What I Read: April 2025

Read:

Show Don’t Tell – Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House, 2025)

Sankofa – Chibundu Onuzo (Tantor Media, 2021)

Babe – Dick King-Smith (Yearling, 1997)

Valentine in Montreal – Heather O’Neill (Harper Collins Publishers Ltd., 2025)

Shes a Lamb! – Meredith Hambrock (Dreamscape Media, 2025)

Beowulf – translated by Seamus Heaney (WW Norton & Company, 2000)

Audition – Katie Kitamura (Penguin Random House Audio, 2025)

Peacocks of Instagram – Deepa Rajagopalan (Astoria, 2024)

The Collected Stories – William Trevor (Penguin Books, 1993)

The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton (BBC Audio Books America, 2010)

A Way to be Happy – Caroline Adderson (Biblioasis, 2024)

Houses of Detention – Jean Ende (Apprentice House Press, 2025)

The Safekeep – Yael van der Wouden (Avid Reader Press, 2024)

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street – Karina Yan Glaser (Houghton Mifflin, 2017)

The Wren, the Wren – Anne Enright (McClelland & Stewart, 2023)

Did Not Finish:

Little Fortress – Laisha Rosnau

I read a poetry collection of Rosnau’s years ago and loved the way her poems told stories and so was excited to read a novel from her. But this historical fiction set in the Okanagan just didn’t grab my attention.

Slade House – David Mitchell

Currently Reading:

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self – Carl R. Trueman

Sunbirth – An Yu

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories – Susanna Clarke

Far to Go – Alison Pick

The Railway Children – E. Nesbit

The Harder I Fight the More I Love You – Neko Case

2025 Reading Goals:

Pages Read: 11, 593 (3,433 in April)

Hours Listened: 174 hours, 16 minutes (44 hours, 56 minutes in April)

Goliaths Conquered: 5 (William Trevor’s mammoth short story collection in April)

Translated Works: 6 (Beowulf in April)

Pre-2024 TBR: 11 (Age of Innocence from 2023)

Current TBR: 205 (previously 202)

Thoughts:

I read 15 books in April. Which frankly astounds me because I read 15 books in January and thought, Well, I’ll probably never do that again. I’m honestly not sure what’s making the difference for me in 2025. I have started including the books I read with the girls but that only adds 2 to my months count (Babe and The Vanderbeekers, in case you can’t guess.) I’ve found myself reading a number of books at the same time and that is maybe helping when I start to lag on one book; I always have another to pick up. Recently I’ve had maybe a novel, an audiobook, a non-fiction title, a short story collection, and sometimes a book of poetry or maybe an e-book that I’m all currently reading. It seems to be working for me.

Lots of good books on my list this month. If I had to pick an absolute highlight it was probably The Safekeep. I’m still mulling over my thoughts for a review. Valentine in Montreal was surprisingly charming and a fun ARC to receive. It comes out this summer so I’ll have a review out a little closer to the pubdate. I read three short story collections but wasn’t blown away by any of them. I was pleasant surprised by Sankofa and particularly liked the narration for that one and The Wren, the Wren. (I’ve discovered I love an Irish narrator.)

What’s Next:

So many books to read! Even with all my reading, my TBR list keeps creeping up. Some of my recent library withdrawals have been inspired by a friend’s recommendations, as well as my attempts to continue crossing off some of those longtime TBR titles. Adding to my TBR is the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts who just released their author list for 2025. I’m not going to try and read everyone but I definitely am adding a few. I was delighted to see Caroline Adderson on the list because I just finished her book!