The Perfect Books to Read to Feel the Month of April

What are the best books to read in April 2020? Well, dear reader, we’ve shared our top picks of 2019 and our most-anticipated new releases for 2020. We’ve also shared a list of the fantastic new book releases in April 2020.  If you’re in search of still more ideas, here’s our take on the perfect books to read that capture the mood of the month of April. Not just this April – any April.

recommended reads

So many books, so little time! Reading can be one of life’s sweetest luxuries. But how to quickly find the next great volume to dive into? To lend a hand, every month we’ll share our Dandelion Chandelier Recommended Reads: books that we’ve personally read and loved – some brand new, and some published long ago. Selected to suit the season, we think they deserve a place on your nightstand. Or your e-reader. In your backpack. Or your carry-on bag. You get the idea.

In this edition: the perfect books to read in the month of April. We think these books best capture the mood of April.

which books capture the true mood of April?

April gets a bad rap, thanks to our pal T.S. Eliot — you remember that line about the cruelest month and all. Personally, we totally disagree.

We think April is like a deep, satisfying drink of ice cold water after a long dry spell. Refreshing, cleansing, stimulating and right on time.

Sure, there’s rain. But that just means we get to sport our cute wellies and on-trend anoraks. And yes, we have to pay our taxes here in America, but we’re OK with that.

Because there are so many other wonderful things about the month. In many years, there’s Easter. Also baby lambs being born, and flowers, and vibrant green grass, and animal spirits loose in the air. People are foraging in the woods, and who knows what they’ll find?

Something’s coming, and it’s too early to know exactly what. But April is up for anything, and so are we.

what’s the perfect read for the month of April?

What does that imply for our recommended reads for April? Well, an April book should involve something totally new being born. Or perhaps something old struggling to be reborn.  It should feel lighter in spirit than what we’ve read so far this year – but not yet all the way to the truly simple pleasures of a hammock or beach read.

April feels like the right moment for a reminder of the fragility of our planet, and the wonders of the natural world. There should be a garden or flowers embroidered into the fabric of the tale. Somehow, the story should involve rain.

Plus, a tale of a new beginning in a new place – real or fictional – feels right.

And there absolutely must be a smart and sexy romance or two, because it’s the season of spring fever and crazy acts in the name of love. Of course, an April romance can lead to a story of heartbreak, so we’ve tossed in one or two of those, too.

the perfect books to read in the month of April

Here’s our list of ten books perfect for the month of April. Tuck one into your bag on your way to hang out in the park (just keep your mandated social distance). Or crack one open as your reward for filing your taxes. Curl up with one on a rainy day; read one aloud to your housemates. Or if you’re living large, pour a prosecco and dive into one of these in a lounge chair beside your pool. Just don’t forget to come up for air.

1.

Weather by Jenny Offill. Without question, this new novel wins the prize for “Most April of all.” In diamond-sharp prose, the author explores the existential dread and sometimes irrational hope that surrounds climate change. And no, these is not a screed or a polemic. Quite the opposite, actually. We view these matters through the eyes of a young mother living in Brooklyn. She’s simultaneously juggling a precocious young son, a drug-addicted brother, a loving but increasingly impatient husband, and a job for her mentor, who hosts a popular podcast on the impact of global warming.

This is a slim volume, and you may imagine that you’ll breeze through it in no time flat. We found our experience to be just the opposite: like a slice of fudge, this sliver of prose is so rich, so deep, and so full of pleasure that you’ll read it very slowly. Smart, witty, poignant and austere, this is the book we need right now. It’s a novel to be savored. 

2. 

Creatures by Crissy van Meter. The milieu for this wonderful novel is the fictional Winter Island, off the coast of Southern California. Life there is governed by the weather, the tides, and the rhythms of sea creatures, animals and plants. We first meet 20-something Evie on the eve of her wedding, when her estranged mother turns up uninvited.

From there we move backward and forward in time, learning the story of the intense bond between Evie and her ramshackle father, who for a brief time made real money selling Winter Wonderland, a famous stain of weed grown only on the island. He’s loving, and also a hot mess. The sections of the story that illuminate this father-daughter relationship are among the strongest we’ve read anywhere. But this tale is full of satisfying surprises – brilliantly and quietly done, this is one of the best new books we’ve read so far this year.

3.

Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad. This beautiful, elegiac mediation on the city of Bangkok, known in the Thai language as Krungthep, is another novel that makes for ideal April reading. It’s a gorgeously-written debut novel that moves backward and forward in time across the lives of five people and their families as they experience the allure and the devastation of the watery metropolis.

These interconnected lives tell a story about memory, and forgetfulness, and the emotional price of both. Reading it made us reach for non-fiction books and articles about the history of Thailand and its waves of political unrest. We’ll never think about the country quite the same way again. There’s nothing more you can ask from a great novel than to allow you to see a part of the world and its people with completely fresh eyes. This is one of those books.

