Planned Reading for April 2017

Hello to you all! It's starting to feel like springtime here. I love the spring. I have some spring cleaning to do though, which I am not so fond of! Reading-wise, I haven't been feeling it lately, I never seem to have time or mental energy for it. I have been listening to quite a bit in the way of audio books though. I plug my phone into the car and it makes for a very enjoyable commute! I have also been listening to the books while doing housework and on lunchtime walks. The only problem I have is that I don't think I'll be able to listen to anything new, as I am doing something while I'm listening. On a reread your attention doesn't have to be 100%. But even so, I have some JAFF to read so I am thinking that I'll have to avoid JAFF audio books so I don't overlap the stories. It makes it tricky to decide what to listen to.

Last month I listened to 'Cotillion', by Georgette Heyer, and 'Persuasion' by Jane Austen and I'm currently listening to The Grand Sophy' by Heyer. I've read all of these many times so they have been very enjoyable to listen to. Do you have any audio book suggestions for me? I don't have a subscription, but if I can get them relatively cheap on kindle and upgrade to audio they are not too expensive.

I have also had some new acquisitions to add to the bookcase, courtesy of Mother's Day here in the UK. I have a Marvel version of 'Emma'. This is a graphic novel. I previously read a Manga version of 'Emma' so it'll be interesting to see how this compares.

I also have a copy of Paula Byrne's 'The Real Jane Austen; A Life in Small Things'. This is a book about Austen's life, focussing on the small things which may have had significant impact on her writing.

One thing I wanted for my bookcase were some illustrated novels. I was lucky enough to get two. Firstly, an illustrated 'Pride & Prejudice'. This is quite a large book, the same kind of size as an annual. The illustrations inside are copies of Hugh Thomson's 1894 pictures, though they have bee coloured for this version.

The second illustrated book is a vintage one, a 1924 'Sense & Sensibility', also with illustrations by the same author.

So, now onto the reading for this month. Well, aside from all the catching up I have to do on planned reading that I hadn't managed, which is an albatross around my neck that is getting bigger and bigger, I am planning on reading some things which have come to me as part of the perks of blogging. Yes, that's right, books which haven't yet been released. I have two books to read that I'm very excited about.

The first one is called 'The Darcy Monologues', an anthology by some wonderful authors. I have read books by pretty much every contributing author to this anthology, and had many enjoyable reading hours courtesy of them. The stories in the anthology range in era, however, what they all have in common is that they are from Darcy's point of view. I'll share my review with you later this month as part of the blog tour but it's not available to buy until May. There is a fantastic prize package, open internationally which a lucky reader can win so please check back here for that. There is also a prize draw open as part of the cover reveal celebrations which you can enter by joining in the fun at one of the blogs that took part.

The other book I have to read is a story by Kathleen A Flynn called 'The Jane Austen Project' (not to be confused with 'The Austen Project' books, which saw some famous authors like Alexander McCall Smith and Val McDermid create contemporary versions of Jane Austen's works). This book is also available to buy in May. This story sounds very interesting; two researchers are sent back in time to try to get hold of a suspected undiscovered Austen manuscript. Let's hope they can save her letters from Cassandra's destruction too! And take a photo, so we know that our upcoming £10 notes are accurate :)

I noticed something that I wanted to tell US-based readers about; Meryton Press is having a wonderful giveaway for you. Go and take a look (after you finish reading my post of course!).

So, that turned out to be a lot to tell you about! Kudos to you if you made it to the end. Remember, you can still enter to win an e-book of Sophie Turner's P&P variation, 'Mistress' here. Let me know what you're planning on reading in the comments, and if you have any audio book recommendations that won't make me crash my car then let me know those too! Happy reading, my friends!