May Roundup

Summer is here, warm weather, blue skies (mainly). There is nothing I love more than finding a shady bit of grass, near a tree, and taking a book to read. Indulgent I know, when time is precious, but an essential luxury, however sparsley captured, to those of us who love to read books.
How did we do in May...
Read - 2 and a half books
Completed -
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
Currently Reading -
The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai by Ruiyan Xu
Notes from Walnut Tree Farm by Roger Deakin
The Organic Year by Patricia Gallilmore
TBR Pile - Currently groaning at 123 books (according to GoodReads) with quite a few added this month...
Written Lives by Javier Marias
Bad Dirt by Annie Proulx
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
The Tortilla Curtain by t. coraghessan boyle
Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
The Understudy by David Nicholls
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Challenges -
Despite the many additions to my TBR pile in May, I have still kept to #1 of my own challenges to not buy any new books this year. Written Lives was a secondhand copy from Oxfam, and the rest were from our Book Swap in work.
Completed #3 of my challenges to read at least 2 titles that came up during our Novel holidays by completing The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (which was brought up as a recommendation by RB on our Jane Austen Holiday in Hampshire) and completing The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad (which was my lucky dip title from CS on our Thomas Hardy Holiday in Dorset). Reviews are on their way here soon.
Wishlist Additions -
Home by Toni Morrison
This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming... by Augusten Burroughs
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Devil's Beat by Robert Edric
Afterward: A Novel by Rosamund Lupton
The History of the Countryside by Oliver Racknam
Discoveries -
I am now on Twitter, and getting more than a little addicted. Decided to see what it was all about and have discovered a whole new world. I may see you there too...(link is on my sidebar by 'About me')
Events -
Had our BookSwap in work, now an annual event due to its popularity, and a great way to recycle and get people talking about books. I started off with 4 books, but there were 3 more at the end that were going to Oxfam so I adopted those too. See above for the brilliant titles, and I think lots of other people got some good ones too. It was a great success.
The Norman Conquests (a trilogy of plays by Alan Ayckbourn) are on at the Liverpool Playhouse and well worth a watch. I have seen 2 so far (Living Room and Round and Round the Garden). Great plays for the summer, a bit of 70's comic nostalgia, and some Norman mayhem in true Ayckbourn style.
I am off on my annual trip to work on the beautiful farm in Devon for a week...will see you when I get back.