Ah, here we are again, at the end of another month and I’m sitting here going “How are we at the end of (whatever month)? Didn’t it just start?” I’m aware I say the same thing every month, but it’s true of every month. And April especially was especially quick for me.
I’m excited to share my April reads with you all, so get comfy, grab your favorite beverage, and let’s chat!
April has been my best reading month of the year so far! As always there were a few duds, but I really loved the majority of the books that I read. Additionally, I just had a good time reading this month, which was especially great after a somewhat shaky March where, even though I did have quite a few 4-5 star reads, the overall vibes were not great.
Of the 19 books I’ve read so far, 14 were 4-5 star reads! My 4-5 star reads this month were:
- Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong (☆☆☆☆☆)
- Shakespeare in Love by Lee Hall (☆☆☆☆)
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare (reread) (☆☆☆☆☆)
- Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (reread) (☆☆☆☆☆)
- Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery (reread) (☆☆☆☆☆)
- Of Human Kindness: What Shakespeare Teaches Us About Empathy by Paula Marantz Cohen (☆☆☆☆☆)
- Ophelia by Lisa M. Klein (☆☆☆☆)
- Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery (reread) (☆☆☆☆.5)
- Women of Will: Following the Feminine in Shakespeare’s Plays by Tina Packer (☆☆☆☆☆)
- Juliet: The Life and Afterlives of Shakespeare’s Most Tragic Heroine by Sophie Duncan (☆☆☆☆.5)
- Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village by Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper (☆☆☆☆☆)
- When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen (☆☆☆☆)
- Laertes: A Hamlet Retelling by Carly Stevens (☆☆☆☆.5)
- The Broken Girls by Simone St. James (☆☆☆☆)
I spent a lot of time reading Shakespeare related things this month (you all know this, I haven’t shut up about it so I won’t go into detail here), and really loved all of them. I ended up reading 3 non-fiction books about Shakespeare this month and I think that’s the most non-fiction I’ve ever read in a month. I have started another non-fiction Shakespeare read that I am hoping to finish by Sunday, but we’ll see. I’m also working my way through my Anne of Green Gables series reread and having a great time — Gilbert Blythe is the blueprint — my plan is to have that reread finished by the end of May, and I think that’ll happen pretty easily.
As of right now I don’t really have any solid plans for May reads. I have some books that I’ve been meaning to get to for a while now, so I’ll probably try and get to those, but since I had so much themed reading this month I’m gonna let myself focus more on mood reads in May.
Blog posts and vlogs I loved this month:
- Before seeing this review from OhNoBooks, I hadn’t heard of Heart Haunt Havoc by Freydís Moon, but this review definitely made me add it to my TBR! It was available for free on Kindle Unlimited, so I rented it and will hopefully read it in May.
- It’s always exciting to see news that a book you love is going to be adapted into either a film or tv series, and while there are many adaptations I love, I do think that there’s still a huge lack of adaptations for books written by authors of color. I loved Kate’s post 10 Books That Should Be Adapted for the Screen (All By Authors of Color!). This list has some books that I love and want to see adaptations of, and books that I haven’t read but have now added to my TBR.
- I really loved Kaitlyn Hill’s debut Love From Scratch and have been looking forward to her sophomore release, Not Here to Stay Friends. I loved Helena’s review and am looking forward to reading it and discussing it with her.
- Who else feels like their attention span has just continued to decline over the last few years? It’s definitely a common occurrence for many, and I found this vlog from Leonie of The Book Leo to be a super interesting deep dive into the myths of why our attention spans seem shorter.
My posts this month:
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, what a month it’s been. I can’t lie, work has been incredibly stressful this month. It always is in the last 2 months leading up to summer camps, but this month was also stressful with the school musical performing (we’re actually in tech week right now and have performances this weekend), so I’ve just been kind of a mess if we’re being totally honest!
Besides working and reading, most of my month has been spent obsessing over The Eras Tour (and trying to get my outfit decided, yes my show isn’t until the end of July, what about it? And yes, I have switched between looks for three different eras), watching baseball (pretty sure my main source of stress besides work is watching Giants baseball), and getting ready for my trip next month!
At the end of May I’ll be visiting my best friend Helena (of BubblingUpWithHelena fame) and I truly cannot wait. Helena and I haven’t seen each other in person since 2019 — living on the opposite end of the country from your best friend SUCKS — and this trip has been a long time coming! We’ll be seeing & Juliet and Sweeney Todd and I’m so incredibly excited you have no idea. I can’t wait to be in the city again and see these two musicals that I love so desperately and visit some places that I really love, but most importantly, I can’t wait to spend some in person time with my best friend — and so close to our 15-year friendship anniversary!
What were your favorite reads of April? Let me know in the comments!
I LOVE YOU. THE END OF THIS POST MADE ME EMOTIONAL. SEE YOU SO SOON.
LOVE YOU I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU!!