April’s Best Books

Published on by Margaret

I’ve been looking back at some of the best books I’ve read in the months of April beginning with April 2007. I’d left my job at the end of March 2007 and the amount of books I read that April was in reaction to being able to spend more time reading. I read 13 books that month. The highlights were many but these two stand out:

  • Hallucinating Foucault by Patricia Duncker, which I thought was excellent. This is both a love story and a story of obsession. It explores what it is to be ‘mad’ and the relationship between the reader and the writer. I’d hoped to read more by Duncker, but so far that’s just a wish.
  • The Secret of the Last Temple by Paul Sussman because of its intrigue and mystery. It’s a fast action book moving between time and location from Jersualem in AD70, Germany in 1944 to present day Egypt and Israel. I haven’t read any more of his books but have The Lost Army of Cambyses sitting here on the desk waiting to be read.

By April 2008 my reading rate had settled down and I read 7 books. Two of the best were:

  • Revelation by C J Sansom – historical crime fiction, the fourth in the series featuring lawyer Matthew Shardlake, set in the 16th century.
  • Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel – a remarkable memoir that came over to me as clear, honest and very moving. Now I must get reading her latest book, Wolf Hall.

In April 2009 I read 9 books and these two stand out:

  • Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie – an Ariadne Oliver and Poirot mystery with such a misleading tangle of evidence that it kept me guessing to the end.
  • Star Gazing by Linda Gillard – a beautiful book, this is not just a love story, it’s also about how we ‘see’ the world, how we interact with other people and how we cope with our disabilities be they physical, emotional or otherwise.

And now this April’s best books, out of the 7 I read:

  • Take My Breath Away by Martin Edwards – a legal mystery, featuring Nic Gabriel, a lawyer turned writer. This is a complex book about good and evil, about power and manipulation, about secrets, lies and deception.
  • Faithful Unto Death by Caroline Graham – a Midsomer Murder mystery with more bite and more substance than the TV series.

2 thoughts on “April’s Best Books”

  1. I like the way you did your April reading list, comparing the past four years. Ah, the value of keeping a list of what you’ve read. You have some excellent titles here that I have jotted down.

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  2. I am truly grateful for your support for Take My Breath Away. It’s a book I’m very proud of, even though it sold less than all my other books. Sometimes as a writer you have to take chances, and I’m glad I tried to do something different. I like to think that reviews such as yours are helping to give the book fresh life, and it’s due out in the US at long last, later this year. Thanks again.

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