April Reading Recap
April was a crazy month of reading. I have read some of my favorite books of the year so far and some of my least favorite. With the International Booker Prize shortlist announced, I am trying to read as many as possible. Translated fiction can be a real hit or miss, and unfortunately, the two I’ve read so far have both been misses. I don’t know how May will compete, but stay tuned. Until next time, happy reading!
The Rest is Memory: A Novel by Lily Tuck
Quick Synopsis: An imagined experience of a real-life young Polish Catholic girl after she is taken to Auschwitz.
Strong Points: I love to read the behind-the-scenes of the conception of a book. Tuck’s was an interesting one. She gained inspiration from an obituary of Wilhelm Brasse that she saw in The New York Times. Brasse was a Polish photographer who took over 40,000 pictures of his fellow Auschwitz prisoners. Featured in the obituary were three pictures he took: a 14-year-old girl (seen on the cover), the girl’s mother, and the girl’s 13-year-old friend. Setting those three as her characters, Tuck drew on the experiences of the famed Polish writer, Tadeusz Borowski, stories of his time in Auschwitz, and pieced together a tragic story. The story doesn’t rely too heavily on emotion but is more of a helicopter view of what is happening. The reader still gets to know the character's memories and what they are experiencing in the camps but is left at arm’s length, making the story even more haunted. If this story’s narrative was strictly first-person thoughts and emotions, I don't think it would have been as effective and impactful.
Of course, it’s a hard book because it’s such a heavy subject matter, but it’s a short read of around 100 pages. It’s worth an afternoon hangout.
Weak Points: Nothing of note
Solid 4-star book
Writing Style: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Flow/Pacing: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
Recommend
For Fans of: The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue, Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks, and Cold Crematorium by József Debreczeni
Quick Synopsis: A commentary on travel, life, death, and migration
Strong Points: My girl Olga has done it again! Dare I say this is my favorite so far?
Flight is made up of vignettes with a few longer stories that all center around, you guessed it, humans in movement. Each vignette was perfectly placed within the larger stories that flow throughout the book, connecting each one to the next seamlessly changing topics and observations. The flow and pacing were masterfully done.
Along with the flow and pacing, I also loved the writing. She's able to articulate observations that others cannot. The vignettes were small and bite-sized yet so profound, much like an amuse-bouche of a few simple ingredients, resulting in a complex and flavorful taste.
I’m not sure if this book hit me at the right time or if it was truly absolute perfection. But one thing is certain: I will pull it off my shelf and revisit it time and time again.
Weak Points: Again, nothing of note
If you are new to Tokarczuk, get your feet wet with this one.
Writing Style: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Flow/Pacing: 5/5
Overall Rating: 5/5
Highly Recommend
For Fans of: Orbital by Samantha Harvey, Septology by Jon Fosse, and Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck
Quick Synopsis: Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping at Ikea when a massive Cascadia earthquake strikes, leaving her stranded many miles away from her home.
Strong Points: One of my many irrational (or maybe I could categorize this one as rational) fears is the big earthquakes ready to rumble and tear apart the West Coast. Between the Cascadia earthquake, which is predicted to hit the northern part of California, and the massive one the San Andreas Fault is forecasted to produce, I don't think I will ever live in California. When the Cascadia hits (it’s when not if – scientists say there’s a 37% chance the Cascadia quake will occur in the next 50 years), the earth will shake for several minutes, followed by massive tsunami waves, bridges will collapse, roads destroyed, and electrical grinds down. Say goodbye to the charming coastal towns. Those are all underwater. Anyway, when I read Tilt's synopsis, I was in. Who doesn’t love a little stress and anxiety while reading your worst nightmare being played out on the pages?
I really enjoyed the overall concept of the story. The storytelling felt realistic. The emotions and reactions of the main character, Annie, and those around her felt realistic. Pattee gained inspiration when she was in Annie’s shoes. She was pregnant at Ikea, and the building shook from a large semi-truck that was going by. For a second, her heart dropped, and she thought she was done for. That’s when she realized this would make an interesting book concept. She’s a climate journalist and is quite familiar with these natural disasters. She researched further to discover what would happen to the infrastructure during a colossal earthquake and used her fiction writing skills to imagine how society would react. It’s very well done, a good mix of nonfiction and fiction.
