What is everyone reading for April?

[Anonymous]

Just finished the Sicilian Inheritance which I really enjoyed after a couple of meh thrillers (The Heiress and First Lie Wins)

[Anonymous]

Starting “Grendel” by John Gardner.

Brilliant but so weird!

[Anonymous]

I just finished "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand.

It is a nonfiction book about WWII, published in 2010. Specifically, it is about a guy who took part in the 1936 Olympics as a runner, then WW II came along and he joined the Army Air Corps. His plane crashed into the Pacific ocean and he and 2 other crash survivors floated for 46 days in a raft. One guy died in the raft. Then they were taken as POW's in Japan for the next two years.

I thought it was really good. It was almost 500 pages and full of statistics, but the author did a really good job of keeping it all interesting.

I downloaded it from my library website.

[Anonymous]

Just finished Here After by Amy Lin and thought it was amazing. It’s about a woman whose husband died suddenly. Her writing was beautiful. Not an easy read but short.

[Anonymous]

"Step Ball Change" by Jeanne Ray, who is Ann Padgett's mom.
The protagonist in the book runs a dance studio, and the book title refers to a tap dance move. The book was about a couple in their early 60's who daydream about retiring and traveling, but life keeps interfering.
They both work, they have 4 kids and their nest is not quite empty. They hired a contractor to do a remodeling project only to learn that their foundation has been crumbling for years so now the contractor practically lives at their house. Their daughter gets engaged to a guy from a super wealthy family. The mother of the groom has a list of 900 people to invite to the wedding. And the wife's sister has come to stay with them while she nurses her wounds because her husband ran off with a younger woman.

I thought the book was a lot of fun. I had read one other book by Jeanne Ray several years ago, which was called "Calling Invisible Women". I had wanted to read more by her for a long time but my library overdrive / libby website didn't have any of her other books. I happened to see this book at the thrift shop a few months ago and bought it.

[Anonymous]

Friendly neighborhood ARC reviewer here with the books I read that have release dates this month...

Funny Story by Emily Henry - (out tomorrow, 4/23) I was slow to warm to Emily Henry, as I thought her early books used the miscommunication trope without purpose, but she gets better and better. This most recent book is my favorite of all. Woman moves to be with her partner, just to have him drop her for his childhood best friend. She's a librarian and can't afford to live alone and becomes roommates with the childhood best friend's ex. The predictable happens, but it's an entertaining story.

A Murder Most French by Colleen Cambridge - (out tomorrow) Sequel to a book about a Franco-American in Paris post-WW2. She's living with a grandfather and his partner, both of whom were French Resistance. The main character goes to a public demonstration at the Cordon Bleu with her neighbor (Julia Child!) and they witness a poisoning. I remember the first book as being entertaining and this one was as well. Julia Child is not a main character, but appears regularly.

What Cannot Be Said by CS Harris - (already out) The 19th book in a series about an aristocrat/veteran of the peninsular war fighting crime in London. There's a larger story about what will happen to Napoleon after Waterloo happening at the same time as the main character investigates a murder that seems like a copy cat of one that happened years ago. Kept me guessing until the end.

The Lady He Lost by Faye Delacor - (already out) A woman establishes a gambling club for women during the regency period. The man who was courting her proposed to her cousin instead, then was killed in a shipwreck. He shows up alive, the cousin has already married, and the main character wants nothing to do with him. Turns out he got involved with the A bit of a second chance romance. Different and fun.

[Anonymous]

I finished “Grendel” and think I may need to take a philosophy class to fully appreciate it.

I’ve started “How High We Go in the Dark” and am feeling skeptical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I finished “Grendel” and think I may need to take a philosophy class to fully appreciate it.

I’ve started “How High We Go in the Dark” and am feeling skeptical.

I don't really understand reading books that aren't rewarding or making you happy. DNF and move on to something you'll actually like! There are no points for reading something you don't enjoy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m still plugging through Spare. I am listening to it (I don’t do audiobooks often - but I occasionally do it when it’s a famous person reading their autobio). Anyway, I’m going to plow through it to get it over with but I’m not sure how much more of his whining I can take!

I want to read The Women when I finish this.

I hated The Women. And I loved some of her other books like The Great Alone. Hated Firefly Lane. I'm hit or miss with her.

I have read 3 of her books. I liked The Four Winds (read first) and the Nightingale (read second) a lot. I gave those 4 stars each. For the Great Alone (read 3rd) - I loved the AK scenery but with the ending, I was kind of like - come on now - and gave it 3 stars. So we will see what I think of The Women. I am really not sure - maybe I’m over her schtick - not sure yet!!

Me again - I gave the women 4 stars. It was probably 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars. I mainly gave the high review because I don’t read books about the Vietnam war often, so it was interesting to read about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I finished “Grendel” and think I may need to take a philosophy class to fully appreciate it.

I’ve started “How High We Go in the Dark” and am feeling skeptical.

I read “How High” about a year ago. Curious to hear your thoughts after you’re done reading.

[Anonymous]

I’m reading The Fraud by Zadie Smith and I’m finding it really hard to get in to. I’m more than half way through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading The Fraud by Zadie Smith and I’m finding it really hard to get in to. I’m more than half way through.

DNF!

I give books 100 pages and if I'm not into it, I move on. My want-to-read list is too long to spend them on something that isn't working.

[Anonymous]

We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib, a queer Muslim memoir - read for a book club, didn't like. No real personality coming out of pages and author seems not to have processed and trauma. Book felt like things ended just as repressed as when it started, but with a few new labels. Her photography is beautiful though. I wish that level of attunement could have come into her words and her story.

The Grace of Wild Things by Heather Fawcett - liked it quite a bit - it's a wicked witch magic filled spin-off on Anne of Green Gables. Enjoyable and interesting book geared at 8-12 but good for all ages especially if you are fond of Anne.

[Anonymous]

I just finished Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld. It was an easy read. If you like SNL, this book is for you.

[Anonymous]

This thread is reminding me that I put down Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad after getting about halfway, and apparently have not picked it up for two weeks. The writing itself is reasonably compelling, but the story/stories circle around the music industry/ musicians, which, in perhaps an unpopular opinion, I just find incredibly tiresome as a subject for fiction. The characters are predictably eff'd up and self-regarding. 50-50 on whether I continue.

But put me in the pro-Tom Lake camp, 8/10, though probably at least 1 point is due to Meryl Streep since (I did it on audiobook).

Also about halfway through Haidt's Anxious Generation (why online childhood is so bad for mental health). It's fine, and I think the minor political controversy around the book is basically all beside the point (of the book). It is just that Hari's Stolen Focus already did the subject and did it (much) better...