April 2024 Reading Roundup
My reading in April saw me delving into new genres and taking advantage of the improving weather to squeeze in some long audiobook walks. I’m happy to report that it was a month of bangers — I didn’t rate anything below 3 stars and rounded off the month with two 5-star reads!
I also read/listened to a few non-fiction books this month, but I’ve decided to dedicate these monthly round-ups to my fiction reads and periodically share separate posts with my non-fiction recommendations.
Yellowface — R.F. Kuang
eBook | 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
After ending March with a 1000-page slow-burn fantasy, I knew I wanted to kick off April with something exciting and fast-paced. Having sat on my TBR since finishing Babel late last year, R.F. Kuang’s latest release fit the bill perfectly.
In Yellowface, our white narrator June takes advantage of the sudden death of fellow author Athena Liu by stealing Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, a novel about the contributions of Chinese labourers in WWI, and publishing it under her own name.
As the story unfolds and the threads of June’s lies unravel, Kuang’s commentaries on the publishing industry, cultural appropriation and the isolating nature of social media are timely and thought-provoking. This was my first time, at least in recent memory, reading a novel from the perspective of a deeply problematic and unlikable narrator. I love the way Kuang got into her character’s mind, and felt a satisfying , almost sick thrill at seeing it all unravel from the inside out.
Check & Mate — Ali Hazelwood
Library Book | 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
Continuing the theme of fast-paced palate cleansers, I decided to go completely out of my comfort zone and picked this up from the library on a whim.
Hazelwood’s YA debut follows Mallory, who finds herself embroiled in the world of competitive chess after four years away from the sport after inadvertently wiping the floor with world #1 Nolan Sawyer. Nolan is determined to cross pawns again, leading Mallory to become caught between her desire to leave chess behind forever and her inexplicable attraction to the ruthless strategist.
To be honest, I didn’t realise going into this that it was Hazelwood’s YA debut — I assumed that, like her other novels, it would be an adult romance. So, I sometimes struggled to get drawn into the love life of our freshly-18-year-old protagonist. That being said, it was a charming and easy read. I probably won’t be thinking about it forever, but it provided the palate cleanser I needed at that moment and certainly hasn’t put me off trying Hazelwood’s adult fiction (The Love Hypothesis remains firmly off the cards for now, though).
Book Lovers — Emily Henry
Library Book | 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
Okay, one more little romantic palate cleanser before I get back into the serious stuff!
In Book Lovers, cutthroat literary agent and certified City Girl™️ Nora agrees to spend the summer in a quaint little town with her sister. Against all the odds, she keeps bumping into her career rival, brooding editor Charlie. Despite desperate attempts not to let the tropes in their books come to life, Nora and Charlie find themselves drawn together again and again.
This book was my sign to branch out of my comfort zone more often! I had a great time with my first Emily Henry book and adult romance novel. It was gooey and corny and I allowed myself to enjoy every second while giggling and kicking my feet.
Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir
Audiobook | 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕
Ah, back into my comfort zone — and I’m back with a bang!
Project Hail Mary opens with an astronaut as he wakes up hurtling through space, the sole survivor of a desperate expedition to save humanity. The problem is, he can’t remember why or how he got to this point… he can’t even remember his name.
I LOVED this book. The amnesia trope always has the potential to feel tired or like an easy way out, but Weir makes it work perfectly. Project Hail Mary is pure sci-fi, but I found it incredibly accessible. Even when the science is science-ing, it does a great job of explaining everything in layman’s terms and telling us why and how it fits into the narrative.
I’d heard that this book was best consumed as an audiobook so that’s what I opted for, and I wasn’t disappointed. Ray Porter’s performance was phenomenal, drawing me into the suspense and thrill of the story. Listening made the jumps between past and present as our narrator’s fuzzy memories return that much more impactful.
I’m intrigued to see how Project Hail Mary translates into film — I only found out it was in production after the fact; if only I’d known while reading that I should have pictured Ryan Gosling!
Words of Radiance — Brandon Sanderson
eBook | 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕
Oh, Brandon. Brandon, Brandon, Brandon. You’ve done it again.
I finished April continuing my journey through the Cosmere with the second book in The Stormlight Archive. Following The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance takes us back to Roshar as war rages and our beloved characters see their lives intertwine.
I won’t say too much more not to spoil the events of the first book, but if The Way of Kings was a 5/5, then this was a 6. Clocking in at over 1,100 pages, I whizzed through this faster than some 300-page books!
May Hopefuls:
Ariadne — Jennifer Saint
Giovanni’s Room — James Baldwin
Our Wives Under the Sea — Julia Armfield
Oathbringer — Brandon Sanderson