Oh April. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, I’m turning 30 and having lots of celebrations.
It doesn’t leave much time for reading.
I’ll be honest, I actually read a lot of books rather quickly this month. But (of course) it took me 13 days to read My Dear Hamilton. Sure, it’s 600+ pages, but the fact that it took me so long to read rests more on the craziness of life and less on the length of the book. When I would pick up the book, I would read 100 pages at a time… I just didn’t have much time to read this month. I will say… that book was worth every minute it took to read.
April was an excellent reading month for me, once I got to the end of the month. I read some truly exceptional books, and, aside from DNF’ing I’ll Be Gone in the Dark (too gory), every book I read, I enjoyed.
Monthly Stats
- Total Books Read: 8
- Total Authors Read: 8
- Total Pages Read: 2826
- Total Books Quit: 1
- Average Days Per Book: 3.75
- Average Pages Per Day: 94.2
Long Story Short…
- If you love audiobooks and love to laugh, listen to Amy Poehler’s Yes Please.
- If you loved Hamilton or American history, read My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie.
- If you’re looking for a social justice book, check out The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner (about prison reform) or Salt Houses by Hala Alyan (about the Palestinian conflict).
- If you want to read the book everyone is talking about, pick up Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
Books are listed in the order they were read. For more mini-reviews, check out my What I Read tag.
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Premise: Daisy Jones and the Six was a band at the top of the charts and at the height of fame when they disintegrated. This book, presented as a series of interviews with the band members and others connected to the band, reveals the downfall of this famous (fictitious) band.
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: This is the book that is (currently) rocking the internet book world. After The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo came out a couple years ago, I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book. All that, coupled with Reese Witherspoon picking up the rights for a miniseries… well. Of course I had to read it.
The best part of this novel is, of course, the writing and the characters. Reid is masterful at creating characters that we care about and root for. But what makes this one unique is the interview-style narration. At first, I was thrown off by it, but I appreciated how it allowed the reader to get the impression of multiple points of view without losing whole chapters of information or feeling impersonal through third-person narration. I was a bit disappointed by the “twist”, which didn’t feel very twisty to me, but overall, this was a solid, intriguing, quick read of a book.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who loves rock ‘n roll. Anyone who enjoys well-developed characters. Anyone looking for a unique narration.
Seductive Poison by Deborah Layton
Premise: Deborah Layton is a survivor of the Jonestown Massacre. This is her memoir of how she fell into Jim Jones’ cult, how she ended up in Guyana, and how she got out.
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: This story is… something. I had heard of Jonestown, of course, but I really didn’t know the whole story. Layton’s first-hand account of her time from joining The People’s Temple to moving to Jonestown to actually escaping and the process she went through in alerting the authorities… it’s intense! I listened to this on audiobook (mostly) and I found myself looking for excuses to drive around the block to listen to more.
There’s definitely some parts that are really difficult to listen to. Jones’ coercion and manipulation of the people that followed him was… intense. Luckily, the sexual coercion is limited, but it comes early in the book, and, after reading it, I almost quit the book. It got a bit better after that, and Layton began to see through the lies, and it was so interesting to see the after-effects of her getting out and adapting to the real world.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who likes reading about cults. Anyone interested in a real-life account of a harrowing experience.
My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
Premise: Eliza Hamilton was never a First Lady, but she should have been. Known mostly as being the wife jilted in America’s first sex scandal, she is so much more… she founded the first private orphanage in America, she helped negotiate with the Iroquois during the American Revolution, she was close friends with Lafayette, Madison, and Washington. But, most importantly, she helped her husband build a country.
Rating: 5 Stars
Thoughts: I’ll be honest. I put this book on reserve at the library the morning before I saw Hamilton, and I’ve basically been living in a Hamilton bubble for the last few weeks. I connected with Eliza in the play (and I’ve listened to “Helpless” too many times to count), so I’m so glad I picked up this book. In the musical, Eliza loves her man, pines for him when he’s gone, begs to be enough for him, and forgives him after he humiliates her. Book Eliza does all that as well, but… better. She’s smart and sassy and fiercely loyal and unapologetic in her opinions, and that all seems to be historically accurate. Her handwriting is on George Washington’s Farewell Address. She was a founding mother of this country.
I loved this book for it’s design and pacing and plot structure. I loved that it gave so much more background information about Alexander’s life. I especially loved the Author’s Note and the comparison to the play at the end of the book. I am now an Alexander Hamilton fact machine, so come to me if you need to know anything about the dude who founded the Fed and the Coast Guard and who fought for innocent until proven guilty and freedom of the press. I’m also in awe of Eliza and I want to be her when I grow up. The book was so well-written, so well-structured, and so intriguing that I forgot I was reading a 600+ page book, and I wanted it to keep going forever.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who likes historical fiction. Anyone who likes strong female characters and love stories. Anyone who wants to know more about the American Revolution.
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Premise: Robert Walton is going through uncharted territory when he happens across Victor Frankenstein on a little boat in the middle of the icy sea. When he picks up Victor, Victor tells Walton his story of the monster he created.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Thoughts: This was one of the few books that I really enjoyed when I read it in high school, and I decided to teach it to my seniors. They would rate this book 1 star, but that’s seniors in the springtime for you. I didn’t remember much about the story or what I even liked about it when I read it at 16 years old, so I was excited to jump into it again and rediscover it.
