It's been a busy month and a half or so, plus my laptop conked out, but here are the books I read in April. May is shaping up to be busy as well, as is June. Many good things, but lots of overwhelm. I'm doing a lot of escapist reading right now, but writing about it on the blog may have to wait.
Books Read in April 2026
- Shadows We Carry by Meryl Ain (Book club read)--Follows the lives of Holocaust survivors' children--appreciated the more uncommon topic but the writing/structure was not for me.
- How to Read a Book by Monica Wood (Other book club read)--Quick read, a bit saccharine, but enjoyed the characters and the Maine setting. Revolves around a book club in a women's prison, and how a young former prisoner reestablishes her life when she gets out. Featuring African grey parrots--they are pretty cool!
- Working the Mound by K. Iwancio (eARC review): Read my review here
- The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses (The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti #3) by Malka Ann Older---LOVED this incredible scifi sapphic mystery set on Jupiter--the futuristic language she creates (made up of French, Spanish, Dutch, Mandarin, Indonesian, and Nerd--and those are just the ones I identified) is worth it in and of itself. The worldbuilding with how humanity has adapted to Jupiter was also endlessly fascinating to me. My only recommendation would be to not read the third book first like I did, oops! The mystery was pretty standalone but there are references to other books and the relationship between the investigator characters Mossa and Pleiti who seem to have a very Holmes/Watson dynamic except they're explicitly romantically involved. 😊
- The Art of Blessing the Day: Poems with a Jewish Theme by Marge Piercy--So many incredibly strong poems about Jewish women's observance and experience, wrestling with the aftermath of the Holocaust and the rise of climate change, and incredibly meaningful translations of daily prayers. Highly recommend to those interested.
- The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei--I really just need to read everything, or at least all scifi and fantasy, recommended by Charlie Jane Anders, because I read Malka Older and Yume Kitasei for the first time this month and loved them both so much. The Deep Sky is mostly set on a generation ship and back in time when the shipmates were competing for spots. Asuka, the main protagonist, is a compelling viewpoint character and I loved seeing everything from her perspective. Futuristic technology blends really well with the storytelling, there's a little more horror than I'd like, but it's ultimately a hopeful story about friendship and community. I also love how the author centered friendship in a very queer-friendly world--we get to see a welcoming LGBTQ+ community AND recognize the importance and value of friendships to characters' lives, e.g., same-sex relationships exist and also same-sex friendships are important without needing to be sexual, something that I worry sometimes gets missed.
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