July I read

• Amants by Catherine Guillebaud for Paris in July
• Laughable Loves by Milan Kundera (re-read)
• Joseph Goebbels by Curt Riess for the One, Two, Theme Challenge
• Love Virtually by Daniel Glattauer
• Sew up a home makeover by Lexie Barnes
• The Art of Steampunk by Art Donovan
• Every seventh wave by Daniel Glattauer (my thoughts on that coming soon)
• A moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

For this month I am planning to read:

• Starting from Happy by Patricia Marx
• The track of sand by Andrea Camilleri

I want to continue:

• The mysteries  of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe. It DOES drag on a bit. 
• Laughable Loves  by Milan Kundera

What is on your reading list this month?

In June  I read

• Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

and

I started reading

• A moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
• The mysteries  of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

For this month – apart from finishing or continuing the two books above – I am planning to read:

• Amants by Catherine Guillebaud for Paris in July
• I wish someone were waiting for me somewhere by Anna Gavalda, also for Paris in July
• Laughable Loves by Milan Kundera (re-read)
• Joseph Goebbels by Curt Riess for the One, Two, Theme Challenge

What is on your reading list this month?

In May I read:

• “The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street” by Helene Hanff, the sequel to “84, Charing Cross Road”
• “The Garden of Eden” by Ernest Hemingway
• and decided that my first book for the wicca theme for my One, Two, Theme challenge will turn out to be a DNF. I find it rather boring, it is due at the library soon and I’m not sure I want to continue reading.

For this month I am planning to read:

• “A moveable feast” by Ernest Hemingway
• I’ll maybe start “The mysteries of Udolpho” by Ann Radcliffe for the Gothic Reading Challenge

Not much, admittedly, but Udolpho is quite a chunky book, so I should be forgiven.

I know I am a tiny bit late this month…

In April I

• started reading “The Garden of Eden” and am still reading it.
• read and reviewed “The inventor’s companion” by Ariel Tachna
• read and reviewed “Mandarin Orange” by TC Blue
• read and reviewed “Undercover Sins” by Hayley B. James
• read “84, Charing Cross Road” by Helene Hanff

Not much luck with my One, Two, Theme challenge in April…

For this month I am planning to

• finish “The Garden of Eden”
• read “The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street” by Helene Hanff
• continue reading “The Forest House” by Marion Zimmer Bradley” for the One, Two, Theme challenge

Those goals should be easy to reach. Especially since I am not committing to finishing the MZB book. As a matter of fact I’m not sure if I will finish it at all. So far it doesn’t really hold my attention.