April in Massachusetts was a stop-and-start process towards spring. We heard spring peepers peeping, watched the maple trees bloom and then make itty-bitty seeds, and now we’re seeing leaves galore. The lilacs and cherry trees are in blossom, and I can smell flowers on my walks around the neighborhood. And unlike last year, there’s been no late freeze (knock on wood), so it’s likely we’ll have LOCAL PEACHES this year!
I also see bunnies, bunnies, and more bunnies, which I bet thrills the coyotes and foxes in the neighborhood. The small-dog owners and keepers of outdoor cats aren’t thrilled about the predators traipsing around, but I’m a fan. Small furry creatures are adorable and I love them, but they spread deer ticks, which are awful already this year, so we can benefit from having a food-chain-related way to keep the furry population in check. I also like hawks and falcons.
Another wonderful thing about April: Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon! To read about my progress during the readathon, check out my wrap-up post.
Here’s some of what I finished reading in April (funny…I felt like I didn’t read much this month, but my list argues against that):
Grown-ups’ Books:
Thin Air by Michelle Paver (chilling grown-up book by an author of mainly middle-grade fiction)
Noah’s Compass by Anne Tyler (audiobook; a rather uncomfortably close to reality look at aging, love, and the nature of memory)
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (fictional account of an African immigrant and her take on race and the experience of immigrants in the United States)
The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney (audiobook about a family of grown-up spoiled brats and all of their spoiled-brat adventures. It’s a miracle I finished this one.)
The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier (scary short stories (or are they novellas?), including the one that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s avian horror film)
Room by Emma Donoghue (audiobook; a woman and her son are held captive for years and then things happen that are very interesting. Wonderful narration.)
Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler (audiobook; solid retelling of Taming of the Shrew.)
Bird Box by Josh Malerman (quick, relatively scary read about the end of the world. I’m going to avoid psychoanalyzing the choice of two books this month about people being held captive, albeit for different reasons.)
Big Brother by Lionel Shriver (the April SBC selection, and excellent fictional exploration about our cultures relationship to weight, food, and dieting.)
Also, I stopped reading The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver. I just wasn’t in the mood for more dystopian stuff. And I binge-listened to S-Town, which was fricking awesome but not a book.
Kids’ Books:
Goodness, is my time of reading aloud with my children coming to an end? I hope not. I’d better make some time for more family reading in May.
Currently Reading:
- The Burn Palace by Stephen Dobyns
- Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan (audiobook)
My To-Read List for May:
- The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (SBC May Selection)
- Whatever else I happen to pull off of my virtual to-read shelf.
What have you enjoyed reading in the past month? What’s on your to-read list for May?
Imperfect Happiness 
I haven’t read the book Room, but I watched the film and I thought it was really different to lots of other stories out there.
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I watched (and really liked) the movie before I even knew it was a book, and I was pleased to find that the book was still exciting even though I knew what happened. Some reviewers complain that reading Jack’s way of talking is tiring, but listening to the audiobook, it didn’t bother me at all.
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That’s really interesting. I’ve heard complaints that the film departs drastically from the book; did you find this to be the case?
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I think the movie followed the book fairly well. In the movie, some events were rearranged and some details were left out/changed, but I think it was pretty true to the book.
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