Hello everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. In this post, I will be doing a wrap up of all the books I read in April. These reviews have spoilers:
1. Written in Bone by Sue Black
This is the second book that I read from this author, and I absolutely loved it. Easily one of my favorite books this year, Written in Bone is a map of the human body that the author travels through, from head to feet, to relate her experiences in solving murder cases where the forensic evidence of a specific part of the body was crucial for solving it. I gave this book an I Really Like It rating.
2. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
This book is a retelling of the Trojan War from the perspective of the women who were affected by it and lived through it. As I said elsewhere, I’m an avid reader of Greek mythology and I am the first one to admit that Greek mythology is not nice to women. The book begins after Troy has fallen and we witness the emotions of the women who are captured as spoils of war and are afraid for their lives; of the women who wake up in the middle of the night to find their city burning; of the goddesses who quarreled amongst themselves to see which one of them was the fairest goddess of all three of them, and whose disagreement lead to the Trojan War; of the Amazonian warrior who had nothing left to live for, and went to Troy to die; of the girl who was tricked into believing she would marry Achilles only to be sacrificed by her own father to the gods for favorable winds, and of course, of the woman most despised by all other women; the woman whose unfaithfulness cost so many lives. This is a book about the women who do not have a voice in the conquests of men, and despite the fact that we only meet some of them once or twice throughout the entire book, it was still a refreshing read about a conflict that has seen quite a bit of retellings of lately. I gave this book an I Liked It and Will Probably Read It Again rating.
3. Almost Human by Lee Berger
This book is a short memoir of how two paleoanthropologists discovered a new species of hominin in 2013. I really like to read about ancient humans and this book made me realize that things have changed quite a bit since I first learned about Australopithecus afarensis and Australopithecus africanus in school. It’s amazing how new knowledge has changed the scene, and I was long due for an update. This is a very fast read, but no less enjoyable and gave it an I Liked It and Will Probably Read It Again rating.
4.The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco
This is the second book of The Bone Witch trilogy, and it focuses on Tea’s search for the old Heartforger; hence, its name. This book was a re-read for me, and like the first time, I really enjoyed it. Tea’s storyline as an anti-hero, her quest for revenge, her relationship with Kalen, the magic system, Fox’s relationship with Inessa…there are a lot of things I liked about this book. I gave it an I Really Like It rating and will be reading the next book.
5. Atomic Love by Jeannie Fields
This book is a little different from what I usually read. I had already tried to read it once and couldn’t get into it. But I gave it another try this month and liked it enough to keep it on my shelves. Two things first though. I’m not a big reader of WWII historical books. In fact, this is the first book set in the years after WWII that I have read in a very long time and there are probably better books to have started reading about this period again than this one. And I know for a fact that there are; I can think of a few. But oddly enough this book was exactly what I needed at the moment I read it. This book is a romance. There’s no way around it. Yes, it’s set in the years after WWII and the protagonist is said to have been a part of the Manhattan Project, but the book is ultimately a romance. I really liked Szydlo; he is probably the only reason I’m keeping the book…despite the fact that I was hoping for a better ending. The ending, in my opinion, fell a little short, and Szydlo disillusioned me a bit when he didn’t want Rosalind to go back to work. I gave it an I Liked It And Will Probably Read It Again/Okay rating. Maybe I’ll get rid of it later, don’t know.
6. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
This book was also very different from what I usually read. And I found it a very interesting attempt to delve into the human psyche. Trigger warnings for depression and suicide attempt. It is a book that touches upon mental health and how we fall victim to its clutches or succeed to overcome it and heal. It is also a book that brings to mind our current reality of COVID (despite not mentioning this disease at all) and how being locked up in our houses has affected our mental health. The concept of a library where all of its books are all the other lives you could have lived is a very unique aspect of it and I enjoyed that very much.
That is everything I read this month. Thank you for reading.
