April Book Recap

April 2015 Book Recap

April has flown by, and I was actually able to make a small dent in my to read list.  Maybe not even a dent, maybe like a nick?  But anyways, thanks to my $20 challenge, I was able to resist adding anything new, and actually read some of the books that have been sitting on my shelf for a while.  Here's the recap:

The Joyful Christian by C.S. Lewis is a collection of excerpts from several of Lewis' books on a variety of topics.  I don't think it's any secret that I love C.S. Lewis at this point so of course I found this book enjoyable.

A Praying Life by Paul Miller is far and away the most helpful book I've read on prayer.  It made me realize that I was way overthinking prayer.  There are no rules, no requirements, no definite way you have to do it.  There is not a specific formula to get God to hear you and and there is no magic code that you need to know.  It's made my mornings so much more enjoyable to go for a walk and just pray and listen to the birds and watch the clouds and enjoy being outside.  I've felt closer to God in the last month than in anytime I can remember.  Which is amazing and also scary.

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel was okay.  But I didn't really enjoy it.  To be honest, I was glad once I was finished with it.  I like fantasy fiction and I like regular fiction, but this book straddled the line too much for my taste.  I know it's considered magical realism, and that's kind of the whole point of the genre, but it just didn't appeal to me.  I also felt like there wasn't enough development of any of the characters to make me really care what happened to them and I thought Pedro, Tita's one true love, was pretty much unworthy of her, and couldn't understand what she saw in him.

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson is a book I had won in a blog giveaway from Just Bee and actually had put it on my reading list last October but never got to.  It's considered a young adult read appropriate for grade school or maybe middle school and it would make an awesome read out loud book.  I remember my mom reading out loud to me and my brother when we were kids, even once we were old enough to read on our owns, and I loved it.  Having someone read you a story is one of those pleasures that should not just be relegated to childhood.  Anyways, the story is good, with some funny parts and while I was out of the target demographic, I did enjoy it, and will keep an eye out for the next ones in the series.

The Secret Place by Tana French is book five in the Dublin Murder Squad series.  Every book seems to revolve around a story that in the end, leaves one of the protagonist detectives utterly destroyed- whether mentally, career wise, or just family wise.  So, I was totally expecting Stephen to come out of this one burned to a crisp.  Stephen Moran plays a minor role in Faithful Place and it was nice to see him take the wheel this time.  He's older, and wiser to Frank Mackey's tricks so I enjoyed seeing them reunited on a more level playing field.  This book went farther into uncharted territory of what is possible, places that French had kind of hinted at, but never really explored.  I enjoyed it and in the ranking of Murder Squad books, I'd put this one in at a solid second, behind The Likeness. 

So, that's what I tackled for April.  What about you, did you read anything good or interesting that I should be checking out?  If so, let me know!