april 2025 reading wrap up
here are all the books i read this month before falling into a reading slump :/
1. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Suzanne Collins
Some of you might be surprised about this one, but yes, I did not read this book when it first came out. Even though I read The Hunger Games trilogy a decade ago and watched the movies, I didn’t consider reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Matter of fact, I only just watched the movie last year.
*insert young Coriolanus Snow TikTok edits here*
While the film adaptation was great and mostly stuck to the book, it didn’t really show Coriolanus’s inner monologues. Reading the book did that instead, and it was interesting to know President Snow’s backstory.
Regardless of that, I didn’t enjoy the book. I found it long and boring and it nearly put me in a slump. Snow does not land on top, BTW.
Verdict: 3/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
2. Sunrise on the Reaping, Suzanne Collins
*Captain Holt voice* PAAAAAAAAINNNNN (as quoted by one of my reader best friends, user @ruininfullbloom on Twitter)
In contrast, I loved Sunrise on the Reaping, which was Haymitch’s book. The pace was much faster and it followed Katniss and Peeta’s mentor’s backstory.
When I started this book for the first time, I was warned that it was going to hurt and safe to say, it did just that. Haymitch’s story was devastating and it broke my heart to know what Snow did to his family and his lover. Reading the events of what happened after he returned from the Games was heartbreaking and for that reason, I’m never going to forgive Snow for what he did.
But if you’re planning to read this book, get ready for cameos from several characters that you already met in the original Hunger Games books. It was like that gif of Leo DiCaprio pointing at the TV over and over again.
Verdict: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3. Gifted & Talented, Olivie Blake
If you’ve read any of Olivie Blake’s works, then you would understand that she has a very unique and distinct way of telling her stories. Her writing style makes her different from so many authors, and I think that’s probably why she’s one of my favourite authors, and the author of my all-time favourite book.
I read Gifted & Talented, a recent addition to her ever-growing collection of novels. I thought it was different from the books that I read from hers, but to be fair, every Olivie Blake book is not the same. You wouldn’t expect what her next book is going to be about, but this book had the same theme of witches and magic in a modern world, like One For My Enemy and The Atlas Six.
I found the book hard to get into at first, but eventually, I couldn’t stop reading it. I was intrigued by everything, from the Wren siblings’ complicated dynamic with one another to their competitive rivalries. I pictured a fast-paced movie the whole time I was reading it, and I bet it would have a dramatic soundtrack, scenes filmed in one take, sharp dialogues, and alternating POVs between Meredith, Arthur, and Eidilh. Now that would be a hell of a movie.
Verdict: 3.75/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
4. The Six Deaths of the Saint, Alix E. Harrow
I know this isn’t a book, but at this point, I was looking for short reads. The Six Deaths of the Saint is a short story that I heard many good things about, and after finding out that it was going to be a novel, I decided to read it. It’s around 30 pages and you can finish it within an hour if you want to. I also liked the writing and how fast-paced it was. The short story also reminded me of A Dowry of Blood in a way, and before I knew it, I finished it.
Verdict: 3.75/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
5. Notes of a Crocodile, Qiu Miaojin
As a fan of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, I wanted to explore the author’s other works or books just like it. Thus, Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin was recommended by one of my Twitter mutuals. It’s a literary fiction novel that depicts the coming-of-age of queer misfits in Taiwan during the late 80s.
It didn’t take long to spot the largest sarcophagus. It was the one in which Shui Ling had been entombed, and across the front, it read: This woman is madly in love with me. And then reality finally hit me. I had my old schema (which offered a peephole, really) to blame for my decision to leave this woman, to kill her and preserve her body in this sarcophagus, where she’d stay mine forever. […]
That’s where I was after eighteen months. I didn’t want to see or talk to her, and I’d no longer allow her to set foot in my world. The paradox, of course, was that my love for her would grow. Her corpse would remain in a sarcophagus where I kept her closer than I could in reality.
I went into this book blind and found the book reflective and heart-wrenching. It explores themes of identity, friendship, love, media culture (especially during the 80s and early 90s in Taiwan) and self-exploration, told through an unnamed character nicknamed Lazi.
Although I found the writing beautiful, I felt I didn’t fully understand the book. After finishing it, I did some research to learn more about the significance of crocodiles in the story (a metaphor for the closeted LGBTQ community), and to pick up on other references or pieces of context I might’ve missed. I also read a couple of articles and watched a couple of videos for this post, and I think these best explain what the book is about:
TikTok by literaryfling
“Consider the Crocodile: Qiu Miaojin’s Lesbian Bestiary” by Ari Larissa Heinrich, Los Angeles Review of Books
“‘Notes of a Crocodile’ by Qiu Miaojin”, Asian Review of Books
“book review: Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin”, pace, amore, libri
“Notes of a Crocodile”, NeoCha
Verdict: 3.75/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
6. Minor Detail, Adania Shibli
Minor Detail was another short book I decided to pick up this month. It’s divided into the past and present: Part 1, when a horrific crime was committed by Israeli soldiers in 1949, and Part 2, when a Palestinian woman investigates the crime years later.
“I ended up reading that particular article, where the specific thing that caught my attention was a detail related to the date of the incident it described. The incident took place on a morning that would coincide, exactly a quarter of a century later, with the morning of my birth. Of course, this may seem like pure narcissism, the fact that what drew me to the incident, what made it begin haunting me, was the presence of a detail that is really quite minor when compared to the incident’s major details, which can only be described as tragic.”
Despite its short length, the writing was simple and direct. The author shows us what’s happening in Palestine across two different timelines, and the impact of living with violence. It also highlights the significance of detail, no matter how small they may seem in the face of history.
Verdict: 4/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
7. Watch Me, Tahereh Mafi
“bruh how many of these are there 😭” — a direct reply to my Watch Me live reading thread on Twitter.
Honestly, I have the same question too. I read the full series (including Believe Me) in 2021, which included 10 books. I guess the publishers wanted more, so Watch Me was born. This is what I thought of it:
I didn’t like it as much as I thought. Sure, it did start pretty exciting with the introduction of new characters and The Reestablishment, but I found myself bored as the book continued. Even at the halfway mark, nothing was happening up to the last 5 chapters or so. The only redeeming quality was cameos from the OG Shatter Me gang — their scenes were pretty funny.
Overall, I think some series don’t need another book when it’s been completed 5 years ago.
Verdict: 3/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
— featured image: pinterest
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