March 2024 Wrap-Up and April TBR
Plus April releases on my radar and our next Booker of the Month pick
Hi, book friends.
I hope your spring season is off to a good start. Personally, I’m trying to be patient but also desperately waiting for the appearance of flowers in gardens and leaves on the trees where I live. I think (hope) we have one more week of wintry weather ahead, and then things will take a more definitive turn.
If you were paying super-close attention (which I hardly expect), you may have noticed that I didn’t send a newsletter last week. Work was very busy in March, and I didn’t have a strong topic to write about, and I honestly just ran out of steam, so I took the week off. No regrets! But I’m looking forward to a nice full April of newsletters — I’ve already got topics planned for all five weeks, and it’s going to be rad.
Still, despite said busyness, it was an excellent reading month. So let me recap what I read and tell you what’s on my list in April!
What I Read in March
Click each title to read the full review!
Loved
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo 📖: Leigh never misses, even when she’s tackling historical fantasy for the first time. This was magical and engrossing, and I absolutely loved the ending.
James by Percival Everett* 📖🎧: There’s not much I can say about this that hasn’t already been said. Give it the Pulitzer.
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft* 📖🎧: Unputdownable and insanely smart. Legendary literary translator Jennifer Croft proves she’s got a TON to offer with this debut novel.
Liked a lot
Tadek and the Princess (Mahisti Dynasty, #1.5) by Alexandra Rowland 📖
The Morningside by Téa Obreht* 📖
Faebound (Faebound, #1) by Saara El-Arifi* 📖🎧
The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James* 📖🎧
Liked
Just OK
A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ 📖🎧
*gifted to me by the publisher
My April TBR
So yes, my grand plans to break my own 10-book TBR limit completely flopped, because of the 12 books I had planned, I read 9. Part of that was my busy work month, and the other part was my brain transforming into a potato after work hours. But it’s all good — those books aren’t going anywhere! Except on this month’s TBR. 😉
Once again, my goal this month is to read the April releases I’m most excited about, try to get a head start on the first half of May, and sneak a couple of randos in there too. Speaking of which! We got the 2024 Hugo Award Finalists last week, so you’ll see the Best Novel nominees represented on my TBR between now and August.
Here’s what’s on deck for April:
Sunbringer (Godkiller, #2) by Hannah Kaner*: I had hoped to make this my last book of March, but only got 50 pages in, so it’s up first in April!
A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke*: Publishing 4/9. I’m pumped to see what fantasy published by Avid Reader Press is like!
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods (To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods, #1) by Molly X. Chang*: Publishing 4/16. A highly anticipated debut epic fantasy, right up my alley.
Funny Story by Emily Henry*: Publishing 4/23. The way I SQUEALED when I saw this audiobook in my set of Libro.fm advanced listening copies this month. SQUEALED!
Real Americans by Rachel Khong*: Publishing 4/30. Literary family saga? Say less.
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley*: Publishing 5/7. One of my most anticipated so far this year! The main character hosts a time-traveling explorer as part of a government program and falls in love with him??? And it’s blurbed by Eleanor Catton, Max Porter, AND Emily Henry? UM!
We Were the Universe by Kimberly King Parsons*: Publishing 5/14. I loved Parsons’ short story collection Black Light, which was nominated for the National Book Award. Her debut novel sounds excellent.
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng: This month’s Booker of the Month (more on that below).
Ours by Phillip B Williams*: One of the ones that got away (recent releases I haven’t read yet).
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh: First up of the Hugo finalists! (Except, technically, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, which I’d already read.)
*gifted to me by the publisher
April Booker of the Month
ICYMI, I run a book club called Booker of the Month, where we read one book from the Booker Prize longlist each month. There are 13, so we double up just once, and by the time next year’s longlist is announced, we’ll have read them all.
This month’s selection is The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng. Join us!!
Find it on The StoryGraph or Goodreads
Sign up for our Zoom discussion on Monday, April 29 at 8 PM ET
April hot releases
I keep a running list of new releases I’m excited for on my Bookshop storefront, plus a list of recent releases I love or expect to love.
A few books that I have my eye on in April (aside from the ones on my TBR above) include:
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez
Like Love: Essays and Conversations by Maggie Nelson
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark
As always, thanks for sharing your corner of the internet with me! It would mean a lot if you were to take a second to like this post. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments, too.
Finally, if you like this newsletter, please send a few friends my way.
See you on Instagram!
— Deedi (she/her)