BookNotes // vol. 13
April YA book releases, what I've been reading, & fun book related links.
March kicked my butt. Work was busy, which is great but we had a lot of different projects going on at the same time. Illnesses kept cycling through the family. All of my volunteer positions overlapped & came to a head, forcing me to recognize that I have taken on a little too much. On the plus side, we did get to go to Disneyworld as a family & my kids were over the moon excited about it! But I’m looking forward to a hopefully calmer April.
What I read is below; I think because of how my month went, I’ve been in a little bit of a reading rut. We did get a large number of our new book orders for the library in this month, so I’m thinking I’ll have to grab some of those to read over spring break!
And of course- Happy School Library Month!
What have you been reading this month?
Book Buzz
April 1
All the Stars Align by Gretchen Schreiber
Huda F Wants to Know?: A Graphic Novel by Huda Fahmy
Lady Knight by Amalia Howard
April 15
Pride or Die by CL Montblanc
April 22
If We Were a Movie by Zakiya N. Jamal
Murder Between Friends by Liz Lawson
From the Librarian’s Desk
What I’m currently reading: Care and Feeding: A Memoir by Laurie Woolever. This is an unflinching look at Woolever’s life & career starting in the 90’s when she worked as an assistant to Mario Batali & eventually to Anthony Bourdain. All the while dealing with addiction issues. It’s fascinating, sometimes funny, & really heartbreaking.
What I read in March:
All Better Now by Neal Shusterman. I really wanted to like this dystopian novel about a pandemic that makes survivors happy & content. If the focus had been more on the impact of the virus (which is touched on) & less on the action sequences of the people trying to produce a counter-virus I would have enjoyed it more.
Murder Between Friends by Liz Lawson is being released this month. It was an enjoyable mystery & the characters were well written.
Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld is a collection of short stories. If you enjoy Sittenfeld’s writing, you’ll enjoy this.
Whiteout by Nicola Yoon, Dhonielle Clayton, Ashley Woodfolk, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas. This is the follow-up to Blackout, which I loved & was a collection of connected short love stories between Black teenagers. Whiteout is a little different in that there is one central love story that all the other characters revolve around.
Beyond the Pages
Not book related, but my friend, fellow book lover, & fashionista Beth started her own style Substack, Styled by Beth. Definitely check it out!
What Maddie Read’s 10 best books she’s read this year. The Favorites was one of my favorite reads & I tell everyone to pick it up! I describe it as reading like a Taylor Jenkins Reid novel, taking place in the figure skating world.
As I just jammed another book onto my overflowing bookshelf, I clearly need to read more closely Bibliolifestyle’s bookish spring cleaning plan.
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