April 2018 Reading List

danaerinw@gmail.com

7 years ago

Ready for your April 2018 reading list? Me neither. So much so that I accidentally just typed April 2017. But there are some good ones, so check out the list and let me know if you read any!

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

How has it taken this long for me to read this book?!? Okay, I actually know why it’s taken me so long, but I’m so happy I finally did. I listened to it on audio and to say I binged it towards the end may be putting it mildly. If you haven’t read it and want to, I highly suggest doing the audio.

Also, if you saw the movie there are most definitely differences but in a way where you can enjoy both. Not equally (I enjoyed the book miles more), but both are definitely enjoyable.

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

Want to know my thoughts? Check out my mini Instagram review! (And follow along for more mini reviews!)

Skyjack by Geoffrey Gray

Have you heard about DB Cooper? He’s the plane hyjacker who manager to highjack a plane, steal $50,000, parachute out, and then manage to never get caught. This book follows a reporter diving into the mystery of trying to uncover who DB Cooper really was and the cult followings that have sprung up around him.

Laura & Emma by Kate Greathead

(Note: this book was given to me as an ARC in exchange for an honest review)
I really wasn’t sure what to think of this book. At first I was nervous to read another “mother/daughter relationship book.” Did I want to hear about another story where the mom and daughter are best friends? Well thank god, this wasn’t that. But in a good way. The novel takes place in the 1980s when Laura becomes pregnant with Emma. We then follow Laura over the years as Emma grows up. It’s a look at what actually happens inside those upper east side apartments and how families deal with disappointments and setbacks. This may sound weird, but it felt like a novel I’ve already read, but it other ways felt completely different.

The End We Start From by Megan Hunter

I really liked this book, especially the form it was written in. However, I think I would appreciated it more as a mother. Or maybe I need to go back and reread it when I’m not wiped out from a travel weekend.

Educated by Tara Westover

This book was so fascinating. Westover shares the story of how she never went to school growing up, but managed to become a scholar at Cambridge and Harvard. There were parts of the book that were hard to read, but it gave me a look at different parts of the country that I’ve never interacted with before.

Need to Know by Karen Cleveland

Maybe don’t read this if you’re a Russian conspiratorist. Definitely read this if you like a good thriller/mystery that’s relevant to today’s world, but removed enough that you can enjoy it too.

Molly’s Game by Molly Bloom

I had mixed feelings about this one. I read it because I wanted to go see see the movie, but it went in and out of theaters really fast. The book is fun if you want some Hollywood behind the scenes or interested in the underground world of poker. Otherwise, meh. I think the movie might be more interesting though, so I may go see that.

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

This book was like nothing I would have imagined, yet it felt oddly familiar at the same time. It’s like a future day fairy tale world where a small group of women have the power to alter the appearance of individuals. I would read this book before I would go to bed each night and I had problems putting it down. The only problem? I have no idea when the next book in the series is coming out.

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

I love the on going increase in good YA. The first chapter of this starts out very breakfast club-esque (5 very different kids stuck in detention), but that quickly ends when one of them dies. The book then follows the on going investigation to figure out who killed him and why these 4 students may have had a motive.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

I read this when I was younger and just couldn’t get into it. But since I was planning on seeing the movie, I wanted to reread it this month. I figured the best way to go at it would be to try it on audio. This was SUCH a good decision! The audiobook made it sound so magical and I felt like a little kid having a book be read to me. It was so much more fun. Was the book better? Well, maybe not. But was it still fun to listen to? Yes.

Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud by Anne Helen Petersen

This book takes five steps back to look at different women in society and why the media has told us to think of these women as too fat, slutty, or loud (among other things). It was kind of crazy to listen to this book on audio and realized how much the media had influenced my thoughts about these women/other women in general without me even realizing. It was rough to go from reading this book to talking to one of my colleagues, trying to explain this book. I realized as I was explaining it, that she was giving back to me all of the preconceived thoughts that the media had given to us. It was a disappointing moment to actually hear it played out back to me in the real world.

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks

Yes! A thriller with a twist I finally didn’t guess. This was another couldn’t put it down, can’t stop reading. Spoiler/trigger warning alert for domestic violence though.