My April Reading Wrap-Up

April was busy, with family visits at the beginning and end of the month. We’re also in the last quarter of the school year, and the kids are preparing to take year-end exams, while I’m trying to line up a teaching position for next school year. I got to see some of my former colleagues at a happy hour, and we saw a fantastic win by our Washington Spirit. Those are the high points. It was a great reading month, with a lot of nonfiction, two ARCs, and two books I read for school (I’m currently rereading The Giver).

Here’s what I read in April:

The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks
With You Forever by Chloe Liese
The Wanderers by Daniela Gerson
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

My favorite reads:

So many great books this month! I loved Memorial Days and The Emperor of Gladness, which I’ve already reviewed. I also loved Ghost Boys, a book we are reading in my English classes.

I also loved The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton. This book is perfect for anyone who loved Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Hinton was a client of Stevenson, who spent decades on Alabama’s Death Row because of a corrupt justice system. You might think this story would be hard to read, and it’s certainly devastating, but Hinton writes with so much humor and compassion. He also writes in great detail about the various legal processes of his case, which was certainly interesting to me (I expect this is where his co-author Lara Love Hardin came in). Like Just Mercy, I think everyone should read this.

Disappointing reads:

I read The Maze Runner because my students wanted to read it for class. Halfway through, they were struggling to make sense of it, so we switched to The Giver, which is so much better. The Maze Runner has an interesting plot but is repetitive and lacks any character development. (In case you’re wondering, we didn’t think it was great literature to begin with, but any book that interests our students is a win.)

On the blog:

I reviewed Heart of a Stranger, The Wanderers, Memorial Days, and Emperor of Gladness, and I wrote about the YA books I’m teaching and ten book titles that describe me.

Books for challenges:

Reading Jewishly: Memorial Days, The Wanderers
Nonfiction: Memorial Days, The Wanderers, How to Be Okay, The Sun Does Shine
Speccy Fiction: Project Hail Mary, Ghost Boys, The Maze Runner
Backlist: With You Forever, Project Hail Mary, The Sun Does Shine

What I’m reading in May:

I’ve got three April ARCs and one in May. I’m not loving Dear Monica Lewinsky so I’ll probably move on to the other ARCs so I don’t get too far behind. I’m also reading All the World Can Hold by Jung Yun for a local book club, which I’m going to try and start attending.