My Quest to Read 100 Books in a Year: March & April, Months 3-4

Related posts: Check out our fiction reviews, non-fiction reviews, and book lists.

Note: Some links throughout our site are affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission at no cost to you.

why I am reading 100 books this year?

Really I am doing this because I want to and because I accomplished this goal once before in 2021. I fell about 25% short in 2022, so it’s game on! I’m taking a different approach to the types of books I read to be more intentional this year compared to last. Read my full story of this year’s challenge in my post here.

where I stand four months in to reading 100 books

So far in 2022, I’ve read 34 books, putting me slightly ahead of meeting the goal of 100 books! I got a bit behind in March and got caught up in April, thanks in part to our trip to a state park for hiking with a gorgeous setting for evening reading! Because I got behind in March, I am combining this post into an overview for both March and April combined.

books read in march and april on the journey to 100

Literary Fiction:

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson - I’ve enjoyed all 3 of the novels I’ve read by Woodson, including 2 this past month. This novel, set in New Jersey, explores the heart-wrenching reality of brain trauma faced by some professional football players through the eyes of a high school student whose father has gone from celebrity to someone struggling to remember basic information. The science on these injuries is relatively new and for years there were unknown, not discussed health issues that families faced on their own, all of which is explored in this novel.
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson - This novel, set in New York, explores the journey taken by four adolescent girls as they mature from believing that anything is possible in life to the realities of adulthood, especially as Black girls in a sometimes gritty city. As I have come to expect from Woodson, her writing is beautiful, poetic, and real.
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton - Set in a rural Massachusetts community, Wharton’s work from 1911 is a reflection of the mores and society expectations of that time. Ethan is saddled with a failing farm, a dearth of funds, and a sour, hypochondriac for a wife when his wife’s good-natured cousin moves in to assist with household chores and he faces a conundrum of continuing to live his life as it has been or escaping to a new reality. The novel has an unexpected ending, which I won’t give away.
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout - In general, I have enjoyed Elizabeth Strout’s novels, some more than others, and I would put this in the category of one I enjoyed. When Lucy Barton, wife and mother, is hospitalized for an indeterminate illness for an indefinite time, her semi-estranged mother shows up at the hospital. The bulk of the novel is a conversation between mother and daughter and flashbacks to the moments that got them both to this point, one where Lucy escaped an impoverished childhood for what seems to be an upper middle class existence in Manhattan. A few other novels I’ve read by Strout are Olive Kitteridge and Oh William!, including a full review of the former, which you can read here.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote - While I have never seen the movie (gasp!), I had no idea until randomly coming across this novel at my library that it had started off its life as a novel by none other than Truman Capote. This novel, set in Manhattan, is really a story about reinventing oneself over-and-over again, how moving to a new place with a new name is an opportunity for the chameleons among us to be whomever they want.
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf - Two neighbors in Colorado - Addie and Louis - are in their senior years and have lost their spouses, leading to a sense of loneliness. So when Addie knocks on Louis’ door and asks if he wants to start spending the night with her - not in a sexual manner as she clearly states - she’s simply proposing a pragmatic solution to the problem they both have. Haruf’s novel takes a very frequent and real situation and looks at it with fresh eyes in this disarming tale. While I have not watched the movie version, that is available on Netflix.
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley - This is one of my favorite recent books. While classified as a young adult novel, it should appeal to a wide readership. Firekeeper’s Daughter is a mystery, a tale of growing up, and features a strong, brave female character, Daunis. Daunis lives among the Ojibwe community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and her inheritance as a part-white, part-Indigenous individual makes her self-identification even more complex. There are preliminary plans to create a Netflix series from this novel.
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki - I would call this one a must-read. Who are we without the story of our life and how do we mold our own story into something comprehensible? What is the gap between what we perceive and what is tangibly real? The format of this novel is essentially a back-and-forth between Benny Oh and the voice of his own personal book for the story of his life. Benny has lost his father in a tragic accident and is struggling to make sense of his place in the world when he starts hearing and seeing things that may or may not be there. How does he find his own voice in the incessant noise? Like the prior novel I read of Ozeki’s - A Tale for the Time Being - this novel will challenge the reader to think differently about life’s big topics.
Muckross Abbey and Other Stories by Sabina Murray - You can read our detailed review here on this series of ten Gothic short stories. If you like Edgar Allan Poe, give this one a shot!
Crooked Plow by Iramar Vieira Junior - You can read our detailed review here of this novel set in Brazil, first being translated into English for a publication date of June 2023. The novel explores social issues and Brazilian history with an appropriate dose of magical realism.

