What did you read in April?

[ufcasey]

What books did you read during the month of April? Have any ratings/reviews/recommendations?

[tacokick]

April was a weird month! It felt long but I also feel like I read some of this last week.

The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo with Chi-Young Kim (good, a little slow maybe?)

The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan (disappointing)

How to Find Your Way Home by Katy Regan (a little slow, not sure how this ended up in my queue but basically liked it)

How We Fell Apart by Katie Zhao (felt unfinished)

Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton (a lot of research. Her family was awful and her responses to them was frustrating)

The Heights by Louise Candlish (fun)

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (cute and quirky)

Very Bad People by Kit Frick (very abrupt ending)

Happy People Are Annoying by Josh Peck (did talk honestly about money)

Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott (always enjoy her)

Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi with Joshua David Stein (something felt off to me)

Olive by Emma Gannon (the rare book where a woman decides she doesn’t want to be a mother)

The No-Show by Beth O'Leary (not good)

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez (not great!)

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay (lots of fatphobia)

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li (great idea but the character “voices” were too similar despite having very different personalities and backgrounds which made it hard to keep details straight)

Deaf Utopia: A Memoir—and a Love Letter to a Way of Life by Nyle DiMarco with Bobby Siebert (interesting, less interested in the reality show part)

Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild (a lot of fun)

The Blame Game by Sandie Jones (very bad)

Regretting Motherhood: A Study by Orna Donath (I wish it was a wider study)

I Am Not Okay With This by Charles Forsman (horrible, the show is 1000x better)

Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance Alison Espach (well done)

Hello, Molly! by Molly Shannon (very good and interesting)

[mie]

The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa 3.5*
Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez 3.5*
Twelve Days in May by Niamh Hargan 3.5*
If We Ever Meet Again by Ana Huang 3*
If the Sun Never Sets by Ana Huang 3*
If Love Had a Price by Ana Huang 3*
If We Were Perfect by Ana Huang 3*
On Grace by Susie Orman Schnall 3*
Stud Muffin by Kate Jiffy 3*

Forget Me Not by QB Tyler 2.5*
The Torn Up Marriage by Caroline Roberts 2*
Tear Stained Beaches by Courtney Giardina 2*
The Girl in Seat 24B by Jennifer Peel 2*
Lukas by Carian Cole 2*
False Start by Sasha Marshall 2*
Best of my Love by ND Jackson 2*

[meowmaps]

An Impossible Imposter(#7 in the Veronica Speedwell series)by Deanna Raybourn 4*
Year Book by Seth Rogen 4*
The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry 3-3.5*
Maus I 3.5* and Maus II 4* by Art Spiegelman
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe 4*
The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James 3.5*
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley 3*

[rootbeerfloat]

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner - 3*
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr - 4*
Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo - 4*
Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner - 4.5*

[estrellita]

I slacked. A lot. Lol.

The Golden Couple 4*
Ariadne 5*

[dearprudence]

Perfectly Impossible- fun, light, easy to read

Cleopatra's Dagger- Reminded me of The Alienest because it takes places in 19th century New York City while the protagonist searches for a serial killer preying on the lower classes.

The Golem and the Jinni - I know I'm really late to the party on this, but I really enjoyed this intertwining of narratives and mythologies.

A Master of Djinn- I love the Rivers of London series and this felt like the Egyptian version in the best ways possible. Djinn, angels who are encased in mechanical bodies, sorcerers, magic and the backdrop of pre-WWI - seems both fantastical and completely plausible.

The Wrath and the Dawn - Great retelling of Arabian Nights as an enemies to lovers romantic adventure.

The Sum of Us - I enjoyed every aspect from the framing, to the history, to the narrative itself.

Ever Cursed- My top read of the month.
A fairytale that centers on the misogyny and inherent power imbalance between men and women. If fairytales were meant to be morality tales, then what better use for them than to point out where morality is failing in contemporary times.

[Vespasia]

It was a fairly slow month for me. 

Our American Friend by Anna Pitoniak
A Better Man (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #15) by Louise Penny
Gallant by V.E. Schwab 


I rated them all 4 stars but A Better Man was really more of a 3.5.

[travella]

5*
A House Without Windows by Nadia Hashimi- heartbreaking. Nadia Hashimi is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

4*
The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn- interesting story, but a little slow at times

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James- not without issues, but it was entertaining

3*
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts by Julian Rubinstein- interesting story overall, but it was a little dull in the beginning.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

2*
Violeta by Isabel Allende

The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman- not what I was expecting. I found some sections interesting, but completely skipped others

DNF
Cemetery Road by Greg Iles

[mrspez07]

Written read:
Finished Go Tell the Bees I Am Gone early in the month. 3*
Bluebird by Shannon Cameron 4*
(Her notes at the end were also excellent)
Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune 3*

Audio read:
The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kirstin Hamel 4*
(Did not mean to do two WWII books back to back)
The Guide by Peter Heller 4*
(Takes place in an area of CO I am familiar with)

[charlatti]

• Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capo Crucet -- interesting and engrossing, not entirely memorable 4*
• The Hundred-Year House by Rebecca Makkai -- a reread that I apparently loved the first time but found very meh this time
• The Singer's Gun by Emily St. John Mandel 4* -- weird book, but her style just works for me
• The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi 4* -- just plain fun
• The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER by Thomas Fisher -- good book but not the right time for me to read it
• A House Between Earth and the Moon by Rebecca Scherm 4* -- sci-fi with ominous big-tech
• Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang 3* -- Meh. I really wanted to like this one but it did not work for me.
• The Other Americans by Laila Lalami 3* -- Ditto above
• A Deadly Bone to Pick by Peggy Rothschild 4* -- cute dog-themed cozy mystery
• The Candy House by Jennifer Egan 3* -- should have been better
• Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel 4.5* -- thought provoking (and again, I just really like her writing)
• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan -- a reread, much better than her new one
• The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle 4* -- seriously weird book but entertaining while also having something to say

[litskispeciality]

I finally finished "The Turnout" 2.5*'s - no more Abbott for me

Read:

Smile and Look Pretty 3.5*'s
The Last Thing He Told Me 3.5*'s - quick read, but the ending was meh

10 books for the year so far. Upping my goal to 30

[ufcasey]

Just realized I never responded to my own post!

I read in April:

Dark Deeds (#2 in series) by Michelle Diener - 2.5 stars; this was basically a very watered down version of the first book, Dark Horse (which I loved).

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel - 3 stars; I have liked other books by this author, but this one was definitely a 'written during the pandemic' book

Between Wrath and Mercy by Jess Wisecup - 3 stars; could have been great but really needed an editor to help cut down large parts of the book that just dragged and some better character development/world building when it came to the 'bad guys'

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese - 4.5 stars; really loved this! Just be prepared for an excessive amount of descriptions of medical procedures