Book of the Month
Books Reviewed in April
The Mountain People – Colin Turnbull 
The Nobodies Album – Carolyn Parkhurst 
The Story of Forgetting – Stefan Merrill Block 
How I Became A Famous Novelist – Steve Hely
The Final Testament of the Holy Bible – James Frey 
Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela
Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer DNF
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell DNF
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna DNF
The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman DNF
The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith DNF
Plans for May
For the first time I have been persuaded to finish a book featured in one of my Read or Reject posts. I will be finishing The World According to Garp, if only so I can spot the way it has influenced other modern fiction. I’ve got my fingers crossed that it will at least have a few more great scenes.
I also plan to read some of these books:
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
The Collaborator by Mirza Waheed
Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman
Empire Of The Sun by JG Ballard
21 replies on “April Summary and Plans for May”
I’m reading Pigeon English at the moment and quite enjoying it (although I’m only about 50 pages in) but the narrator is beginning to get on my nerves a little, I’m keeping up with it for the story mainly, and maybe the narrator will grow on me.
Lucy, I have only just started reading it, but am enjoying it so far. I hope the narrator doesn’t get on my nerves. Fingers crossed we’ll both enjoy it in the end.
I hope I will, it still seem promising
The Illumination has been on my radar for a little while now. I’m happy to see you’ll be reading it in May! Keep up the great work, Jackie.
Brennan, I have heard great things about The Illumination and so am really excited about reading it. Let’s hope it lives up to expectations.
Glad your giving Irving a chance, I think I’ve said before that I prefer Owen Meany, also love Ryu Murakami & Ballard. This is a great list & one I shall check out.
Parrish, it is great to see you enjoyed so many of my list. Fingers crossed I’ll enjoy a lot more books this month.
Ah, a Lisa See book. That one isn’t my favorite of hers, but I did like it. I’ve been hearing good things about the Invisible Bridge, but you didn’t finish it, how come?
Helen, I ended up skimming Invisible Bridge because the characters were a bit one dimensional and perfect. It was too long for me to be willing tp invest my time in when I had issues with plot (predictable) and just a general lack of magic in the writing.
I really enjoyed Snow Flower and The Secret Fan. It was very well done but don’t Google images of foot binding no matter what! Learn from my mistakes.
Jenners. Thanks for the warning, but I’m afraid you’ve had the opposite effect-I now need to know how bad it can really be….
I hope you are able to get to Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and enjoy it! I read it last month and it is one of my favorites of the year so far.
Christina, it good to know that you enjoyed Secret Fan so much – I hope I do too.
I’ve not heard of any of the books in your April pile – that is slightly worrying!! Best of luck with the Irving. Maybe I should try finishing Prayer According To Owen Meany as well?
I intend to read Empire of the Sun sometime soon, as well as a book by Ryu Murakami (69). Enjoy reading in May.
Anothercookiecrumbles, I spotted that I hadn’t read many well known books recently and so plan to correct that in future and have a better balance of familiar/ obscure.
I look forward to comparing notes on Empire of the Sun.
a good month barring the orange books you didn’t like Jackie ,all the best stu
Stu, yes. I didn’t have much luck with the oranges this year. Hopefully I’ll have better luck now my orange reading is over.
Snow Flower was a 4 star for me. It’s China and bound feet and all that (yet again, how many books are there on this topic?) but this book is different and I enjoyed it a lot.
I also read The Interpretation of Murder which also was a 4 star for me. There is a lot of psychoanalytic babble which I didn’t enjoy even though I’m a psychologist (except I’m a research psychologist, not a couch psycho!).
Hope you have a good month with fewer abandonments!
Judith, I seem to have avoided the bound feet books as this is the first I’ve read – I hope this means I will appreciate it a bit more. It is good to know you gave both books 4 stars – I hope I enjoy them both just as much.
I’m a little late and was going to say you could give up on Garp, only because I just finished Owen Meany by Irving and it took forever without much pay off for me. Other people swear by Irving, but I’m not a convert.
stacybuckeye, I saw your problems with Owen Meany. I am still going to finish Garp (although I am putting it off!) as I am intriuged by what will happen and feel I should know. I don’t expect to be converted, but you never know!