April 2026 -- What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

I just finished Remarkably Bright Creatures. LOVE!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just finished Strangers - a memoir about marriage and divorce. It was really good- frustrating at times0 a quick read.

I started this but just got The Correspondent from the library (finally!) so taking a pause. The first third I have liked though.

I found Strangers to be riveting…The Correspondent makes me feel like an old lady.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just finished Strangers - a memoir about marriage and divorce. It was really good- frustrating at times0 a quick read.

I started this but just got The Correspondent from the library (finally!) so taking a pause. The first third I have liked though.

I found Strangers to be riveting…The Correspondent makes me feel like an old lady.

What do you mean by this, lol?

[Anonymous]

I finished „The Empress of the Nile”, which is a biography of a French Egyptologist and an impact she had on saving some monumental Ancient Egyptian buildings. It was slow at some moments - lots of background info on the historical events - but I appreciate reading about such a strong and remarkable female character - what a life she had!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading “The Road to Tender Hearts” by Annie Hartnett and loving it. Funny, sad, weird and uplifting all at the same time. I was laughing out loud on the train and getting looks from fellow passengers. For once the blurbs—from John Irving and two authors whose books I recently loved (Shark Heart and Margo’s Got Money Troubles)—felt spot on! I love all of the characters (including Pancakes, the cat who can predict death)

The Road to Tender Hearts was a DNF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tried reading The Names by Florence Knapp.

Read the prologue and the first 2.5 chapters. Felt like vomiting. Did not realize this book was mainly graphic descriptions of DV. Not just of the acts, but of the abusers and the victims thoughts and mentalities. Myself and my kids were victims of extreme DV, so no wonder that this book made me feel sick, but even if not a victim of DV, it's really a lot. Will not finish.

Really wish the book was marketed and sold as a DV experience, not about how names shape people (which seems like false advertising). Even the cover seems like false advertising. Don't really get what the author is doing with this. They do not seem to gather the severity of the effect of abuse on real people.

Starting The Road to Tender Hearts next and hoping that is a smoother experience!

Completely agree on The Names. I couldn’t finish it. I’m sorry you had to experience this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just read Maggie or A Man and a Woman Walk Into A Bar by Katie Yee; also finished SomenKind of Paradise by Janelle Brown. Both were 3 stars (out of 5) for me. I found Yee’s main character annoying and a wet blanket; Brown’s book was just very… okay. Starting either So Far Gone by Jess Walter or The Correspondent… hopefully either will be better!

I wasn’t a fan of Maggie either, but really liked both So Far Gone and The Correspondent.

[Anonymous]

i'm reading Death and the Penguin
Novel by Andrey Kurkov
for book club and really enjoying it - trying to slow down and savor it and also seeking similar fun slightly absurdist well written novels like this

It's about Regular people trying to find normalcy in post-soviet Ukraine ca 1990s when nothing is regular and everything is changing and all the rules are gone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just finished Theo of Golden which everyone raves about. I had to force myself to finish. The concept seemed interesting but it really dragged for me. The book was cloying and saccharine.

I just started Sociopath: A Memoir and it’s too soon to form an opinion. My next read will be The Correspondent.

My last great read was The Wedding People.

You sound like me. I did not love Theo of Golden, and I feel like a monster when I tell people that.

I'm reading The Wedding People now and I like it, and I also liked Sociopath.

Now I feel like I have to read Theo of Golden lol because there is such a spirited debate over it lol.

It's awful, so have fun! Saccharine is a good description. I felt like it would do well in evangelical youth groups.

[Anonymous]

I finally got The Correspondent from the library. I am enjoying it! Is it knock your socks off literature? No. But it's entertaining and I am engaged in the story. I've found the letter writing to be a really interesting way to tell the story of someone's life. Despite me sometimes muttering "PICK UP THE PHONE AND CALL!" with some of the plot points.

[Anonymous]

I started Hamnet and I can not mesh with the writing style. It feels so over the top. I'm sad because so many people seem to love it, but I think it's a DNF for me. Or should I give it another chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just finished Theo of Golden which everyone raves about. I had to force myself to finish. The concept seemed interesting but it really dragged for me. The book was cloying and saccharine.

I just started Sociopath: A Memoir and it’s too soon to form an opinion. My next read will be The Correspondent.

My last great read was The Wedding People.

This was a DNF for me. Will be interested to hear what you think. I got bored quickly.

It was a DNF for me, too! Like, within the first couple of chapters.

What does DNF mean guys?? 🤷🏻‍♂️

did not finish

Ive most often seen it in ski racing.

[Anonymous]

Good books I read this month include:
The Keeper by Tana French (cannot go wrong with Tana French)
Her Last Breath by Taylor Adam's- twisty thriller that mostly takes place in a cave
Nonesuch by Francis Spufford - speculative historical fiction - takes place during the blitz
The Midnight Show - fictional epistolary novel about the first couple seasons of SNL
Liars Dice - comes out later this month - coming of age story about a young teenager in Brazil whose twin sister gets very sick
The Radiant Dark - comes out later this month - sci fi family drama about the impacts of first contact

[Anonymous]

Listened to Never Flinch by Stephen King , just finished. I enjoyed the storytelling as usual but not as much as many of his previous novels— maybe because I was listening instead of reading ? If I’d been reading the book, I would have speed read over characters I found annoying and lingered over those I enjoyed.
Lesson learned, I think. Maybe I need to learn how to listen better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On my beach vacation I read Ordinary People and When Women were Dragons.
They were both okay, didn’t love either.
Ordinary People was well written but my patience for 20-somethings who make dumb life choices and can’t communicate effectively is limited. Same reason I can’t watch shows like Girls.
When Women Were Dragons also well written and an interesting concept (sort of an allegory or magical realism type thing), but I found it a little simplistic. It oversold the sexism in the 1950s and 1960: — I mean, there was definitely a lot of sexism but this was almost a cartoonish level of sexism. I get that it isn’t meant to be a realistic book (hence dragons) but it irked me a little.

I take it this was not Ordinary People written by Judith Guest, published in 1980?

I suspect she means Normal People.