Reading Recap April 2023

 April was a much better reading month for me! Hoping May will be the same!

Here's what I read this past month:

Fast, Feast, Repeat by Gin Stephens: I actually listened to this one (I know, the world is changing!) and learned a ton. She has for sure convinced me to try this fasting thing, though I still feel like some of the theories are very fad-like and a bit overrated. We'll see I guess. I'm curious at the very least, and so far I'm doing the "easy" one (eating between noon and 8 pm for the most part) and it's been not very hard to adjust to. I'm down about 2 kg (sorry I seem to be using a Japanese scale that somehow ended up at my house) so I guess it's going in the correct direction at least. I rated this one 3 stars on Goodreads!

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller: Well, I guess it's about time I finally read this one, which has been on my kindle for more than ten years. It was awesome. The story of Achilles as narrated by his lover, Patrocolus, and includes all their experiences at the Trojan War. It's beautifully written and a sweet sweet love story. I gave this one five stars on Goodreads! Woot!

Seventeen Wishes by Erica Alexander: This one I did not particularly enjoy. It's a quick novella read about a guy who has a heart condition so he risks his life to have sex with his girlfriend. Yeah. I would have liked a little more depth to it, but maybe there wasn't time in the 100 pages that it had. I gave it 2 stars on Goodreads.

The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe: This was our book club book of the month. It's a bit gritty and dark, but I enjoyed the craziness and intensity for the most part. It's about a girl who grew up with a con-artist mom, and when she finds herself taken as a hostage in a bank robbery, she uses some of those skills to get herself out of it. There's lots of flashbacks to her growing up life, and all the girls she had to pretend to be for her mom's hits. And after all that, she needs to figure out who she really is. I quite enjoyed it. I gave it four stars on Goodreads.

The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther: I needed something fun and light, so I decided to squeeze this one into the mix this month. And it was really fun! Our girl has been sad since her sister died almost two years before, but she is finally joining her family on their summer retreat to Martha's Vineyard. It's going to be a week of fun and games as they prepare for her cousin's wedding. And the tradition is to have a game of Assassin with water guns. She totally gets into it and even starts to fall for the stepbrother of the groom. Fun, cute, romantic and heart-warming family connections. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. 

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan: This was a book recommended by the author of the above Fast, Feast and Repeat. And it sounded like something I'd enjoy, so I found it at the library and quickly read it. (It's a short fast one.) And sure enough, it was a lot of the things I think myself... the frustration with the scientific thought on what food is good, and what food is bad... and how it changes every other year. And how marketing by certain companies has fueled our belief in what is good and bad (breakfast is good for you, you HAVE to eat it... according to a study done by Kelloggs, and etc) Anyway, bottom line he says "Eat food, not too much, and mostly plants." Definitely lots to think about in this one. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.

I also read half of Spare, but then had to return it to the library. We'll finish that later and report on it then. I didn't read ONE THING in my Oathbringer quest! AHHH!

Here are my plans for May:

• participate in the Asian Readathon (see previous post for what I plan to read for that)
• read The Last Thing He Told Me for book club (wah I'm already done!)
• maybe read one of my new books I just bought, probably All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
• read some chapters in Oathbringer.... it has to happen
• hopefully get my hands on Spare and finish that. It might not be till next month though

That should hold me over for a bit! Happy reading everyone!

(For the video version of this post, here's a link!)