April may not be the actual cruellest month, but this year hasn’t been, like, the best. Although I won’t get into it, let’s just say I feel like there might not be enough ashwagandha in the world. Feeling awash in free-floating anxiety. Gah. Deep breath in, and exhale.
There have been lovely bright spots: Easter with the extended family, quality time with my bro, a chatty salt therapy day with besties, monthly dinner with dear friends, both darling kids at home… Deep breath in, and exhale. Lots of bright spots. Plus I finished a cowl I’ve been working on in fits and starts since October! Oh, there. That feels better. Deep breath innnnn and out…
Now, on to the books.
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume. For Gen Xers like me, at least in North America, Judy Blume is one of those icons who occupy an outsize place in our psyche and heart. She was an absolute mainstay of every elementary school library and Scholastic Book Fair of my childhood, starting in about grade 2 or 3 (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing) and on up (Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret). I don’t remember the plot of Tiger Eyes from when I was a kid, so it mustn’t have made the biggest impact on me, but its storytelling really holds up.
It deals with incredibly tough topics - the main character’s father is murdered at the store he owns, so Davey, her mom, and little brother move temporarily to New Mexico to live with her aunt and uncle. Here, she’s faced with racism, classism, teenage alcoholism, her mother’s spiralling depression – all while she deals with her own deep grief and confusion. Heavy, but also real. Judy Blume respects her audience and, for that reason, this book is probably on a lot of banned books lists.
Deadhead and Buried by H.Y. Hanna. A cozy mystery that follows the genre conventions – big city girl inherits a charming English cottage, stumbles over murder – and yeah, it fit the bill nicely.
Less by Andrew Sean Greer. In the weeks leading up to struggling novelist Arthur Less’ 50th birthday, he receives an invitation to his longtime boyfriend’s wedding… to somebody else. Suddenly, he has a reason to accept all of the myriad invitations to random literary events around the world. He can’t possibly attend the wedding; he’s touring. But he’s still Arthur Less, a hapless, strangely innocent, selfish, generous, skeptical romantic. Delightful. I highlighted some passages as I read them (don’t panic, twas an ebook), and I may just buy my own copy to keep.
Dial P for Poison by Zara Keane. Back in Ireland for another cozy. Much better than the one I read last month, and I didn’t even need a glossary.
Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. Tough going, this one. Because it was highly recommended by more than one person, I kept picking it back up and trying again even after deciding I was done with it. Then, once I got halfway in to this almost 600 page tome (paperback edition; my e-reader version was 800+), it felt like I was too far in not to finish. Ultimately, while there is some lovely imagery, a few characters I’d like to get to know better, and a unique world created, I just was not that interested. And honestly? The payoff simply wasn’t there for my persistence.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry. Now this is what I’m talkin’ about! I gobbled this book up and enjoyed every bite. This very fun read is a love letter to and send-up of fish-out-of-water romance genre tropes. It starts with narrator explaining how in the well-worn scenario where the high-powered big city lawyer moves to the small town and finds true love with the klutzy beautiful innocent baker/schoolteacher/florist, she’s the cold workaholic who gets left behind. But then, she’s compelled to spend a month in a small town where she comes face-to-face with her professional nemesis. Hijinks ensue. Loved it.
It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover. This novel involves really dark and difficult themes – domestic abuse, gun violence – and it has some truly powerful moments as well as several touching vignettes. It’s a compelling read, for sure, but I think it doesn’t quite achieve the depth or gravity it wants to. Ultimately, it’s a popcorn potboiler but I liked it. (I just saw that it’s going to be a movie, and that doesn’t surprise me a bit.)
Verity by Colleen Hoover. I enjoyed the previous so much that I dove directly into another novel by the same author. This story was gripping. Omigosh, like a full-on psychological thriller. I can’t wait for the movie of this one! (I have no idea if it will be a movie but also I am certain it will be a movie.)
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. Many experiences of Black, English womanhood are explored in this engaging novel. Section by section, we meet a different girl or woman or “Other,” from Amma to her daughter Yazz, to her old friend Shirley, then to Shirley’s colleague, Penelope, to Morgan who was once Megan, but changed their name to accommodate their growing sense of being a non-binary person, to Hattie, who’s Morgan’s great-grandma, and others. The relationship amongst the characters sometimes takes a while to emerge, and it’s never the most important aspect of the story. Each of the characters is distinctive and real, and the hero of their own life story. I was fully rapt.
