I only read three books in April, and that’s okay! I’m not stressed about it. Like most other people cooped up in quarantine, I have been watching a lot of TV shows and movies recently. I currently have a lot of books in my TBR pile, so I’m going to refocus my efforts to read more in May. Let’s get into my list!
Conversations With Friends
Conversations With Friends is easily one of my favorite books – I liked it more than Normal People! The story follows Frances and Bobbi, best friends studying at Trinity College in Dublin. After meeting a well-known photographer, Melissa, they become wrapped up in her world. Eventually, it evolves into a messy and painful love triangle (except there are four people involved, so I guess it’s a love cube…) with Melissa and her husband, Nick. Sally Rooney is one of those authors who can, I imagine, scoop all the messy feelings out of my brain and verbalize them onto a page to create an eerily relatable story. I couldn’t stop thinking about this book while in the middle of it. I would love for her to release another book ASAP, but I guess I can settle for watching the adaptation of Normal People to get my fix.
The Thing Around Your Neck
This is a collection of short stories penned by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, one of my favorite authors. She focuses on different compelling stories of women in Nigeria and America. The 12 stories range from that of a young Nigerian writer who has faced harassment and sexism to a newly-married wife arriving in New York City to be with her husband, who hides their Nigerian heritage to assimilate. The Thing Around Your Neck is a quick read, but its brevity does not make it any less powerful. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a remarkable storyteller – the stories she depicts stick with you long after you put the book down. I think I will pick up her debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, next.
The Paris Hours
Okay, I am somewhat cheating with this book because I haven’t quite finished it yet. I’m still adding it to this list because it counts! I chose The Paris Hours as my Book of the Month – it was an early release and it comes out in May. This book took me a few chapters to get into the swing of it, but now I’m hooked. In 1927 Paris, the story follows four ordinary characters, Camille, Souren, Guillaume, and Jean-Paul. They all have different backstories with seemingly separate plotlines, but as time goes on, their paths are pulled together. I can’t wait to find out how this book ends.
[…] listed this book in my April 2020 reading blog post yesterday. At the risk of sounding redundant, I’ll just say that picking The Paris Hours as my […]