April 2026 Monthly Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

April 2026 Monthly Wrap Up

April was a good reading month for me. I finished rereading the Narnia Chronicles for the first time since I was a kid and I knocked six books off my TBR 26 in '26 list. See any favorites?

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

The Other Family by Joanna Trollope. I always enjoy her books. This one is about a musician whose death forces his his partner and their children and his ex-wife and oldest son to interact. 

Showing the Flag by Jane Gardam*, short stories from the author of the Old Filth trilogy. I'm never as fond of short stories as I am of longer fiction (Somerset Maugham being the exception), but some of these were very good, particularly the title story. 

Homecomings by C.P. Snow.* I’m determined to finish his Strangers & Brothers series even though I find them pretty dry. This one at least had some personal story, and wasn't focused entirely on a work situation. 

Foxed Quarterly (Issue No. 51, Spring 2017). I’m working my way through some back issues. Because the quarterly is devoted to backlist and out of print books, the old issues are never out of date. 

When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor... and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. This was interesting to read but is focused on foreign missions and I was looking for local guidance.

The Food of Love by Anthony Capella* is a cute, foodie romcom set in Italy, a modern retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac.

Death Takes a Bath by Sharon Lynn. This cozy mystery set in Bath, England is the first of a series. The heroine is a 19-year-old college student, so I'm not the target audience and am unlikely to continue with the books, but it was fun to read in preparation for a trip to Bath. 

Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore, a reread. More psychology than I remember. I had it confused with The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life, which I loved and now need to reread.

Steaming to Bamboola by Christopher Buckley*, his memoir about a year in the merchant marine. 

The Boss Dog by M.F.K. Fisher*, a fictionalized account of living in Aix with her two daughters. It was fun to read, but repetitive of her nonfiction about her life in France.

Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love by Anne Fadiman* was a letdown. Read my review here. 

Frozen Assets by P.G. Wodehouse. Hilarious, as always.

NOTES

* Denotes a TBR 26 in '26 book. 

What was your April favorite? 

"Green But Unseen" -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

Green But Unseen

This blog is my first bookish love, but I do enjoy the spontaneity and general sense of fun found among bookstagrammers on Instagram. One of my favorite things is how bookstagrammers come up with clever ways to highlight the books in their collection. One of the best is posting about a set of books based only on the color of the covers or spines. A popular version of this is to gather "Red But Unread" books. My personal favorite (because I thought of it) is to feature "Orange You Going To Read That" books.

A new one making the rounds is Green But Unseen, showcasing books with green spines or covers. I picked a baker's dozen of 13 books with green spines. These books have nothing intentionally in common besides their green spines and that I have not yet read any of them. 

These are in alphabetical order, by author. Which would you pick first? 

Family & Friends by Anita Brookner. I have so many of her books on my TBR shelf and have only read Hotel du Lac, because it won the Booker Prize. I want to read more, although I've been reluctant to start because I've read that the rest of the books don't stand up to Hotel du Lac. The only way to find out is to try for myself.

The After Party by Anton DiSclafani, a novel about Houston socialites in the 1950s. It sounds fun to me, although it gets mixed reviews.

The Old Man and Me by Elaine Dundy. This one is not a sequel to The Dud Avocado, but is similar. Avocado is about a 21-year-old American woman who find adventure in Paris. Old Man is about a slightly older American woman who finds adventure in London. 

The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich. This one has been on my shelf the longest. I always like her books so should get cracking on this one.

Crusoe’s Daughter by Jane Gardam. Her Old Filth trilogy is a recent favorite of mine. I want to read more by her and have gathered several, including this one.

The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley. I remember that my sister read this one in college and loved it. It's a modern classic I’ve been meaning to read for quite a while.

Kaleidoscope by J. Robert Janes. I love and collect paperback Soho Crime books with these color-block spines. Occasionally, I come across a hardback version, like this. I prefer the paperbacks because they all match, but will take the hardbacks if it is all I can find.

The Secrets of the Bastide Blanche by M.L. Longworth, book 7 in her Provençal Mysteries series, one of the many series languishing on my shelf. My plan is to start this series as soon as I finish Martin Walker's "Bruno, Chief of Police" series, also set in rural France. 

Midaq Alley, The Thief and the Dogs, and Miramar by Naguib Mahfouz in an omnibus edition. Until I took this picture, I had it in my head that these three novels were his famous "Cairo Trilogy," but they are not. Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever get to these books. Should I? He did win the Nobel Prize for Literature after all. 

Civil to Strangers by Barbara Pym is one of several of her books I have in Virago Modern Classic editions. She’s a favorite, and I feel a Pym jag coming on. Maybe I'll tackle her books next, as soon as I finish my Helen MacInnes deep dive. 

The Babes in the Wood by Ruth Rendell, book 19 of 24 from her Inspector Wexford series. I’ve only read the first one, so I have a way to go!

The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal, in a Modern Library edition. The Red and the Black almost killed me, so I've been putting this one off. But I hear it is more enjoyable than Red & Black, so I'll get to it one of these days.

August Folly by Angela Thirkell, which now I plan to read in August. I've only read one of her books, but I know she is having a resurgence in popularity. I want to read more. 

What unread green-spined books can you find on your shelves?

And if you are a fellow bookstagrammer, drop me a comment with your user name so we can find each other over there.