Everything I Read in April

On finding a reading pattern again...

As I’d hoped, now that things have finally calmed down a bit, I’ve been able to fall back into a reading rhythm. I’ve gone from barely scraping two books to reading twice as much. That might not sound like a lot, but it’s exactly where I was this time last year—so in many ways, it feels like getting back to myself. I won’t be talking much about my corporate life here anymore, but you can check out my separate Substack (Notes from the Cubicle) if you are interested in that.

Of course, I’d love to read even more and make a bigger dent in my ever-growing TBR, but it’s just not realistic while working full-time. Maybe if I didn’t write on here, I’d have more time—but writing feeds a different part of me. I’ve found a balance between the two that feels really good right now.

This month’s reading was varied, but overall pretty solid, less one liners that stood out to me than I would have liked but I ticked some big names off my list!

Bear Town, Fredrik Backman (4.0/5.0)

This was my second Backman novel. A Man Called Ove absolutely crushed me—this one, not so much emotionally, but it was still incredibly gripping.

The violence against women is, of course, hard to read. What stuck with me most wasn’t hatred toward a particular character, but toward the collective—the town, the mob mentality. It’s chilling to see how easily a community can become complicit.

I know this is part of a series, but I’m not sure if I need more of it—at least not right now.

Some lines I highlighted and I will do a quotation study diving into these quotes in April as well:

‘What you create, others can destroy. Create anyway. Because in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and anyone else anyway.’

‘They’re balancing on that defining moment in life when they’re each equally concerned about the other. The teenage years offer’

‘Kevin likes the fact that she’s different. That her eyes never quite stop moving, that she’s always watching. That she seems to know who she is. He wishes he could be like that.’

‘Culture is as much about what we encourage as what we actually permit.’

‘That most people don’t do what we tell them to. They do what we let them get away with.’

‘His mom always said that every child is like a heart transplant.’

Salt Slow, Julia Armfield (3.0/5.0)

You probably know by now that I adore Armfield. I really wanted to love this, but I just can’t get into short stories. I need those 300 pages to really build a relationship with the characters.

That said, there were a few stories that still caught my attention, and I can see glimpses of what I love about her novels. There’s something about the way she writes about embodiment, decay, and intimacy that fascinates me. I’ve now finished everything she’s published and am eagerly waiting for whatever comes next.

The standout story for me was ‘The Great Awake’. A horror story I suppose about this figure that follows you everywhere and you lose the inability to sleep. A metaphor for insomnia in a bustling city.

Some lines I enjoyed:

‘Without sleeping, it was harder to parcel up your days, to maintain a sense of urgency.’

‘Sleeping gave me time off from myself—a delicious sort of respite. Without it I grow overfamiliar, sticky with self-contempt.’

One True Loves, Taylor Jenkins Reid (4.25/5.0)

Possibly my favourite book of the year so far. I’ve read most of Reid’s backlist and she consistently delivers. Her ability to craft a compelling narrative is honestly unmatched in contemporary fiction. She draws you in instantly and makes it feel effortless. I genuinely think her work deserves a place in uni syllabi.

Yes, this is technically a romance, but it’s also about identity, grief, reinvention. It wrestles with the question of whether it’s possible to have more than one true love—and what it means to move forward.

Some quotes I highlighted:

‘My name is Emma Blair and I’ve got a booty.’

‘But business doesn’t work like that. And I don’t need my employees to like me. I need them to respect me and do their jobs well.’

Mina’s Matchbox, Yōko Ogawa (3.0/5.0)

I adore Japanese literature. It always manages to captivate me. Mina’s Matchbox is a quiet little novel—nothing much really “happens,” just two girls growing up with a hippo in the background—but the writing is so spellbinding that it doesn’t need to be plot-heavy.

There’s a certain kind of atmosphere Japanese fiction nails: delicate, slow, but deeply moving. This book is all vibes, and I adored it.

There were a few lines I highlighted but none that were standalone enough to list here.

The Secret History, Donna Tartt (in progress)

I finally decided to pick this one up on audiobook to see what the fuss is about. I didn’t love The Goldfinch—it felt a bit too self-congratulatory—but The Secret History is more digestible. Still very heavy on literary references, but I actually like the character dynamics and the pacing a lot more.

I’m about halfway through and will carry it into May. I get why people rave about it, though for me, it hasn’t reached “life-changing” status just yet.

Books I Didn't Get Around To

Only one this time:

1. Us Fools by Nora Lange

What I would like to read in April

I’m heading off on a short holiday in May, so I’m going to be a little ambitious with the list:

1. Counter Attacks at Thirty, Won-pyung Sohn

2. Hunchback, Saoi Ichikawa

3. Girls Against God, Jenny Hval

4. Elena Knows, Claudia Piñeiro

5. Martyr, Kaveh Akbar

6. Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry

7. The Lamb, Lucy Rose

8. Us Fools, Nora Lange

If you ever feel moved to support this tired writer trying to survive the 9–5 you can leave me a tip