March & April in Review

Hi Y’all!

I skipped my March in Review because I only read a couple of books and didn’t feel I had enough to say to support a post but I’m back with a double month bumper edition of reading reviews and bonus music, tv and podcast content!

A brief plug before we get to the post: the ebook of Greenteeth is currently on sale on Kindle for just 99p. Now if you are reading this newsletter, I would say you are highly likely to have already purchased/read it but please do encourage your family, friends, acquaintances, and enemies to try it too! There will be rewards to the most random word of mouth sale – my mother currently is in the lead having persuaded her accountant to buy a copy but I believe someone can beat her!

Books of March and April 2025

Books

Beowulf – Maria Dahvana Headley

You’ll be seeing a bit of a trend over the next few months in the books I’m reading and this is the first of that number. Could they be relevant to something I’m writing? I couldn’t possibly say 😉 I did absolutely love this brilliant and biting translation of Beowulf, which managed to be both lyrically delightful and energetically modern. I highly recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in the Viking/Anglo-Saxon age.

Sunrise on the Reaping – Suzanne Collins

The much-anticipated Haymitch Hunger Games! I golloped this one up in a day. Now I really am not much of a YA reader these days and I think this book is a good indication why. It was very well done, with excellent worldbuilding, realistic characters and a good plot but the YA style just doesn’t suit me anymore. However, I still enjoyed the nostalgia of returning to the Hunger Games world and I think Collins is still writing interesting and relevant books. I am glad these are the books that are popular amongst YA audiences, and I hope people are taking the messages to heart.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea – TJ Klune

DNF at about 25%. I really tried with this book, cause I did enjoy the first book but I just found the sequel far too schmaltzy for my taste.

My Harimau King – Annie McCann

I’m delighted to be able to review my dear friend’s debut book! My Harimau King follows thirteen-year-old Sumaiyah as she slips through time and space into historic Indonesian to reckon with an ancient curse that has afflicted her family line and her ancestor, the Tiger King of Pajajaran. A wonderful children’s novel that brims with life and love.

Coup de Grace – Sofia Ajram

A suicidal paramedic gets trapped in an Escher-esque subway station. It’s an incredible concept, especially for an atmospheric horror novella, but the extremely verbose and meandering prose kind of killed my momentum and I found it a bit of a slog. I had high hopes for this book but in the end, it just wasn’t for me.

Smothermoss – Alisa Alering

Something is stirring on the Appalachian trail… Two outcast sisters struggle with rural poverty in the mountains, whilst worrying about the recent murder of a pair of hikers. This was a good, if quick read, with excellent naturistic horror combined with the underlying darkness of humanity.

The Magician’s Nephew – CS Lewis

Audiobook re-read.  I haven’t dipped into the Narnia books for at least twenty years, but I decided to refresh my memory with the Kenneth Branagh audiobook. It was a very interesting experience and I was able to appreciate what Lewis was doing with the structure more. The first half of the book, where the children are blackmailed by Uncle Andrew into travelling into another world, and where they meet Jadis, is really excellent. I like how we are introduced to the creepy and unlikeable Andrew, who would be quite enough villain for one book, and then the stakes are significantly upped by the far more serious witch queen. The second half of the book, focusing on the creation of Narnia, is a little less exciting and leans more on Lewis’s Eden retelling, but there are still some good bits. I particularly liked the First Joke! I also hadn’t picked up before on the 50’s context in which Lewis was writing about the Deplorable Word, which now seems like an obvious if heartfelt atom bomb analogy.

The God and the Gumiho – Sophie Kim

Charming K-drama fantasy about a disgraced trickster god working as a detective and the nine-tailed fox (gumiho) who is hired as his assistant. This story hits some pretty basic beats: it’s enemies to lovers, not enough beds, magical cop. However, Kim makes the inspired decision to set the story in the nineties and that just really made it work for me. I know very little about Korean folklore so I had no idea what any of the creatures looked like or represented but it felt so fresh and fun that I didn’t mind a bit and just kept turning the pages and sinking deeper into the world! Definitely recommend this as a slump-breaker and all round delightful book.

Music:

Rosie – Rosé

I have had this album on repeat all month, especially the soulful ballads and slower songs. I’ve not dabbled much in K-Pop but I have really enjoyed most of the BP solo albums and Rosie is my Number One Girl. Favourite Track:  3am

Alter Ego – Lisa

Solid runner up in my BP ratings is Lisa’s vibrant and dancey Alter Ego. It’s gotten a little chilly here in Sydney so this has been the perfect album to put on the speakers and dance around my house to warm up! Favourite Track: Born Again / Elastigirl

Kneecap

I recently discovered this Irish rap trio after they caused controversy at Coachella for criticising genocide (it’s a mad world). I thought I would try them out for solidarity’s sake and was shocked to find I actually kind of love them! The beats are very addictive and I like the mix of Irish/English in their songs. Favourite Track: Amacht Anocht

TV

The Pitt

I am a little late to this show but I absolutely adored it. It’s set in the Pittsburgh ED and each episode follows a single hour during a day shift. Stellar performances from the entire cast, brilliant direction and cinematography and truly horrifying special effects (the fork IYKYK). If you can handle medical imagery then this is a mustwatch.

Black Mirror

I recently caught up on the new season, and I was a little underwhelmed! There were a couple of moments that made me tear up (end of eps 1 and 3) but the rest felt like they could have used more time to sharpen up the concepts.

Podcasts

Behind the Bastards

My new addiction and there are six years of back catalogue to indulge in! I have been listening to these as I sew and find them strangely relaxing. Each ep follows a historical ‘bastard’ from Kissinger to Dracula, but my favourites are the really niche subjects, like Beau Brummell or Steven Seagal.

Nightdrive

Fictional late night radio call-in show from the Floridan gothic swamp town of Fakahatchee. I’ve been listening to this show for years and we finally got a new episode. Dive in for some real ‘Murican strangeness.

Video Essays

WWE Finish The Story – Super Eyepatch Wolf

Do I know anything about WWE? No. Did I watch a two and a half hour youtube video on longterm storytelling in wrestling and cry at the end? Yes. This is brilliant and everyone will enjoy or get something out of it.

That’s everything for this month folx, so let’s roll and let’s be careful out there!