April 2024 Books
The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart – Margarita Montimore
On New Year’s Eve, at the stroke of midnight, Oona will turn 19, but as the countdown begins, Oona faints and wakes up in her 51-year-old body. She learns that each year she will jump to a different chronological time. I picked this up after reading Tobia’s review. Anything with time travel is a big yes for me, and I loved this story. It’s such a great premise, and the story kept my attention (there may have been a few late nights to find out what happened next). The reason for only three stars was that there were many instances where the dialogue (both inner and outer) was a bit cheesy, which irritated me. Overall I’m glad I read this. (3.5 stars)
King: The Life of Martin Luther King – Jonathan Eig
This was an excellent biography. Admittedly, not being American, I only knew the bare bones about MLK, but this certainly gave me a better picture of him and his radical gospel-centred vision. His understanding of the captivity and diminishment of the oppressed and the oppressors is something that is important to grasp for us today, especially in the face of competing political forces that tend to take a zero-sum outlook. (4 stars)
Defiant (Skyward #4) – Brandon Sanderson
Spensa is reunited with her friends from around the galaxy to fight together against the Superiority. A fitting end to the Skyward series. The world-building in this series is so good, the characters are engaging and the story was exciting. Highly recommended. (4.5 stars)
LInes of note:
“Honestly, I hadn’t ever been good at it[following the chain of command], even when I hadn’t been a onewoman apocalypse with a fruit-flavored delver filling.” – This line made me laugh out loud.
“The love of the oppressed found the souls of the broken, and the result was light.” I was reading this at the same time as the King biography, and this line stood out to me because it encapsulated King’s understanding of the brokenness of both the oppressed and the oppressors and how love can heal and free both sides of the oppression divide. An interesting confluence of the same idea in two very different contexts.
Do you read more than one book at a time? Hit me up with the books that have stood out for you over the last few months.
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5 Comments
J
I really liked ‘Oona Out of Order’ (as it is titled here) as well.
The book on King looks interesting! My father was present for the ‘I have a dream’ speech in DC, and met him another time. He (my father) was involved in the movement to register people to vote in the south, and participated in a lesser known walk for peace from Quebec to Cuba, which is why he was in DC that day. He went to jail for being part of the walk in Georgia, which is where he was when JFK was shot. I should read this book in his memory.
I generally read one physical book at a time, and listen to another. Occasionally they have been too similar and I get confused, so I try to not let that happen!
Melissa
How ownderful that you have an historic connection and that your father was involved in the civil rights movement. something to be very proud of. I read multiple books but they are very differet. I only read one fiction book at a time.
NGS
Oona! I wanted to like that book, but the casual drinking, drug use, and unprotected sex in this book caused me great anxiety. Oona is not a character I resonate with because her lifestyle is so far removed from my own. And it makes me feel like maybe I should be able to get over some of my hangups when I’m reading fiction, but this book was Exhibit A that I obviously cannot. LOL.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
I am glad you enjoyed Oona. I totally understand the issue you had. i think listening to it was easier not pay too much attention to the cheesy dialogues.
Jenny
You definitely have a lot of variety in your reading! Oona sounds like a good book… I think. I don’t like cheesy dialogue, but the overall plot sounds good. I haven’t read the MLK book, but I should- I’m sure there’s plenty I don’t know about his life.
I’m currently reading- and enjoying- A Gentleman in Moscow. So good!