Historic Fiction:

First, a quick note on the novels in this section. I had previously discovered author Susanna Kearsley and had read five of her novels a couple of years ago. What her novels have in common is that they are typically historical fiction, often with a modern day and past time dynamic, typically involve a mystery and are fun, compelling plots. When getting ready for our recent hiking trip, I was in search of e-books I could download from our local library, which can be a bit of hunting-and-pecking sometimes, and so when I saw several of her books were available in that format, I just went hog-wild and downloaded and then read them all. They were perfect vacation reads. The other novels by Kearsley that I had previously read and first got me interested in her writing were: A Desperate Fortune, The Firebird, Mariana, The Winter Sea, and The Rose Garden. I will note that Kearsley has been writing since the early 1990s and has most recently published a work in 2020. In a couple of the below novels written in the 90s, Kearsley used what is now widely understand to be a slur related to the Roma people.

The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley - Set in Scotland, the crew is busy with an archeological dig of what is hoped to be a long-sought-after Roman site from the 2nd century, the entire dig’s location predicated on the ‘second sight’ that a local boy has where he can communicate with a ghost from the Roman legion.
The Vanished Days by Susanna Kearsley - Set in Scotland during the early 1700s and the Jacobite intrigue, the novel is built around a woman who claims to be the widow seeking a government pension but whose story is more complicated than it seems at first blush.
Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley - In the 1920s an Italian playwright wrote a play for his beloved, much younger wife. When tragedy befall, the play was never produced and future efforts always had a bad outcome (much like the idea that Macbeth is a cursed play). In the modern day, a producer decides to put on this play as his final production before retirement and taps into his mentee, named after the original actress, and they head off to the Italian estate where the original playwright lived. There are already mysterious afoot when the group arrives, establishing some immediate foreshadowing.
The Splendour Falls by Susanna Kearsley - Set in Chinon, France, in the modern day, secondary tales are set during World War II and even earlier during the 13th century siege of the town. Emily, at the urging of her unreliable cousin Harry, heads to the town for a professional break and immediately connects with other local expats amidst the mystery of what happened to her cousin, who never shows up.
Every Secret Thing by Susanna Kearsley - Journalist Kate Murray is in London, covering a trial when she is approached at a restaurant by a man who knows who she is and knew her grandmother. Moments after he walks away, he is killed by a passing car, sending Kate down a rabbit hole of secrets from government spy work during World War II that is leading to multiple deaths in the present day.
The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett - This prequel was written as part of Follett’s Kingbridge Series and is set in the 10th century prior to his prior novels The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, and A Column of Fire. He has written another novel in this series that is available for pre-order (Sept 2023 publish date) and set in the late 18th century called The Armour of Light. Follett is a great story teller, and The Evening and the Morning is no exception. The tale follows the stories of two main individuals: a Norman named Ragna, who travels to England upon marriage to a noble and a boatbuilder whose life is upturned when a Viking raid kills his beloved and his father. Follett’s novels do not need to be read in order.

Romance:

The Kingmaker by Kennedy Ryan - When I downloaded this Advanced Reading Copy (as a re-publish), I was expecting it to be a tale of mystery and intrigue, which it was, but I did not realize it was also a romance, which is what I’d consider to be its predominant category. In any case, it is a fast-moving tale that quickly sucked me in. Lennix is a young Indigenous woman whose mother disappeared under unknown circumstances, unfortunately not a rare occurrence in her community, who is fighting against environmental destruction caused by a scion of the oil and gas industry. Maxim is the son of this man, but when he and Lennix meet, that quickly becomes a secret that threatens to harm their perception of each other.

Non-fiction: History

Cleopatra’s Daughter: From Roman Prisoner to African Queen by Jane Draycott - I read this as an Advanced Reading Copy with the publish date set to be May 23, 2023. While at times it can seem like we know a lot about history, this work of non-fiction clarifies how little we do in fact know about a lot. Cleopatra’s daughter, also named Cleopatra (and from a long line of that name) led a full, varied, and ultimately short life. The story of the love affair between Cleopatra and Marc Antony led to the birth of the daughter, named Cleopatra Selene. As is well known, things did not end well for Cleopatra and Marc Antony and from a life of Egyptian luxury, Cleopatra Selene found herself part of the deposed household and under the thumb of Augustus Caesar, who was the nemesis of her parents. After her time in Rome, she married Juba, a Numidian king in present-day Algeria.
Virginia’s Lost Appalachian Trail by Mills Kelly - You can read our detailed review here and discover the interesting history of how the Appalachian Trail was forged through the state of Virginia and how it was re-routed, leaving limited living memory of the original trail. For anyone who enjoys history and hiking, this will pique your interest.

Click below to save this post to Pinterest!