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Reading report for April 2007

I surpassed last year's monthly average a bit this month, with 18 books, a total of 4645 pages. Two were rereads. Most were less than 300 pages long and could be read in under 3 hours.
I have not been much interested in reading long books lately, but now I intend to try to finish the first part of the Gormenghast trilogy, which is about 400 pages of small type, by the end of the month. Another long book I have started reading is Wilkie Collins' classic novel The Woman in White, which is about 650 pages in the Oxford World's Classics edition, so I don't expect to read quite as many books this month, but just as many pages.

I have many partially read books strewn around my apartment and I think I should try to make an effort to finish some of them so I can either put them in my permanent collection or donate them back to the charity shop where I got them. I just finished one that I started reading in 2005 and feel very proud of myself, but I need to do more, so I have resolved not to start reading any more books unless they belong to the 52 authors challenge, speaking of which: I expect to review three (maybe four) new authors this month. I have already read one book by each, but as usual I want to try to read at least one more by each author.

The 'empty the shelf' challenge is nearing its end – I am reading three books from it, have discarded one and have four left unread.

Unreviewed: (I'm working on several reviews)
Simon Beckett: The Chemistry of Death
Nathaniel Benchley: The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming
Nigel Boar & Roger Blundell: The World's Greatest Ghosts
Tess Gerritsen: The Apprentice
Iris Johansen: The Search
Madeleine L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters
Joe McGinniss: Going to Extremes
Lee Server: Over My Dead Body: The sensational age of the American paperback
Georges Simenon: My friend Maigret, At the 'Gai-Moulin'
Veronica Stallwood: Oxford Shadows
Paul Theroux: Riding the Iron Rooster: By train through China
Kurt Vonnegut: Deadeye Dick
C.Q. Yarbro: Bad Medicine

Reviewed:
Robert B. Parker: The Judas Goat

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