April Books

April was a month of solid reading, and I made a nice dent in my Quarantine TBR. This post is coming rather late as I was busy finishing my final essay for uni this month! Yes, that’s right I am done, fini, finito, 끝났다!

As we are all stuck inside and I am trying to be more considered with my purchases, most of these books have been borrowed from my local library via the Libby app. I think even after we are released from quarantine I am going to be more reserved when it comes to buying books.

The Three-Body Problem (三体) by Liu Cixin

Did I devour this book in 3 days? Yes, I did. Was it epic? Oh yes! I thoroughly enjoyed it and I can’t wait to get to the next book in the trilogy. As I stated in my Quarantine Reading List post I am already a fan of Cixin’s work from reading many of his short stories but this book is just sensational and I really enjoyed how the mystery slowly unravelled and how Chinese history in the form of the Cultural Revolution blended into the narrative to great effect. If you love Science Fiction you must read this book!

The Turkish Embassy Letters by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

A Uni book from earlier in the year, I decided to finish it so that I can declutter it as I am like the rest of the world using this prolonged period of time at home to sort through my possessions. I thought it was an ok read, and naturally, the most interesting parts were when Montagu was exploring Constantinople, but that in itself is problematic. Orientalism and colonialism is a tough subject to broach and as Montagu was a privileged white woman seeking out the ‘exoticness’ of the Ottoman Empire and its social customs it’s also an important subject to assess to educate yourself on. If you're interested in historic travel writing it might be worth reading but I can’t say I would have read this if I didn’t have to.

Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Butlers, banter and life lessons.

Ishiguro's story of Stevens a pretentious but well-meaning Butler is a touching story of memory and regret that perhaps can inspire us the reader to seize the moment. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

This is the first Young Adult book that I have read in a while (except Harry Potter I guess) and I must admit that I only read it because I heard that Netflix is making a TV series out of the trilogy that this first book belongs to and a companion duology called Six of Crows. I found it to be quite a fun read but quite obviously formulaic but I have heard that most people think Six of Crows is better, so I’ll read the rest of this series and then move onto that one.

Pride and Prejudice by William Shakespeare

Just kidding Pride and Prejudice is obviously by Jane Austen but one can’t help but notice the similarities between this novel and Much ado About Nothing. Elizabeth and Darcy are Beatrice and Benedict, Jane and Bingley are Hero and Claudio and then that blasted Wickham has to be no other than Don Jon.

Anyway back to my review, this was my penultimate uni read and my first Austen book and I liked it very much. Austen is renowned for her wit and I found myself quite often literally laughing out loud. Pride and Prejudice is obviously the quintessential romance novel and I found Darcy in all his socially awkward glory to be rather endearing and thoroughly relatable.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

What a wonderful novella. To Be Taught, If Fortunate follows four astronauts as they explore four different planets, in this future humanity, knows it is not alone in the universe and through this mission, Chambers presents weird and wonderful alien organisms to us. Another fascinating facet of this story is that humans have a technology that can edit their genes to make them less fragile in the face of new alien environments. This is also a quick and easy read and you could quite easily finish it in one sitting.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

I must admit that I thought I would like this book more than I actually did, of course, it was a good read, I just didn’t love it. And for that reason, I don’t think I will read Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There unless someone can convince me it is far superior to the first book.