April Books.

This month wasn't my best in terms of reading, but I can't complain. As usual I have a TON of books started, but not finished. Hoping that after we get out of school next month I'll be able to wrap up a lot of those with some fun days spent outside.

Stuart Little by E.B. White

The boys and I read this one for a second time. We listened to it on CD a few years ago. The boys (particularly James) LOVED this one. Stuart Little is a boy (who much resembles a mouse) who is adopted by the Little family. Stuart has a brother, George, but often goes on adventures of his own. He learns to captain a boat, befriends a bird named Margolo, avoids being eaten by the family cat, and heads out on the open road in his own car. It was a great read-aloud.

Discover the Magic: The Insider's Guide to Walt Disney World by Roger Wilk

If you know absolutely nothing about planning a Disney World vacation, this is an excellent resource to use. However, if you've done some reading and are pretty familiar with the parks, this is the same-old stuff. I enjoyed reading it, and it was a quick read for a travel book, but it was not very detailed and wasn't anything that you can't find on the millions of Disney blogs on the internet.

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

This was a book club read from several months ago that I didn't finish then and had to finally convince myself to wrap up this week. It follows a girl, Sarah Grimke, and her slave, Handful, from the early years of their lives well into adulthood. Sarah adamantly opposes slavery, even as a young child, but the customs of the south don't allow her to live any other way. She finally breaks away from her family and makes a life of her own. I thought it was an interesting book (Kidd bases it on two real-life characters - Sarah and her sister Nina), but I thought it was slooooooow. It dragged along for me (obviously). It has received high praise, so I may be in the minority on that, I just couldn't get into it.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

This was this month's book club read. I was dreading it because I knew the basic premise of the story - a teenage girl has cancer and meets a boy, who has had cancer. I also knew that because everyone and their mama told me they wept in the movie theaters last summer that someone died. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I didn't cry. I found the book to be a little ridiculous. The language that the teenagers used was far-fetched to me. They sounded like college professors in little teenaged bodies. That's probably a huge stretch, but I was just annoyed with the characters (probably also why I didn't cry). I didn't think it was a bad book, I thought that it was an okay book, but I certainly didn't understand the big deal that was made in these sold-out movie theaters last year. I wouldn't have been lining up to see it, but that's just me.

The Nanny Who Saved Christmas by Michelle Douglas

Shockingly, this was one of the better books I read this month. Don't let the title mis-lead you, it wasn't some raunchy romance novel. Romance-y, yes...raunchy, no. The book is set in Australia and I kind of loved that. Nicola is a woman in her twenties who is left reeling when her best friend and her fiancé wind up together. Instead of spending Christmas celebrating her marriage, she takes a job as a nanny in the middle of nowhere. I didn't LOVE this book, but it was a pretty good read. I won't be recommending it at book club, but if you're looking for something light for the beach, this would be a good one.

That's it for April! I have on my list to finish several that have been in a drawer on my nightstand for far too long. Hoping May will have 8-12 books!