Weak Points: My one qualm with this book is that I didn’t really connect with Annie. Perhaps it’s due to the strong theme of motherhood threaded throughout, something I cannot relate to. She is going through a bit of a crisis throughout the book. She had different expectations of what she wanted to do with her life. She has long given up on her artistic ambitions and freedom. While I liked this stream of consciousness, it still felt like I couldn’t fully connect and empathize with her. It kept me from getting completely engrossed in the story.
Worth the anxiety
Writing Style: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 4/5
Flow/Pacing: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
Recommend
For Fans of: Heartwood by Amity Gaige, The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker, and Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Rocket Man: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man’s First Journey to the Moon by Robert Kurson
Quick Synopsis: A captivating tale of the three brave men who were the first to orbit the moon.
Strong Points: I have a weird fascination with reading books about astronauts and space exploration, especially during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. Everything was so new and exciting, and the astronauts were treated like movie stars. Anyway, I picked up this book randomly to read over my birthday weekend and was immediately sucked in.
The writing was strong and quite funny at times. It was well-researched without being dry. Kurson interviewed all three men, Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders, and their wives (except Susan Borman, who was too sick by the time the interviews took place) for two years. He even spent two days with Christopher Kraft, the flight director and driving force behind Apollo 8. Hearing about the familial drama and how each wife approached launch day was super entertaining. Kurson also included background on the worldly happenings taking place during that time, which provided a bigger picture of the high stakes of this critical mission.
Sadly, only James Lovell is alive from Apollo 8 today. So, having these books that capture their thoughts and feelings about being the first humans to experience orbiting the moon is special. While the Artemis program is set to head back to the moon in the upcoming years, there will never be the novelty of the Apollo days.
Weak Points: Thoroughly enjoyed it
If you like reading about astronauts and the moon, pick this one up.
Writing Style: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Flow/Pacing: 4.5/5
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Highly Recommend
For Fans of: Challenger by Adam Higginbotham, Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins, and Shoot for the Moon by James Donovan
Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton
Quick Synopsis: Finding an abandoned baby hare in the path near her country house, Dalton cares for the animal and learns how to embrace life and slow down in the process.
Strong Points: I certainly learned a lot about hares.
Weak Points: Ugh, not everyone needs to write a memoir. Unless you lived the most interesting, unique life or went through something, again unique and learned an exceptional lesson that you must share with the world, it’s boring. I don't think Dalton went through anything too special. She found a baby hare during Covid days and decided to care for it. However, the lack of an original story wasn’t even my biggest issue. My biggest issue is the writing. There were a lot of words on the pages and not enough substance. It’s not even flowery, fun writing where you enjoy reading it so much that you don't care if it doesn't add anything to the story. It felt like she started writing and realized she didn’t have enough story to fill the pages, but she kept writing to meet her page count. All of this said, there was still information and details that I felt were missing. For example, she said the hare came to the door when she called it, yet she never shared what she named the hare. It seems like an obvious thing to include. I would have much rather learned its name than the pages and pages of full Wikipedia regurgitations about hares.
All of this made for a very long 285-page book.
Writing Style: 1.5/5
Plot: 2/5
Flow/Pacing: 2/5
Overall Rating: 2/5
Not Recommend - However, I’m an outlier here because it has a 4.46 rating on Goodreads.
For Fans of: Nesting by Roisín O’Donnell, The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke, What the Wild Sea Can Be by Rachel Clarke
Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Quick Synopsis: The interwoven stories of four women at different stages of their life
Strong Points: Dream Count is one of the most anticipated books to be published this spring. It is Ngozi Adichie’s first book in 10 years. She said she couldn’t write for those 10 years, and then her mother died suddenly. She was inspired to write a book with characters loosely based on her mom. I wasn’t the hugest fan of the author’s other popular book, Americanah, so my expectations were pretty low for this one. And I have to say, it was one of those books where the story sucked me in, and the hours seemed to slip away unnoticed. The story and character development, as well as the pacing, are fantastic. The way each character’s story unraveled was captivating. For being a 500-page novel, it was very fast-paced.
Weak Points: One of the characters, in particular, got a little preachy when she got on her soap box about how ignorant Americans and men are. It felt too angry and preachy. I wasn’t a fan of her story and rolled my eyes through most of it. I remember hating that about Americanah, too. The author must not be able to help herself when creating characters like this. At times, her writing can be a little pretentious. However, pretentiousness was slightly scaled back in this book compared to Americanah.
A lesson to always give authors another chance to win you over.
