April 2024 Wrap-Up

April was, of course, dominated by my leisurely journey around the International Booker Prize longlist, with seven of this year’s crop being reviewed at the site this month.  Of course, there were a few other books that didn’t make the cut, and it was interesting to analyse some of those books at the same time – let me tell you that those the judges went for didn’t always measure up to those they overlooked.

Anyway, that’s something you can decide for yourselves, but before you do, let’s take a stroll through the month that was, starting (as ever) with the stats – when you’re ready…

*****
Total Books Read: 11
Year-to-Date: 59

New: 8
Rereads: 3

From the Shelves: 4
Review Copies: 7
From the Library: 0
On the Kindle: 3 (3 review copies)

Novels: 6
Novellas: 0
Short Stories: 1
Non-Fiction: 3
Poetry: 1

Non-English Language: 10
(3 Japanese, 2 Italian, Russian, Korean, Swedish, German, Albanian)
In Original Language: 1 (German)

*****
Books Reviewed in April were:
1) Undiscovered by Gabriela Wiener
2) Vladivostok Circus by Elisa Shua Dusapin
3) White Nights by Urszula Honek
4) Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior
5) Patterns of the Heart and Other Stories by Ch’oe Myŏngik
6) Lost on Me by Veronica Raimo
7) Your Utopia by Bora Chung
8) The Silver Bone by Andrey Kurkov
9) The Dawn of the Warrior Age, translated by Royall Tyler
10) The Details by Ia Genberg
11) A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare

Tony’s Turkey for April is: Nothing

While there were a couple here that didn’t really take my fancy, I’ll be generous and say there’s nothing that’s overly turkey-worthy…

Tony’s Recommendation for April is:
Urszula Honek’s White Nights

Just when I was losing all hope for this year’s IBP longlist, along comes Honek’s set of interconnected short stories to light up the stage.  Praise also goes to Chung’s excellent collection and Shua Dusapin’s latest atmospheric novel, but it’s White Nights that really impressed me this month – a pity the IBP judges didn’t feel the same.

*****
I may have read and reviewed all thirteen IBP longlisters, but there’s still a bit to do on that front in May.  I’m already in the process of rereading the five books on our Shadow Shortlist and looking forward to discussing them in more detail with my fellow judges.  Look out for our winner announcement (oh, and the official one, too…) on the 21st of May – who will get the nod this year?  You’ll find out then 😉