Bookish Reflections – February, March & April 2021

A monthly round up of all things bookish at Sammi Loves Books…It’s my attempt at becoming more accountable in my reading and reviewing habits…

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In a nutshell

Welcome to this bumper Bookish Reflections.  I’ve spent a little over a month away from blogging.  This unexpected hiatus was needed as I tried to find the balance between everything I have to do and everything I want to do.  And, sometimes, the best way to do this is to simply stop, step back and look objectively at everything. Is this break over? Probably, though it might take a little while for me to work out a regular schedule again.  But that is fine.

My plan to post a “Read, Reading Now, Reading Next” update every couple of weeks did not work out so well in practice. I think there was just too much going on in those posts, so the updated plan is post shorter reviews alongside my longer posts.  Over the next few weeks, I will go back over the books that were reviewed as part of these bigger round-ups and post the reviews singularly…

Thanks to my taking a break from blogging, I’m a little bit behind with my classic reads challenge but hopefully it won’t take me too long to get caught up with it.  I have, however, still been reading a fair bit, so have a number of reviews to share here over the coming weeks.

If any writers / poets / authors / etc, would like to be interviewed as part of Afternoon Tea at Sammi Loves Books check out this page for more information, FAQs and an index of all the previous interviews. And, if you have previously been interviewed as part of this series, there is now a second set of questions, if you fancy being interviewed again! If you’ve any questions, please do get in touch at: sammicoxbooks@gmail.com

To keep up-to-date with what I’m reading and reviewing, find me on Facebook and Goodreads.

Books I’ve Read and Reviewed

• The Good Knight by Sarah Woodbury
• Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
• Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
• Learning to Fly by Crispina Kemp

Other Book-Related Posts

• Afternoon Tea (II) with Crispina Kemp

Favourite Read(s) of The Month

• Learning to Fly by Crispina Kemp

Books I’ve Bought or Been Given

• The Hog’s Back Mystery by Freeman Wills Croft

Books I’ve Downloaded

• None this month

What I’ve Been Reading on Wattpad

• Not much as I’ve not spent much time on the site these past weeks…sigh

February’s “Read and Review” Goals

• Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
• The Good Knight by Sarah Woodbury
• The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

* Light blue = review posted | Blue = read but review not posted | Black = did not read / review

What I’m reading and reviewing in May

• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (read, awaiting review)
• Death in Captivity by Michael Gilbert
• The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis (read, review awaiting posting)
• The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis (read, review awaiting posting)
• Sign of The Cross by Chris Kuzneski (currently reading)

The Very Informal Classic Reads Book Club Challenge 2021

• January’s Book – The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells – Read and reviewed!
• February’s Book – Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon – Read and reviewed!
• March’s Book – Last of The Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper – Almost finished reading
• April’s Book – Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – Not started yet
• Next month’s book – David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Basic Book Review Challenge 2021

To read (at least) one book a week, to reach a target of 60 over the course of the year, with the aim of posting a review for some of them.

• Month started at: 4 / 60
• Month finished at: 8 / 60

Sammi Loves Books Reading Challenge 2019

I’m revisiting this challenge I started in 2019, to complete the challenges I missed. I’ve completed the following challenges from the list this month:

• none
• Total challenges completed in 2019: 8 / 20
• Total challenges completed in 2020: 8 / 12
• Total challenges completed in 2021: 0 / 4
• Total: 16 / 20
• You can find the complete list of challenges here.

Read, Rate, Review, Rehome

Goal: 35 | Total so far: 4 / 35

• The Good Knight by Sarah Woodbury

Note: I’ve actually far-exceeded my goal as I’ve been having a sort out of my books, with two big bags set aside for donating to charity. So this tally will focus on books I’ve Read, Rated, and Reviewed in 2021, with an aim to also being Rehomed in 2021 😉