Books are small universes; affordable and easily carried, filled with mind-expanding possibilities. Through their pages, I explore new experiences and worlds, meet unforgettable characters, and deepen my understanding of…everything.
These are the books I read in April 2026, listed chronologically, and graded by recommendation (highly recommend, recommend, and do not recommend).
Mommy Dressing: A Love Story, After A Fashion
Wanna geek out over mid-century fashion and mourn Gould’s straightlaced childhood? Then do I have the biography for you!
Jo Copeland was one of the first American designer to be taken seriously. She considered elegance the most important characteristic a woman could possess (not, like, compassion or something).
That conviction colored every aspect of Copeland’s personal life-much to her two children’s chagrin. But, at the time of writing, Lois seems to understand better; writing beautifully of her vain and driven mother; highly recommend.
A Gate At The Stairs
9/11 has changed the world, and Tassie Keltjin could be a bit more aware of it, but listen: she’s the 20-year-old daughter of an artisanal vegetable farmer. So, you know. Reading the room, metacognition, geopolitics…it’s all relatively new to her.
So are the mores of the upper class, but Keltjin’s a quick study in her new nanny job.
The Brinks seem perfect: cultured, affable, and eager to make their adoption process as smooth as possible. But could they be hiding a truly dreadful secret? You bet your backsplash, recommend.
The 48 Laws of Power
It is the human condition to attempt to distill complex subjects (like power) into a set of guidelines (48 laws). Robert Greene does that here, with middling success.
This book is vaguely interesting but dated and (pre) incel-esque; recommend.
The Little Sister
Orfamay Quest, a mouse from Kansas, is only in Hollywood to find her brother. She’d never be somewhere so seedy of her own free will, let alone in a detective’s office! If it weren’t for her poor mother, she’d let Orrin rot here.
That’s what she tells Phillip Marlowe. Then she’s “parting her lips at him,” prompting one of those 1940’s lock-jaw makeout sessions.
Is she, her intentions, or her family as…pure as she insists? Tell it to Sweeney, schnooks; recommend.
Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong And What That Means For Our Health
I wish society allowed us to talk about other systems’ failures as freely as we talk about the medical industry’s failures.
No one bats an eye when I question Big Pharma, unethically applied studies, medical funding sources, the lack of resources for illness prevention, etc., but apply those same types of questions to the American police and military industrial complexes? Time to stroke out with indignation, apparently.
Makary tackles these safer questions with humor and specialized knowledge; highly recommend.
The Guy You Loved To Hate
Help. I think I might be in love with Spencer Pratt. This is me, blinking twice.
Check out his autobiography, find out if you catch feelings too; recommend.
Masterpieces of Wit and Humor
Know what’s funny, according to early 20th-century standards? Dialect! Any kind: Irish, the American south, “black people,” women, all of it is funny!!
Also, poems.
I didn’t laugh aloud once, but it’s an interesting cultural study; recommend.
Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America, A Recent History
I like books that educate and enrage. Evil Geniuses is just such inflammatory material.
I’ve said it over and over and over again: we live in an Oligarchy. Meaning that everything you think you know politically is wrong. Cuz the knowledge that you’re working with applies to a representative republic/democracy.
But we don’t live in a representative republic/democracy. In the 21st-century United States, we. live. in. an. Oligarchy.
Please, please, Andersen, explain the (recent) history that made things this way; highly, highly recommend.
Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism
Reading this made me realize that I know someone who passed from a death of despair, like the deaths described in these pages. And there’s a good handful of individuals for whom this cause could be arguable.
That was sobering.
I bet the same will happen to you; highly recommend.
Lark & Termite
A Hallmark movie of a (well-written) book, Lark & Termite follows siblings in post-WWII small town Americana.
Lark is on the cusp of adulthood, with a dead mother and an unknown father. In the face of her aunt’s steadfast devotion and caring for her (nonspeaking, wheelchair-using) brother, Termite, those absences lack.
She and Termite are devoted to one another, with the town as their witness and helpmeet. After a suspicious death, can that radical mutual aid shield them from outside scrutiny?
Maybe not, but they’ll try; highly recommend.
Dear Ann
Ever wondered that, if one small detail of your earlier life were changed (let’s say, where you pursued post-graduate studies), would that force a different trajectory and therefore, a different life? I bet.
But have you ever dedicated an entire novel to exploring the details and consequences of said alternative detail?
Bobbie Ann Mason has, and the result is this novel.
It’s an interesting and relatable concept, executed well; highly recommend.
Woman On The Edge of Time
I mean this with every inch of my chest: who is Marge Piercy and how did she see the 21st-century so clearly from the 1970’s?? With a crystal ball??? LIKE SOME KIND OF SORCERESS?!
(This is a great book to read after Deaths of Despair, reinforcing one of its’ key theories: what’s currently called “deaths of despair” are only new to the middle-class, college-educated, white population; the conditions that cause them have been de facto for people of color for…a while.)
Consuelo, involuntarily committed to a psych ward by her niece’s pimp (after being attacked by him!!), has an unusual means of escape: her body’s in the hole, but her consciousness is in 2137, where citizens have learned to travel multiple dimensions of time and space.
They’ve learned all kinds of things, actually. Like, how to live cooperatively and be happy, for example.
Can they get Connie out of the hospital and into their time? Or will she need to act from her present, precipitating their future? Read and find out; highly, highly recommend.
Looking For Mr. Goodbar
Tessie wants to orgasm. But she doesn’t want to touch herself. Or share her space overnight. So what’s a former parochial student to do? Random dudes from bars, that’s what.
If only the temporary release was worth all the danger that came with it, in 1970’s New York City; highly recommend.
(It’s tempting to side-eye this tome as slut-shaming, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. I think Rossner is identifying eerily, presciently so, the dark side of “hook-up culture.”)
Conclusion
In the quiet company of these April 2026 reads, I found stories and echoes of the human experience: resilience in the face of despair, the enduring power of connection, and timeless wisdom woven into words.
I hope these bite size book reviews open up new literary adventures for you. What are you reading? I’d love to hear!
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Happy reading!
Love,
