Skip to main content

A Month of Reading: April


Best reads of the past month:

Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess
I finished The Book Thief and looked around morosely for what I could possibly follow it up with. In my search, I ran across a review of Such a Pretty Girl and thought, hey, Slim Incest/Abuse Novel=perfect chaser for Mammoth Holocaust Novel! How unexpected that I was right. I thought Wiess struck the perfect balance between moments when Meredith is supported by a desperately needed group of truly good people (a cop, a cripple, a zealot), and moments when she is left utterly alone to stand up to her demons. This one is also tied for the Best Last Line Award of the month. Debut novel for Ms. Wiess: A+. Can't wait for Leftovers.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
I had heard a lot about this book before I picked it up. The Cybils picked it as their favorite YA novel of the year. I just loved the title. And the concept. Cohn and Levithan took Norah and Nick (respectively) and wrote alternating chapters from "their" character's point of view. I loved it in Sorcery and Cecilia and I enjoyed it here. The book was exhilirating and alive and makes the reader feel as though she took a 24-hour shot of adrenaline.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
I have not laughed so much while reading a book since the hilarious Straight Man. I laughed myself silly reading this book. The kind of laughing where it's so hard you're frantically wiping the tears away because you don't want to have to stop reading long enough to clear your sight. I passed it on to my brother-in-law who usually poops out a few pages into a work of fiction, and he not only finished it but loved it! For more hilarity* see Green's blog where he and his brother Hank are currently contributing a video clip a day for an entire year. While you're there check out Green's On the Radio archive of essays he wrote for NPR. I recommend "The Colonoscopy." But first go read Katherines.

Looking for Alaska by John Green
And in a bizarre repeat performance of last month's reading regimen, I read the second novel by a new (to me) author first, then ran promptly out and got that first one I'd been avoiding because of the shiny sticker on the cover. I wonder if authors ever worry that an award sticker will deter readers even as it boosts library and bookstore sales? Probably not. I mean, they won the freaking award! In any event, Looking for Alaska was as good as I was afraid it wouldn't be. Completely different from Katherines in tone, but with the same smooth, incisive writing. The chapter titles were genius. Tied with Such a Pretty Girl for the Best Last Line Award of the month.

Ironside by Holly Black
All the other books I read this month were surprise finds, but this one I'd been waiting for. I was so excited to see it on the shelves in my local B&N the night before it was to come out. I felt like someone was watching me as I surreptitiously snatched it off the shelf and scurried through the checkout line and out the door with it. I hope it was the benevolent bookseller who placed it out early, because I truly got my money's worth. What a fun read. I was very pleased with Kaye's storyline, quite moved by Corny's and Luis's, and extremely relieved that Roiben and Ravus were getting their dark-lord groove on.

Best rereads of the past month:

Tithe by Holly Black
In preparation for the release of Ironside, I gave Tithe its first reread. It was superb. As is so often the case, I enjoyed it more the second time around. Far and away my favorite Tam Lin retelling, it really does a good job with the themes of sacrifice and love. Plus Roiben is perfect in that hopelessly doomed kind of way.

And Both Were Young by Madeleine L'Engle
The last read of the month felt like it should be a L'Engle. I chose this one because it had been the longest since I reread it and because I was in the mood for something sweet and hopeful. It was both and I am ready for a new month and all its possibilities.

*Warning: Brotherhood 2.0=Highly Addictive
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like

Terms of Endearment

Have you ever been reading a book, moving along quite nicely, and then-- bam --a character whips out a particular term of endearment that just yanks you right out of the story? It happened to me recently, and I'm sad to say I couldn't recover. I did try. But she just kept using that term and I . . . I had to get the hell out of Dodge. Buh-bye, story. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. I'm not saying this is the norm (thank goodness). I can put up with a certain amount of treacly back and forth when it comes to the exchange of terms of endearment, especially if they fit the characters, their background, culture, the tenor of their relationship, etc. And the history of these terms  at home and from around the world is often fascinating (at times hilarious). But there comes a point where I can't see past the cheese and/or weird anymore and I do not want to be with these people any longer . Shallow? Perhaps. But it's a very individual thing, isn't it?...
54 comments
Read more

Interview with April Lindner + Jane Giveaway!

I'm very excited about today's interviewee. As you know, I had been looking forward to the publication of Jane for months when a review copy happened in my lap and I let out a gasp of joy. Being a modernized retelling of Jane Eyre with a rock star-ized Mr. Rochester named Nico and a cover that hits every last one of my aesthetic buttons, it was sort of made to order for this reader. Needless to say, it more than lived up to my not inconsiderable expectations and I have been recommending it on a pretty much daily basis to family, friends, co-workers, neighbors . . . you get the picture. It's now just under a month until the book is out and, in anticipation of the release, I invited  April Lindner over to dish about all things Jane. She kindly accepted. Please welcome April! First things first: The Cover. I am in deep smit with that cover. Did you have any input and what was your reaction upon seeing it for the first time? I adore the cover too, and was blown away the...
76 comments
Read more

Haters to the Left

So lately I've been doing a lot of rereading. Hence the lack of new reviews. I do apologize, but I have to go where the literary whim dictates, you know? Stacks of new books and all I want to do right now is cuddle up with old friends. And so that's precisely what I've been doing and it's been blissful in the extreme, I must say. But this does not mean that I've stopped reading reviews around the blogosphere and on GoodReads . Oh, no. And I have to say I've been a bit bemused by quite a few of them lately. Maybe bemused is the wrong word. Outraged is probably too strong. Flummoxed, or even better-- incredulous --would most accurately describe my feeling upon reading disparaging, even disdainful reviews of books that I love, that own a little piece of my soul. So perhaps you'll pardon me if I go on just a little bit of a rampage. Before we go any further, let me just state for the record that everyone is entitled to her own opinion of any book. And they...
43 comments
Read more