Writing Style: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 3/5
Flow/Pacing: 4.5/5
Overall Rating: 3/5
Recommend
For Fans of: Twist by Column McCann, The Antidote by Karen Russell, and Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward by Melinda French Gates
Quick Synopsis: Melinda reflects on the pivotal transitions in her life and what they have taught her.
Strong Points: Bill and Melinda came out with competing memoir-esque books mere months apart?! I HAD to read them both and see which one was better. And I can confidently say they are both excellent and very, very different from each other. As you may have read in my review of Bill’s book (link), it’s written from childhood to the start of his success with Microsoft in a very linear way. On the other hand, Melinda's book is made up of lessons she has learned through harrowing life experiences. And if you’re wondering if one of these harrowing experiences is Bill cheating on her? Yes, that lesson is included. However, it’s done tactfully so as not to bash Bill. She expresses her heartbreak over learning this news but hints that there were fractures in their marriage long before the cheating scandal.
My favorite thing about the book was the format of these lessons. It's a short book (I read the whole thing on a flight), and her writing is very eloquent. She’s a strong woman who has handled her life with such grace. Like Bill, we are lucky to have her making a difference in this world.
I recommend it to anyone looking for a short, yet inspiring read.
Weak Points: Nothing of note
A sweet afternoon hang
Writing Style: 4/5
Plot: 4.5/5
Flow/Pacing: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
Recommend
For Fans of: Source Code by Bill Gates, I Am Maria by Maria Shriver, and The Tell by Amy Griffin
Quick Synopsis: After 30 years of friendship, Tully, Jimmy’s best friend, calls him with news that changes everything.
Strong Points: Every once in a while, authors come along and write beautiful, insightful books about the depths of human nature that tug at my heart and hit me just right. I haven’t stopped thinking about this book, and I desperately wish someone would read it to discuss it. Mayflies is one of the best, if not the best, books I’ve read this year.
Mayflies only live life for a day. Albeit short, they fill those hours to the fullest. They live such short yet intensely packed lives. In the grand scheme of things, our lives are also pretty brief. This theme of living a tense and short life is echoed throughout the book. It's easy to do when we're younger, without the pressures and worries of being an adult. As we grow up and experience more, we are forced to face the inevitability of mortality. This is displayed in the two parts of this book. In the first part, O’Hagan highlights the freedom and adrenaline of being young and careless. The second part takes place 30 years later and is much more reflective. Each of these parts celebrates the patterns of life and the power of friendship while also exploring the intense joys of living.
Along with the beautiful theme of the book, the dialogue was some of the best I’ve ever read. It flowed effortlessly like you were watching through a window as close friends goofing off. It felt authentic and was fun to read.
And if all of that didn't convince you to read it (please, I’m begging someone to read it), O’Hagan nails the ending. I don’t want to give too much away but trust me when I say the ending was perfect. *chef's kiss*
Weak Points: Nada
To sum up this book in two words: stunningly heartbreaking
Writing Style: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Flow/Pacing: 4.5/5
Overall Rating: 5/5
Highly Recommend
For Fans of: Close to Home by Michael Magee, Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna, and Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
Longlisted for the International Booker Prize
Quick Synopsis: A rags-to-riches story of a Hungarian immigrant.
Strong/Weak Points: The book opens strong with teenager István having an affair with his neighbor and then accidentally killing the neighbor’s husband by pushing him down the stairs and spending a lot of his youth in jail. I was rubbing my hands together, excited to explore this storyline, and then it time-jumped to István ten years later and out of jail without elaborating on the time in between. Several more timeline jumps happen throughout the book, most of them feeling incohesive.
You know it isn’t good when you finish a book a mere week and a half ago and can’t recall what it was about. I had to review my notes and consult Goodreads for the synopsis. The story was a tad pointless and boring, but not the worst I’ve read. The thing that really made this a two-star book was the dialogue. I strongly believe that dialogue can make or break a story. And the dialogue shattered the story for me. Here is a real example of the dialogue:
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Why?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
All of the characters spoke like this, from the main character and mom to the cousin and shop owner. Wow. It was tough to read. It was a crawl to the finish line.
A forgettable story
Writing Style: 2/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 2/5
Flow/Pacing: 2/5
Overall Rating: 2/5
Not Recommend
For Fans of: Twist by Colum McCann, Universality by Natasha Brown, Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico
"Go gently with people’s pain. It’s the same as yours." -Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan
