April 2020 reads
Month two of quarantine FLEW by. How the heck is it already May? I read a little bit more in April than in March, but still not a ton. My brain was just more suited for scrolling on my phone than reading -- nevertheless, I have some book reviews to send your way!
Here we go.
As always, links below are affiliate Amazon links -- but feel free to use your local library! Ours is just now starting to do a "curbside pickup" program for holds and I couldn't be happier about it.
Well, if there were ever a more appropriately-chilling time to be reading this book, I'd be shocked to find out. Doomsday Book is the third Willis I've read, and this one is same premise as the others (time travel in the future centered in Oxford) but the main character gets sent to the Black Plague and the current time is in lockdown from an unidentifiable virus. Yeah. The fast-paced usual hijinks and miscommunications occur and you really want to get to the end to find out how it ends but I wouldn't recommend picking this up if you want to escape reality. But it's super interesting to read right now! I enjoy Willis so 3.5 stars because it's fun but not incredible.
Emma: A Modern Retelling
by Alexander McCall Smith
★★★/5
I rented this ebook from the library on a whim after needing something fluffy and easy-to-access and I thought a modern retelling of Emma would hit the spot -- and it totally did! This is exactly what it says -- a modern version of Emma set in maybe the early 00s (it's not quite clear). Very cute, fun, easy to read, and satisfying. 3 stars.
by Alexander McCall Smith
★★★/5
I rented this ebook from the library on a whim after needing something fluffy and easy-to-access and I thought a modern retelling of Emma would hit the spot -- and it totally did! This is exactly what it says -- a modern version of Emma set in maybe the early 00s (it's not quite clear). Very cute, fun, easy to read, and satisfying. 3 stars.
Elantris
by Brandon Sanderson
★★★★/5
Apparently 2020 is becoming another high fantasy year, but in a little bit more spread-out way than 2019 was. I'm catching up on the other Sanderson books before his release this November of the fourth Stormlight book. I think ideally I would have read Mistborn first, then Elantris, then the Stormlight Archive, only because I think Sanderson's skill has grown in that order so reading them opposite feels like his skill is devolving. But that's okay! This one was still incredibly inventive and fascinating, but I wanted another book afterwards to keep the story going. 4 stars!
by Brandon Sanderson
★★★★/5
Apparently 2020 is becoming another high fantasy year, but in a little bit more spread-out way than 2019 was. I'm catching up on the other Sanderson books before his release this November of the fourth Stormlight book. I think ideally I would have read Mistborn first, then Elantris, then the Stormlight Archive, only because I think Sanderson's skill has grown in that order so reading them opposite feels like his skill is devolving. But that's okay! This one was still incredibly inventive and fascinating, but I wanted another book afterwards to keep the story going. 4 stars!
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott
★★★★★/5
It had been SO long since I'd read Little Women and man, am I so glad I did right now! It was the perfect peaceful, refreshing, heart-warming book to read during 2020 quarantine. I told myself I couldn't watch the 2019 movie version until I'd reread the book, so now I can officially rent the movie and watch it. :) So sweet, so heartfelt, so wonderful. A classic for a true reason. 5 stars, no less and 100% deserved!
by Louisa May Alcott
★★★★★/5
It had been SO long since I'd read Little Women and man, am I so glad I did right now! It was the perfect peaceful, refreshing, heart-warming book to read during 2020 quarantine. I told myself I couldn't watch the 2019 movie version until I'd reread the book, so now I can officially rent the movie and watch it. :) So sweet, so heartfelt, so wonderful. A classic for a true reason. 5 stars, no less and 100% deserved!
I have the beautiful Puffin in Bloom edition that I grabbed at Costco a couple years ago, but I linked to a new edition for the 150th anniversary paperback with original illustrations added that I'm now drooling over. <3
Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
by Sarah Smarsh
★★★/5
Nonfiction has been hard for me to read right now -- most of the time I'm drawn toward fiction, but especially in stressful times, so quarantine means I'm not really feeling any nonfiction. But this memoir was really interesting and kept moving enough to not feel like a total slog. (Also super relevant to 2020!) I thought it was a tad long and not super tightly written but the premise and the stories were heart-wrenching. 3 stars.
Currently I'm reading:
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (in conjunction with Close Reads Podcast)
The Vanishing American Adult by Ben Sasse (nonfiction, so it'll probably take me awhile)
*started and gave up on* After the Flood by Kassandra Montag (AWESOME, right-up-my-alley premise, horrible execution, couldn't get past 5 chapters so I ditched it)
Apparently I've turned into a person who reads a million things at once when I used to be a one-at-a-time stringent. Life is full of surprises.
Coming off the hold list at the library for me are Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (nonfic about murder in Northern Ireland) and Dune by Frank Herbert (one of those "everyone has read this, I should probably"). Also a bunch of picture books for the girls because I am 100% tired of everything we're reading them right now. There's a reason in regular life that we go to the library every 2-3 weeks. I get sick of what we have and need something new or I lose my motivation to read to them!
What have you been reading? Please tell me, there's nothing I like discovering more than what my friends are reading!
Happy quaran-reading.
HG
by Sarah Smarsh
★★★/5
Nonfiction has been hard for me to read right now -- most of the time I'm drawn toward fiction, but especially in stressful times, so quarantine means I'm not really feeling any nonfiction. But this memoir was really interesting and kept moving enough to not feel like a total slog. (Also super relevant to 2020!) I thought it was a tad long and not super tightly written but the premise and the stories were heart-wrenching. 3 stars.
Currently I'm reading:
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (in conjunction with Close Reads Podcast)
The Vanishing American Adult by Ben Sasse (nonfiction, so it'll probably take me awhile)
*started and gave up on* After the Flood by Kassandra Montag (AWESOME, right-up-my-alley premise, horrible execution, couldn't get past 5 chapters so I ditched it)
Apparently I've turned into a person who reads a million things at once when I used to be a one-at-a-time stringent. Life is full of surprises.
Coming off the hold list at the library for me are Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (nonfic about murder in Northern Ireland) and Dune by Frank Herbert (one of those "everyone has read this, I should probably"). Also a bunch of picture books for the girls because I am 100% tired of everything we're reading them right now. There's a reason in regular life that we go to the library every 2-3 weeks. I get sick of what we have and need something new or I lose my motivation to read to them!
What have you been reading? Please tell me, there's nothing I like discovering more than what my friends are reading!
Happy quaran-reading.
HG
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