April 2026 Review

I’m sure you know this already, but it is May! April was a busy month and I kept myself even busier thanks to all of the books I couldn’t put down.

Today’s post will be a quickie – my time is very short this afternoon and I want to get something published before another day goes by. So we’re just going to focus on what I read. It was a month full of excellent books. Maybe we have a few in common?

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This month’s highlights were:

• Kin by Tayari Jones: this will likely be on my list of favorites for 2026. The heartbreaking story of two best friends, both of whom grew up without a mother, and their very different paths. I loved every second with this book and didn’t want it to end.
• Celestial Lights by Cecile Pin: I finished this book on the day that Artemis II landed and it was the perfect companion for the day. There were some powerful themes that touched on greed and ambition that have kept me thinking.
• Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust: I am delighted to have read this! It was difficult in many spots and I tired of Odette and Charles’s fights, but it was so worth reading.
• The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, volumes 1&2 by Beth Brower: a delightful series! Emma is a kindred spirit and has had me laughing out loud. I love watching her bookshelf grow and want to read everything alongside her.
• On the Calculation of Volume IV by Solvej Balle: the latest in this series didn’t disappoint. It was a much more philosophical look at how to build civilizations that was fascinating. Book 5 will be out in November!
• Sula by Toni Morrison: a reread that started out very funny and quickly sobered. This was one of those books that required staring into space upon finishing.

Currently Reading:

📚 Circe by Madeline Miller: I am trying to read more mythology and knew I needed to read this one after I finished The Odyssey earlier this year. I am loving it! Odysseus has just made it to her island and it’s fun to see him through a new pair of eyes.

🎧 The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke: after publication we learned that Evelyn Clarke is a psuedonym and this novel was co-written by Cat Clarke and V.E. Schwab. A group of fledgling writers are whisked away, thinking they’re going to a world class salon for writers. Upon arrival, they realize the featured author has died before finishing his last novel and they will be competing to find out who writes the best ending. It is okay; I’m struggling with the audio. The narrator is butchering a number of the accents, so I would recommend reading this one on the page if you’re interested in it.

🐌 The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco: murderous medieval monks? Sign me up! I am loving this and have to force myself to stop every day. I’m about 350 pages in and it will soon be my main read because I am anxious to find out the identity of the murderer!!

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Also displayed with my April reading is a poem that Kat sent and is the perfect way to close out today’s post:

Dandelions by James Crews

It is a risk, isn’t it, to give your love
so completely to the hardy yellow heads
of dandelions you can’t bring yourself
to pull up from the yard, leaving them
blazing like small stars around which unseen
worlds keep spinning. The petals arranged
in the shape of a crown so the flower can hear
bees and other pollinators as they fly near,
so it can, in those few slim instants, choose
to sweeten its nectar, making sure that
others learn of this sudden feast over which
you now hover, kneeling before the plant
some would call a weed, missing out on
these commonplace miracles dropped
like lucky pennies everywhere at our feet.

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Friends, my time is up. I apologize profusely for any typos or errors in this post. Until next time — take good care!