I really loved the language of the story. Some classics are old and musty, but this one read beautifully and had some gorgeous language to it. The storyline was intriguing, of course, but there were some points that just felt off to me — why couldn’t Victor understand that the monster wasn’t inherently bad? Victor’s abandonment of the monster is what caused the monster to turn evil, and, even then, he wasn’t really evil; he was just exacting revenge on his creator. Aside from that, the themes in this book are really universal, which is why this book has stood the test of time after so many years. What constitutes humanity? What do we owe to humankind? What makes a life worth living? These are the questions I keep coming back to after reading this novel.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who likes classic monsters. Anyone looking for a book that asks philosophical questions. Anyone who likes multiple perspective stories.
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
Premise: Romy Hall (mother, habitual drug user, sex worker) was sent to prison to serve two life sentences for killing a man who was stalking her. This sweeping novel moves back and forth between life before and during prison, with a look at the harsh reality that is poverty and the criminal justice system.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Thoughts: Oof. This book hit me SO HARD. I chose it as my Book of the Month club pick last May, and the judge’s essay started with, “Don’t read this book if you’re looking for a fun escape!” I concur. This book was not fun. But it was enlightening and engaging and heartbreaking. Romy’s life is… hard. But it’s a harsh reality for a lot of people, and her life really exemplifies the cycle of poverty and prison sentencing. The book was so well-written that I wanted to keep reading, even when it was challenging and gritty and blatantly real.
I didn’t really care for the chapters from the side characters’ points of view, especially the Unabomber’s chapters, which felt out of place. But when Romy was talking, I was reading. The only time I wanted to put this book down is when things got a bit too real, and I just needed a mental break. The whole story felt plausible and frustrating, and it’s doubly intriguing because the author actually shadowed inmates in a California prison before writing this novel, so as to accurately display it. It’s a point of view I can’t really relate to, but that I feel glad to have read.
Who Should Read It: Anyone looking to expand their views on the justice system. Anyone interested in reading about characters in poverty. Anyone looking for a tough, gritty read.
Yes, Please by Amy Poehler
Premise: Amy Poehler writes a memoir. In it, she discusses her early life with the Upright Citizens Brigade, her time on SNL, and the best parts of filming Parks and Recreation. Also, she’s hilarious.
Rating: 5 Stars
Thoughts: Giving this book 5 stars may seem a bit extreme (even to me), but I listened to this one on audio and I LOVED IT. Seriously. I mean, read the book, definitely. It’s a great book. But the audio is just perfection. She has guest stars who appear to read parts (like Seth Myers, swoon). She plays clips from Parks and Rec and SNL, and that’s just stuff you don’t get when you’re reading her book. She even recorded the last chapter live from the UCB stage, so there’s an audience laughing along with you as you drive the grocery store.
This book did a great job of being honest and self-deprecating, and I love that she touches on her privileges so easily and regularly… but she also values the hard work she put in to get to where she is. My favorite chapter was the chapter about Parks and Rec, and not only because I’ve seen the series a few times over. Poehler talks about her struggles and validation of becoming a writer, and she takes the time to appreciate every person on the show that helped make it so special.
Who Should Read It: Don’t read this one. Listen to it. Literally anyone would enjoy it.
The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy
Premise: The May Mothers are a group of new moms who all had their babies within weeks of each other. Living in Brooklyn, they decide to have a night out and leave the kids with their husbands or babysitters. While they are away, one of the kids goes missing, leading to a national scandal and a couple twists and turns.
Rating: 3 Stars
Thoughts: Here’s the thing. I read a lot of thriller-mysteries. It’s not really because I want to, but because they keep falling in my lap from one challenge or another (or book club, which has been on a thriller kick for the last year). I don’t hate thrillers, but… the mystery has to be GOOD. There needs to be a satisfying (but surprising) conclusion, and, perhaps most of all, I have to CARE about what the characters’ outcomes are.
This book just didn’t check the boxes for me. It was fine(a solid three stars). The surprise was actually pretty surprising. The problem was the characters — they were all crazy. Yes, I presume that being new to motherhood makes you paranoid and exhausted, but these women were… just not intriguing. They lied to their husbands, cheated at their jobs, and generally ignored everything good in their lives (like their husbands) to pursue the mystery of the missing kid — well, all of them except the mother of said kid. I don’t know… I just couldn’t care about the characters enough to be shocked by the outcome, and I’ve come to hate stories where the women are perceived as nuts while their husbands are the voice of reason (a scary trend I’m seeing in mysteries and thrillers). I may be in the minority on this, because most of my fellow book club friends loved the story, so this is probably more just me having an off day.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who is in a mommy group. Anyone who loves mysteries. Anyone who wants a surprising twist.
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan
Premise: Spanning four generations and multiple countries, this multigenerational saga highlights the effects of war and relocation throughout the years. Beginning with Selma, who must move her family from Jaffa after a raid, and ending with Manar, who is visiting Jaffa for the first time as an adult, the story brings the idea of home, heritage, and belonging in a full circle.
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: I struggled with rating this one. On one hand, I didn’t feel a great connection with any of the characters. That’s probably because we see so little of each one… the novel spans 50 years, but each character gets only one or two chapters (if that!). I connected and sympathized with the story, but the characters didn’t draw me in or hook me.
But then… the writing. This book is so well-written and well-developed. The plot lines are woven into master acts that we only get glimpses of… but those glimpses are enough to paint a vivid and striking picture. Particularly, watching Kuwait being assaulted through the eyes of Souad in Paris just really stuck with me. The author put a lot of thought into the placement of her characters and the small glimpses that we get into their lives… just enough to show the whole story without telling us the whole story. Because of that, I couldn’t drop this one below a 4, even if the characters didn’t grab me as much as I would have liked.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who enjoys generational stories. Anyone interested in the Middle East’s history.
