Books Read in April

Book By Book

Let’s see…in April, I traveled to Virginia, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania in cars and on planes, camping, staying in hotels, and staying in my mom’s guest room. It was a hectic, chaotic month, but all that travel also provided plenty of reading time!

Here’s what I finished reading in April:

• Mudbound by Hillary Jordan (MS) – adult fiction
• On the Come Up by Angie Thomas – teen/YA fiction on audio
• Leading Men by Christopher Castellani (NY, Italy) – adult fiction

• Sunburn by Laura Lippman (DE) – adult fiction on audio
• Hum If You Don’t Know the Words by Bianca Marais (South Africa) – adult fiction
• Soon the Light Will Be Perfect by Dave Patterson (VT) – adult fiction on audio

• Last Day by Domenica Ruta (MA) – adult fiction, reviewed for Shelf Awareness
• Lives Laid Away by Stephen Mack Jones (MI) – adult fiction 

That’s eight books in all in April, a very good reading month for me! Much of the month was spent packing in as many books for Booktopia (held the first weekend in May) as I could manage – summary coming up next week! I read all fiction last month and mostly adult fiction, with just one  YA novel. I listened to three of the books on audio. I enjoyed all of these, and Mudbound was particularly powerful and well-written, but my favorite of the month (and perhaps even the year!) was Hum If You Don’t Know the Words, a moving, heart-breaking, and heart-warming story of love and healing – if you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend it.

Progress in 2019 Reading Challenges:
This is my favorite part of my monthly summary – updating my Reading Challenges:

Mount TBR Reading Challenge – 3 of my 8 books were from my own shelves (and they were all fairly new, so I am still losing ground!).

Monthly Motif Reading Challenge – April was Crack the Case month, so Lives Laid Away by Stephen Mack Jones fit.

Back to the Classics Challenge – no classics read – again! Slow start. I really tried to fit one in, but book group reads, review books, and Booktopia had to come first.

Monthly Keyword Challenge – I didn’t read a single book with any of the monthly keywords in the title…again. Clearly this challenge wasn’t a good choice for me!

Nonfiction Reading Challenge 2019 – no nonfiction books again last month.

Diversity Reading Challenge – back on track last month, as 5 of my 8 books were diverse books.

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge – I added two new countries: Italy and South Africa.

2018 Literary Escapes Challenge – I added 2 new states: Michigan and Mississippi. Plus, I read my second book of the year set in our tiny state of Delaware – amazing!

Finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break – not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month. I filled in 21 squares in April - 

Spaces Filled In:

Mudbound – military, siblings, vengeance
On the Come Up – Easter egg, musician, feisty
Leading Men – travel, shelf love
Sunburn – audio book, tricks or pranks
Hum If You Don’t Know the Words – a book someone recommended, transformations
Soon the Light Will Be Perfect – free book, male author
Lives Laid Away – read a physical book, library book, in a series
Last Day – not in a series, tattoo, new adult
Free Space

What was your favorite book read in April?