April was a great month, ending with a trip to Southern California that included my husband’s college reunion, wine tasting in Paso Robles, and some much-needed time away from work. This month I spent a lot of time preparing my garden, and this year I’m trying to be patient and not plant things too early.
It was also a fantastic reading month. Here’s what I read in April:
- All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung
- Normal People by Sally Rooney
- The Language of Secrets by Ausma Zehanat Khan
- On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
- Heidi by Johanna Spyri
- The Likeness by Tana French
- What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons
- Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan
- The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
- The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
I didn’t post a lot in April, but I appreciated the responses to this post on whether or not to write book reviews.
My favorite reads: I adored Tana French’s The Likeness, even more than the first book because I like the narrator so much more. Nicole Chung’s memoir about her family was thought-provoking.
The two standouts for me were On the Come Up by Angie Thomas and The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. These books may be aimed at teenagers but both are fantastic and I quite recommend them as a pair, since both focus on self-identity and creative expression. I was a little worried I’d be disappointed in Thomas’ second book but I wasn’t at all.
Most disappointing read: I really wanted to love The Kiss Quotient, because it’s a romance from the point of view of a woman with Asperger’s, and the author herself is on the spectrum. As a romance it fell flat for me; the characters were way too gorgeous and perfect.
Book clubs: I read Theft of Swords for Sword and Laser and really liked it. It’s swashbuckling, humorous fantasy, almost in the vein of The Princess Bride. It had all the usual fantasy elements, in a big epic story that was fun to read.
Books for challenges:
- TBR Pile: What We Lose
- Nonfiction: All You Can Ever Know
- Read Harder Challenge/Reading Women: Heidi, The Poet X, The Language of Secrets, The Kiss Quotient
- Reading All Around the World: Heidi
- Back to the Classics: Heidi
- ARCs: Normal People
What I’m reading now: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, Radical Candor by Kim Scott Malone, and The Farm by Joanne Ramos.
What’s coming up: My current library pile includes Dopesick, The Weight of Our Sky, and The House of Broken Angels.
Things that made me happy this month:
- We’re planning a trip to meet friends in Portugal in September, so we’re beginning to think about where to go and for how long. Recommendations are welcome!
- I signed up for a program called Noom because my weight has creeped up in the last year or so. I like its focus on the psychology of how you eat, and building healthier habits. It also provides a lot of individualized support. It’s aimed at millennials, so I was skeptical, but I’m really finding it helpful. Not trying to sell it, but happy to share offline if anyone’s curious.
- This was the first time in many years I was able to fly without drugging myself and without any pain in my head. I’m pretty psyched about that.
I hope everyone had a good April! What was your favorite read this month?
