As the last month of a planned leave from work, I made sure to get a LOT of reading packed in to April 2024. Two graphic novels, two ARCs, three audiobooks, and four more books later, here’s the April Roundup.

Star rating on a scale of 0 - 5. Titles in BOLD link to full reviews. ✨ indicates a 5 star read

I have a confession: before this, I’d never read an Ann Patchett book before. I knew of her, obviously, from her long and prolific writing career and also from her being one of a handful of authors who’ve jumped into bookstore ownership themselves. But I’d never delved into her books. TOM LAKE was absolutely the right book to start with.

Set during the COVID summer of 2020 (I know, I know, stay with me here), TOM LAKE tells the story of the Nelson family through the lens of the matriarch’s short-lived career as an actress, as told to her three daughters while they work on the family cherry farm. The centerpiece of the story (and reason for telling it) is the summer she spent playing Emily in OUR TOWN at the titular Tom Lake and her love affair with famous and famously troubled actor Peter Duke. As her story unfolds, it provides ways to examine nostalgia, hindsight, twists of fate, aging, motherhood, and family.

This book had me at OUR TOWN. The classic Thornton Wilder play provides the backdrop to Lara Nelson’s life and the path to her eventual husband and children. An especially poignant moment is when Lara realizes that she is past the point of playing Emily in her life. This moment had a strange parallel to real life for me recently, when I saw the casting for the upcoming Broadway revival of OUR TOWN. Jim Parsons, Katie Holmes, and Zoey Deutch are headlining. I had the quick thought “Wait… If Katie Holmes is playing Emily, who’s Zoey Deutch playing?” before looking at the details and seeing that Katie Holmes is cast as Mrs. Webb… Emily’s mother. I felt like I aged like Matt Damon at the end of Saving Private Ryan when I realized that.

This book had been hugely hyped in some circles and after reading it, I absolutely understood why. I’ll throw in a plug for the audiobook, too. It’s read by Meryl FREAKING Streep. How much better can you get?

This one came as a recommendation from the Bad on Paper podcast. A modern retelling of PRIDE & PREJUDICE, MEET THE BENEDETTOS recasts the Bennetts as a Khardashian-esque family (if the patriarch was the Meatball King, rather than a lawyer) and the eligible bachelors as actors. These translations works incredibly well, as do most others (Charlotte Lucas and Mary Bennett are highlights).

While the majority of the story is dual POV between the Lizzie and Darcy characters, each member of the ensemble gets their own single chapter of POV sprinkled throughout at just the right moments. The banter between characters is [chef’s kiss] — it’s one of those books you will literally laugh out loud at. The only thing that detracted from the book for me was that the ending felt quite abrupt and rushed. Maybe that was just me wanting to keep hanging out with these characters for longer.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Elissa Sussman’s follow up ONCE MORE WITH FEELING, I had high hopes for FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK. Those hopes were exceeded, resulting in my latest unequivocal five-star read.

FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK tells the story of Gabe Parker, hottest troubled actor in Hollywood, and Chani Horowitz, a writer who gains fame (and some notoriety) off the back of a dreamy profile of Gabe that helps to make both their careers. After not speaking for years, they’re brought back together to recreate that weekend long interview, during which the details of that weekend and why they haven’t spoken in so long come to light.

What elevates this book beyond just another entry in the “superstar meets girl next door and they fall in love” trope box are the expertly written banter, the specificity around what happens between them and why, and Gabe’s best friend, fellow actor Ollie, which is just a goddamn delight and I want a whole book for him now.

And that’s it for April! As always, if you want to follow allow with my reads in real time, you can add me on The Storygraph (a Goodreads alternative) or on Instagram: @crystal.writes