My Bookish Month of April 2024

Hi and welcome to another monthly overview!

I started April with heartbreak when a fox got our two bantam Wyandotte chickens and our cockerel, and things went downhill from there, as our almost 17 year old cat’s health took a turn for the worse and we had to have him put to sleep, since we didn’t want him to suffer (further). We know it was a long time coming, Mel was old and tired and just… done, I guess. His health had not been great in the last couple of years, he always pulled through but he never bounced back entirely, so rationally, I knew this was coming. Emotionally, though, well, that’s another kettle of fish. Pretty sure you could fill a large pond with the tears I shed in April.

Fortunately, the neighbours’ cats have been stopping by for cuddles, as I don’t just miss Mel but also a feline presence in general, in my entire life I’ve never been without a cat for more than a month or two. In the meantime, one of neighbours’ cats birthed two kittens, and we’ll be adopting one of them. Making the switch from a very old mostly inactive cat to an active and playful kitten will not be easy, and he will never be able to replace Mel, but it’ll be good for me to have a new furry friend. We might even adopt a second cat, negotiations ongoing 😅

So a rough month, April. And that’s reflected in my bookish month as well. I managed to keep going at all other levels, even if at times I was just going through the motions, but my reading was very slow. I had such a hard time focussing, missing Mel even more cos he was often curled up beside me when I was reading. I wanted to lose myself in books more than ever, but that has never been more difficult. Good thing I had almost all my reviews scheduled in advance.

Honourable mentions to The Small Museum, The Last Murder at the End of the World, Never Lie, Las niñas perdidas (Lost Girls) and Listen for the Lie but these were my favourite reads of the month:

In figures April looks like this:

April
Novels: 4430 pages across 13 books
Audiobooks: 55 hours across 8 books

And here’s what I did in April and some of what I’ll be posting in May:

What I read:

The Small Museum, Jody Cooksley
At the Stroke of Midnight, Jenni Keer
You’re Going To Die Here, Y.M. Miller
Voyage of the Damned, Frances White
The Last Murder at the End of the World, Stuart Turton
Spitting Gold, Carmella Lowkis
Never Lie, Freida McFadden
Annie Bot, Sierra Greer
Las niñas perdidas, Angela Marsons
Mina and the Cult, Amy McCaw
The Gathering, C.J. Tudor
The House at the Edge of the Woods, Rachel Hancox
We Used to Live Here, Marcus Kliewer (review to follow)

What I listened to:

The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins
George Orwell’s 1984, George Orwell
Fool’s Gold, Matthew Costello & Neil Richards
Listen for the Lie, Amy Tintera
The Phoenix Crown, Kate Quinn & Janie Chang
House Woman, Adorah Nworah
What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë

What I read earlier but reviewed in April:

Just Add Nature, Rebecca Frank
100 Words for Rain, Alex Johnson
The Redemption of Morgan Bright, Chris Panatier
The Trial, Jo Spain
The Kitchen, Simone Buchholz
Birds of Prey, Tom Jackson
Hidden Places, Claudia Martin
Toxic, Helga Flatland

I also had a look at my bookish quarter in pie charts.

Let’s have a look at the books that landed on my lap in April:

Two highy anticipated hardcovers from two of my favourite authors and one paperback that is the conclusion to a fab trilogy:

Seven 99p deals and two NetGalley DRCs:

Two audiobooks (part of my free Audible.com trial period):

I hope you had a good month and that you are safe and well! Thanks for joining me today and happy reading xxx