April Wrap Up – More Rereads

Happy May everyone! I hope everyone entered the month in good spirits. I’m excited that Summer is approaching, but it would be nice if the weather acted like it too. It’s going to be rainy and cold the next week…

Anyway, this month I read five books, which is about five more than I expected to read. I’m still busy working on my thesis, but I finished everything minus the actual analysis part and the conclusion! I hope to finish that soon, too, so I can go back to having a life. April wrap up April wrap up April wrap up

In other fun news, stores opened normally again, and we can now go out to restaurants during the day! My friend and I made good use of that and sat our butts down on one of the many patios in the city. I had probably the best poke bowl ever, which had spicy tuna, avocado, seaweed, and pearl couscous as a base. Gonna use pearl couscous in my own cuisines more often now…

Anyway, you’re not here to hear me talk about food, so let’s see what I’ve read in April!

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April Wrap Up: Reading

Call Down the Hawk

By Maggie Stiefvater

Call Down the Hawk had been on my TBR for quite a long time. I have owned it since before it came out, actually (thanks to whoever unboxed these early), but never got to it until now. But I figured it was now or never with the sequel, Mister Impossible, coming out so soon! I really enjoyed this book, because it was so mysterious and yet more clear than the original Raven Cycle. I think I understand “dreamers” a lot better after reading this book. Plus, I loved reading about all the side characters, old and new!

Dog Whistle Politics

By Ian Haney López

I’ve mentioned this book before, but now I finally finished it. The topic of this book is quite a substantial part of my thesis, so it was super interesting to read about. I do not have a linguistics background at all, but reading about how language can be coded to convey messages that would otherwise fly under the radar was quite enlightening. Interestingly, this book was finished in 2014, not too long before Trump announced his presidential candidacy. Halfway through I was wondering what this author thought about Trump and dog whistles, but I needn’t have, because he’s already writing a book about that. Too bad I won’t be able to use it for my thesis, considering it comes out in 2022…

Son of the Storm

By Suyi Davies Okungbowa

I also managed to squeeze in a NetGalley ARC this month! Son of the Storm comes out the 11th of May, so super soon already. It caught my eye because the world it’s set in is based on Western Africa, and the amount of books I’ve read by African authors/inspired by African culture is shamefully low. But I’m happy to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this one! I thought the beginning was a little bit too slow, and I probably would’ve read it faster if the action happened a little earlier. Nevertheless, I thought the world was magical, and the characters well thought-out. I won’t say much else, you can find my full spoiler free review here!

Shadow & Bone

By Leigh Bardugo

Yes, I decided to start a reread of Shadow & Bone after the show came out. I don’t quite have the time/energy to watch the show right now, but I also wanted in on some Grisha nostalgia, so here I am, rereading again and ignoring my TBR. Anyway. I first read this book a super long time ago, even before I moved to the United States, so suffice to say that I forgotten literally everything. Like, I kind of remembered the end, but even then, I had most of it wrong. So rereading it proved to be quite fun!

Siege & Storm

By Leigh Bardugo

I also managed to squeeze Siege & Storm in right before the month ended. I remember enjoying it the first time, but not quite as much as Shadow & Bone. Upon rereading it, however, I discovered that I do like it as much as Shadow & Bone. Funny how our perceptions can change like that. The love situation stil annoys me, though. I used to be team Nikolai, but we’ll see if that’s still the case after I finish Ruin & Rising. To be honesty, he’s kinda annoying in this book lol. So I guess for now I ship Alina with herself.✨

April Wrap Up: Life Stuff

I won’t bore you by telling y’all more about my thesis. Aside from that, it was honestly quiet month. Currently I’m applying to jobs, and also applying to jobs I’m not qualified for. Shoot your shot, as they say. At the end of this month, I’m temporarily moving home until someone hires me. I’m also hoping that employer will be based somewhere cool, like Brussels, or Berlin. I’m not even back a year, but I also desire a change of scenery.

I told you already that I went out for lunch for the first time since last year, but I really need you to take a look at the pic of my food below. Tell me that doesn’t make you instantly hungry! I also spent money (#whoops, I’m supposed to be saving) on shows. In my defense, I really needed new shoes because my old ones were quite literally falling apart. I’m glad stores are open normally again. There are still restrictions of how many people can be inside at once, but I feel like people are more likely to spend money if they can just walk in.

I hope our vaccination program will pick up speed soon. My grandma has been vaccinated for ages, but now it is finally my parents’ turn. At this rate, I don’t think I’ll be vaccinated before July. Oh well, if there’s one thing I practiced the past year, it’s patience. Funnily enough, I did get an e-mail from my health provider in the United States that I could schedule an appointment to get vaccinated. I very nearly bought a plane ticket so I could go…

Picture of my poke bowl for April wrap up
April wrap up divider

And that’s it for my April wrap up! Overall April was quite a productive month, and I ended up reading more than I expected. I hope now that my thesis is coming along, I get to have more time to enjoy reading for fun!

What did you read last month? Any new favorites?

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