It’s a little frightening that it’s more than a third of the way through the year and I’ve only managed to finish NINE BOOKS. Usually I’ve gotten through that many by about mid-February, so this is not like me at all.
But I think I’ve reached the limit of how much my brain can do at once and with work and crowdfunding at the forefront, reading has dropped away.
It’s something that bothers me on a daily basis, but my brain seems to be good for little more than scrolling through Twitter right now.
Sad face.
Here’s what I did manage to read in April though. It was a good month.
Johnny Ruin, by Dan Dalton
The month started well, as this is definitely the book I’ve enjoyed most so far this year – although it has some competition.
A young man, struggling with his personal demons and the demise of a relationship, goes on a road trip through his own mind with Jon Bon Jovi.
Three of my favourite things, right there in one book. Road trips: check. Psychological stuff: check. Bon Jovi: check.
Jon appears in the story as a kind of spirit guide, taking the protagonist on a journey through his own memories as he tries to deal with the end of a relationship and his unresolved grief over the earlier death of a friend. But memory is a tricky thing and it isn’t always reliable, especially as the narrator can be reluctant to admit things to himself.
Mental health is an important issue too, dealt with in unflinching style through the narrator’s depression, which he is literally forced to confront in order to move on from the decaying world he finds himself trapped in, as he’s forced to relive not only the best moments of his relationship but also the ways in which he caused its demise.
A unique, beautifully written book.
Read my review | Find out more on Goodreads | Buy it on Amazon
Reservoir 13, by Jon McGregor
While on holiday with her parents, a 13-year-old girl goes missing in a small village. Time passes and her whereabouts remain a mystery. But life in the village must go on, although the lives of the residents are forever altered by the spectre of the missing girl.
I’ve read a number of Jon McGregor’s books and he really is a phenomenal writer. This novel is one of his best.
The story spans more than a decade, quietly following the lives of the people who live in the village where the girl disappeared as they move through their lives: through failed relationships, violence, children, growing up, struggling to earn a living, always with the memory of the lost girl at their back.
Occasional hints to the girl’s fate are strewn through the book, but they aren’t the focus of the story.
The novel doesn’t follow a narrative, instead moving fluidly between eras and episodes and different lives, capturing the poetry and sadness and joy of everyday life.
Find out more on Goodreads | Buy it on Amazon
Vicious Rumer, by Joshua Winning
Rumer Cross hasn’t had the best start in life.
Abandoned by her assassin mother, she grew up in a series of unpleasant foster homes with no one to care for her. She gets by working for a detective agency and trying to stay under the radar, determined not to go down the same path as her famously violent mother. But a curse causes anyone who gets too close to wind up dead and it’s all Rumer’s fault.
When she’s kidnapped by a deranged mobster who is determined to find out the whereabouts of a mysterious, mythical artefact, Rumer is forced to confront her past head on.
This fast-paced, action packed story is packed with violent episodes and interesting characters, from the damaged former policeman to the teenage protagonist struggling to escape the ghost of her past.
Read my review | Find out more on Goodreads | Buy it on Amazon
N.B. I received a complimentary copy of Vicious Rumer from the author for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own. I also share a publisher with the authors of Vicious Rumer and Johnny Ruin.