@BooksandLala April Wrap Up - • Books I Read in April 🌸
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Prophet by Sin Blanche and Helen MacDonald -- A metaphysical mystery with very strong character development. (How the damage gets done) There was some interesting treatment of the idea of nostalgia as a dangerous drug which felt like a solid clap back to 'make america great again'.
People seem to be down on Ethan of Athos, encouraging everyone to skip to the miles stuff.... no, I had so much fun with it. I love especially how actually varied Bujold's protagonists are, this just another great example.
I just read "The Brides of High Hill" which is the new novella in the Singing Hills series. It was actually my first in the series and I liked it but didn't love it - I'm interested to go back to the first one and see what everyone loved so much about it!
You’ve definitely convinced me to wait until I have Angel of Indian Lake and read that whole series relatively close together!
I think you would like The Finishing School series.
Hello, fellow DNFer for The Teraformers. I bought it at an airport and tried and was bored on the plane. That got set aside.
Too bad about Mammoths at the Gates! I totally get the fomo when others love a book and it's just okay when you read it (I've had that plenty of times). My favorite new read from this month is The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden - still thinking about that one and might even pick it up to reread soon.
My favorite book from April (that will probably be a top for the year) and that I want everyone to read was Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier. I barely even pick up YA these days, but this one grabbed me and I basically read it in one sitting because I couldn't stop! But my least recommended (that will definitely be in my worst of the year...) was Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo, which had plenty of issues on its own but also suffered because I went in expecting it to be more like The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova.
I agree. Dragonfruit is my new favorite book it was sooooo good. I will not forgive the author for the death but I still love it ♥
What got me about Mammoth at the Gates was the idea of negotiating your grief over someone you have complicated feelings about, someone you feel has wronged someone you love and you can't let go of the idea that, no matter who they became, they still owe something to the people they left behind. I think that's why I liked it as much as I did because that feeling hits me close to home.
👼 It was funny hearing your thoughts on Mammoths at the Gates because I also read it this month and largely agreed with you. With that said, I highly recommend you read the next Singing Hills book, The Brides of High Hill, because it does bring back some of that puzzle element you say you liked in Empress of Salt and Fortune. Easily one of my favorite entries on the series for me, and it’s been hit or miss overall
i think my most recommendable read is probably Swordheart or The Goblin Emperor. I feel like least recommendable read is Sunshine Court (the leftovers from a college binge read of a series). I'm glad it was a good month and a sci fi heavy month. It's amazing how much more I am enjoying it recently compared to a lot fantasy when i barely touched it awhile ago. I am definitely blaming your channel.
Got through a lot of books. Best wishes for May.
I’m kinda surprised you DNFed the Terraformers! (I DNFed it too, and it was for my book club.) but I was thinking of quitting Semiosis (also for book club) during the first POV, and looked at reviews and saw how you liked it and why, and I immediately thought of the Terraformers. Btw I continued with with and was really digging the 2nd pov, now at the 3rd and feel…not sure. I do not know what I would recommend to you! Maybe The Final Strife or Someone to Build a Nest in. I selfishly want you to read Djinn City by Hossain to see if you’d like it. Happy weekend!
i gave up on the kingdom of the Gods. i thought it took some steps backwards for a 3rd book in a series. im gonna have to pick it back up again now. I probably wasn't in the right head space for it, cause my favorite book of the month was Virgina woolf 'a room of ones own'.
Most recommended: Nothing but the Rain 🌧️ least recommended: Rose/House 😅
I had the same problem with The Terraformers. Couldn't even make it twenty-five pages. It was exhaustingly boring compared to other works that had looked at the same themes.
I am reading SHARDS OF HONOR by LM Bujold. And I just finished reading THE SCOURGE BETWEEN STARS by Ness Brown. I’m loving both books, and I was influenced by you to read them. Thank you 🙏🏼
I reallyyyyy need to get back to the Angel of Indian Lake trilogy, especially after hearing all your gushing on the finale! And you have also bumped the Micaiah Johnson books up my priority list again! Glad you had such a fun month, hope May treats you well 🥰
I just DNF’d ‘Wild Cards 1’, edited by George RR Martin because it was basically just boy superhero adventure stuff. I got about half way through and gave up. The portrayal of women was just in service of the male characters. Then I read both ‘The Heart’s Invisible Furies’ by John Boyne and ‘The Bandit Queens’ by Parini Shroff and inhaled both in a couple of days each. Now I’m on to ‘The Word for Woman is Wilderness’ by Abi Andrews, a memoir of her journey overland/sea from England to Alaska as a 19 YO. It’s a lot of reflection of society’s framing of women, and nature. Of growing up and growing away from one’s parents. While it is from a 19 YO perspective, and sometimes I smile at her naïveté remembering myself at that age, I am enjoying her reflections and perspectives. It’s refreshing to read someone’s musings on life, liberty, and pursuit of adventure. I loved ‘Ethan of Athos’. Besides being a great space adventure, it’s also one of the funnier ones I’ve ever read. Ethan’s bafflement and bewilderment just kept me thinking ‘Oh, you poor simple fool.’ One of my all time favorites. One series I’d like to bring to your attention is Al Hess’ ‘Hep Cats of Boise’. AI, jazz, and gender diversity. I’m finding them great fun.
Angel of Indian Lake was definitely my favorite of the month😇
Highly highly recommend Dragonfruit. Such a good book. I'm going to read again! ♥ 🐲
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👼 I have had an almost identical experience with the Singing Hills cycle. 👼
Very excited for Ethan of Athos, all Bujolds books are leaving the free audible thing here on the 17th so gonna binge at least the next 3 (Cetaganda-Short story collection) then just buy one a month to read with people. I think I might have to go against my book club and just pick up Indian Lake books because Im in a heavy need to read a good horror/slasher homage. Ling Hun sounds really great, and kinda something that I need so might need to go pick it up, same with Mammoth At The Gates.
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It seems you had a great reading month, yay! 😁 Out of what I read in April, I guess I would feel safest recommending Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (the manga), even though I didn't particularly enjoy it. And now that I think about it, I would feel even better recommending it to modern readers, since it's a cli-fi before the term cli-fi was a thing. And then for the least recommended, I guess I'd have to say The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, even though it is one of two of my favorite reads of the months (and in the top 3 reads of this year so far). I think it can be very divisive because you are in a head of a _very_ racist and classist protagonist, but I think it is a fascinating character study of how war, culture, upbringing and heavy trauma from young age can irrevocably twist a person. I'd only recommend it to readers who enjoy character studies and villain origin stories.
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👼😇👼 Recommend for most people: Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko (new favorite YA fantasy). Recommend for less people: Immortal Pleasures by V. Castro (kinda hated it, unfortunately).
I am currently reading Deception Well by Linda Nagata. Have you read any of her books?
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👼I've been eyeing Transformers but haven't been super motivated to pick it up... I think you may have put your finger on why for me. I'd be really curious to know what you think of a book called Adrift by Brideau - it was just nominated for an award, is lightly speculative climate fiction. I really enjoyed it; am surprised not to see it on booktube more!
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