4.

London Fog: The Biography by Christine L. Corton. With all due respect to San Francisco, London is the definitive city of fog. The classic London fogs – the thick yellow “pea-soupers” – were born in the industrial age of the early nineteenth century. Corton tells the story of these epic London fogs, their dangers and beauty, and their lasting effects on our culture and imagination. It’s a wonderful read, as much about British society as it is about science. But don’t just take our word for it: this volume garners rave reviews from those who know a thing or two: it’s a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. A Telegraph Editor’s Choice. And an Evening Standard “Best Books about London.” 

5.

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi. Spicy, sweet, comforting, startling – gingerbread can be all of those things. And so it is with this novel from British-Nigerian author Oyeyemi. It’s a story of mothers and daughters, female friends, great loves, and the lure of home. Also farming, carrier pigeons, real estate in London and a changeling.

The key to enjoying this tale is total surrender – you’ll have no idea where it’s taking you, and at some point you’ll stop caring. The prose is wonderful – smart, sharp and surprising. And the images created will stay with you long after you close the final page. If you’ve experienced heartbreak, disappointment or loss (and who among us hasn’t), this inventive novel might be just what you need. It’s honest about the pain of loss. Insightful about how we cope when we’ve lost our way. And filled with the belief that the bonds between loved ones are strong enough to last though space, time, and our own bad decisions. It’s comforting. And delicious.

6.

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry. Technically, we should save this book for our list of perfect reads for the month of October. But it just came out, we just read it, and we can’t wait to tell you about it. So forgive us – this is less about April and more about a really great book that is perfect for pretty much any month of the year.

The Danvers Falcons High School girls’ field hockey team is perpetually an also-ran. Until the fall of 1989, when during their senior year the girls – who happen to live in the town on the North Shore of Massachusetts that was start of the Salem Witch Trial accusations – decide to employ dark powers to change their fates. On and off the field.

It’s hysterically funny, pitch perfect, deeply empathetic and wicked smart. We spend time with each of the team members – including the lone boy on the team – and come away touched by their dark magic. In actual fact, this is a coming-of-age story that sees girls on the cusp of adulthood learning that well-behaved women rarely make history. Which is a timely reminder for us all.

7.

The Country Life by Rachel Cusk is a wonderful novel about one young woman’s attempt to flee a job in London for a new one in the countryside in the hopes of transforming her life. Stella Benson answers a classified ad for an au pair, arriving in a tiny Sussex village that’s home to a family that is slightly larger than life. Her hopes for the new job are high, but her social station turns out to be low. Cusk’s incredible talent shines brightly here – it’s a funny and charming comedy of manners with a strongly beating heart.

8.

Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane. “Are we being good ancestors to the future Earth?”  That’s the question at the heart of this epic examination of the rich life and history of the world beneath our feet. From Norwegian sea caves to the waters of Greenland ice cap, from Bronze Age funeral chambers to the catacombs below Paris, we travel alongside people of good will (explorers, artists, dreamers) and ill will (criminals and polluters) to limn the paths trod through history in “the underland.” Present in myth, memory, and actuality, this is an urgent reminder of the vital importance of what lies beneath the surface.

9.

Stray City by Chelsea Johnson. It’s the 1980’s in Portland, Oregon in this debut novel. And for the protagonist, the definition of family has poignantly become all about the group of people you choose, rather than the group of people you were born into. Twenty-three-year-old artist Andrea Morales escaped her Midwestern Catholic childhood—and the closet—to create a home and life for herself within the thriving but insular lesbian underground of Portland. However, in a haze of heartbreak and beer, she launches into an ambiguous relationship with a man – and ends up pregnant. The family she creates around her daughter and the bonds that tether her to the past are grist for a story that is lively, timely and sweet. It might even inspire you to head West to find your true self and your true family.

10.

Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw is the story of four young people fighting to build a life in the cacophony and frenzy of modern-day Shanghai, the shining symbol of the New China. Just as many a great novel is about a newcomer’s adventures in Manhattan, this glittering and smart novel makes us see the city of Shanghai through the eyes of dreamers, schemers, romantics and robbers – and most sharply through the jaded vision of the billionaire of the title.

perfect books to read in the month of April

That’s it. Ten recommended books that capture the essential mood and spirit of April. What’s on your reading list? 

you can’t keep spring from coming

By the way, as we write this list at the beginning of April, we’re socially distant, working from home, and looking at the rain falling hard outside our window. Ugh! But we’re not giving up on the hope of spring. And thankfully a good book can take us there until the real thing arrives.

As Pablo Neruda wrote: “You can kill all the flowers — but you can’t keep spring from coming.” We hope that yours, when it finally arrives, is totally rejuvenating.

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