April Reading List

Here are this past month’s (long-overdue) reads – which, by the way, I’m so happy that my reading hiatus is over. I felt like the past month’s books were kind of disappointing, though, so don’t expect many edifying suggestions.

These first four books I bought at a library book sale. It was “put as many books as possible in a bag and buy it for $5” sale, so I ended up with a pretty mixed bag, from Tom Clancy for Ducks’ grandfather to all these fluffy books that I read.

Smart vs. Pretty

A book about two sisters who strive to save their family’s coffee shop, this story seemed very formulaic. It gave me hope that I could actually finish writing a book someday. 😉

Make Him Look Good

When I bought this book, I forgot that I had already read it, because the cover looks nothing like what the actual story is about. It’s about Milan, a young woman who still lives with her parents, trudges around in sweatpants and fantasizes about Ricky (I forgot his last name), a pop singer. Bascially, just imagine a book about an assistant being in love with Ricky Martin, who happens to be having an affair with J.Lo. That’s what this story is. If you’re going to read anything by Valdez-Rodriguez, I recommend The Dirty Girls’ Social Club as a better read.

Priestess of Avalon

I find Marian Zimmer Bradley’s writings to be weirdly fascinating, I guess because they’re so foreign, all about Avalon, worship of the Goddess, etc. I liked Mists of Avalon, because that books was tied in with the Arthurian legends. This one is about St. Helena, mother of Constantine, the first Christian emperor. I thought it was interesting in the perspective it provided of Christianity against the historical backdrop of a pantheistic society. Again, this is an interesting read, but if you’re going to try one of her books, I recommend Mists of Avalon instead.

Lost in the Forest

This is a disturbing book, all about a young girl whose stepfather dies, which then throws her into a world of despair and a creepy relationship with an older man. There are really graphic descriptions of their intimate relations, which I really disliked, because it was disturbing and just gross. The only thing I could hope was that maybe this author wrote the novel to get some closure if something of this nature had happened to her while growing up. Otherwise, I don’t know why people invent such tales. I wouldn’t take time to read this if I were you.

The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott

As with any historically-based fiction, I liked this book. I love getting a sense of time and place about the authors that I love so well. However, I was very unhappy to read the author’s note at the end of the story and discover that McNees had actually invented so many of the characters without any historical basis. If you liked Little Women, you should read this book, as it gives a more realistic view of Alcott’s family than the idealized version she creates in her novel.

The Lady and the Poet

This was by far my favorite book of the month. It’s about the tumultuous love story of Ann More and John Donne, one of my favorite poets. I didn’t know a lot about Donne, other than what I learned in my college English classes, so it was interesting to hear all about the great love of his life. Here’s a link to my favorite Donne poem as well.

Gods Behaving Badly

Scandal, that’s what this book is about! Seriously, I don’t like books where there are pervasive amounts of sex. Apparently, in this book, the Olympian gods are all living together in a house in London, losing their powers, getting weak and turning women into trees (an allusion also to my favorite sculpture). This was readable, but honestly, I prefer the exploits of the gods in Percy Jackon very much to the exploits of these “grown up” gods.

Water for Elephants

 

Everyone else on the Internet has talked about Water for Elephants, so there’s no need for me to say a lot about it. Unless you live under a rock, or everyone in your book club is super-busy, you’ve probably also already seen the movie. 😉

This is a great book – I recommend everyone read it. But, of course, unless you live under a rock, you probably have.

Catching Fire/Mockingjay

Finally got to finish up the Hunger Games trilogy. I liked them because I stayed surprised to the end, even though basically they are sad books, in my opinion. I sometimes wonder why there are so many rebellions and wars and stuff in kids’ books/young adult books. Like, for instance, Harry Potter. There had to be wars and such and good people had to die.

I don’t want to write too much and give anything away, but I thought everything ended up as it had to be in the end.

There are a couple of books that are on my want-to-read list, but that are not available at my library – Room (which Melissa @ Duoly Noted recommended) and the Pemberley Chronicles.

Alright, so there are last month’s books. Time for me to go back to crying and watching “The Young Victoria.” I think it’s reasonable to predict I might have some Victoria-esque literature on next month’s list because I’m falling in love with her and Albert.

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5 responses to “April Reading List

  1. I was NOT expecting what transpired @ the end of the Hunger Games Trilogy. It changed my perception of what a YA book can entail 🙂

  2. How do you find so much time to read! I am impressed and wish I could get through this many books in a month 😦 Let me know when you finally get your hands on Room, I am curious to hear other people’s reactions.

  3. They say that to be a great writer, first you have to be a great reader. With that in mind, I’m definitely looking forward to the success you’re destined for with your blog and book. In fact… I bet if you wanted to, you could take your blog (this one or maybe the next generation of it) to the commercial level, get some publisher interest and then write a spin off book. Just an idea… :O)

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