April Wrap-up

Books Read:

8 books read. 1 non-fiction, I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara. 1 juvenile fiction I read aloud with G, The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole by Michelle Cuevas. 3 mystery/crime thrillers, Final Girls by Riley Sager; In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware; and The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. 1 fantasy young adult, Cinder by Marissa Meyer. 1 modern classic, Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. 1 horror, Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin.

I participated in Michelle's Spring Into Horror Read-a-thon, which was just what I needed for my dark mood in April. It got me through some sad times and brought out some hope too. One of the reasons I watch a lot of horror and now enjoy more of it through reading.

Overall, Final Girls was my favorite mystery this month, just eeking out The Woman in Cabin 10.

But my favorite of the month and probably one of the top of the year is I'll Be Gone in the Dark. It's a horrific look into this unconvicted killer and rapist (hopefully not for long). It's also a tough read because of the dogged investigation of McNamara who did not live to see her book published. I encountered many layers while reading (self-imposed).

Least favorite book of the month and probably the year has to be Sophie's World. I started it last June with my bestie so we could discuss and learn more about Western philosophy together. It was a slog and incomprehensible in its plot. We were so happy to be done! Lots of wine and sushi was passed around at our monthly discussion!

Audio book:

Final Girls and The Woman in Cabin 10 were a lot of fun.

I also listened to the Audible podcast West Cork, an investigative story on a decades old crime in Ireland. It was almost 8 hours long so I consider that book-like. It was fascinating so if you love true crime, give it a go!

New to me movies watched:

I'm a fan of movies. So I tend to watch a few during any given month. I relax and wind down at the end of the day with either a TV show or a movie...

15 movies. 10 were horror and/or crime thrillers. I watch at least one a week with my friends for horror movie night; it involves a lot of wine, popcorn, and chocolate! 3 were documentaries. The rest were sci-fi/fantasy.

My favorite rewatch this month was the 2006 version of Pride and Prejudice with Kiera Knightley and Matthew McFadyen. Magical.

My favorite horrors were A Quiet Place (just an all-around amazing movie, really), Come Back to Me (the ending floored me!), and I Remember You (book was better but this was a great adaptation).

Docs: I Am Evidence (Horrifying but needed look into rape prosecution in the U.S.), Bill Nye: Science Guy (Interesting look into Nye's life and motivations), The Rachel Divide (Just fascinating. It's also an important look into race and what that means in the U.S.).

Also a shout out to Colossal--kind of a dark comedy/drama starring Anne Hathaway and takes some turns I was not expecting.

TV:

Nailed It! (such a funny cooking show on Netflix) Trapped, a dark Icelandic crime show which was great on Amazon Prime. I also started a few like Westworld, Lost in Space, Transparent (finally getting around to seeing it), Santa Clarita Diet season 2, A Series of Unfortunate Events season 2 with G.

And a ton of NBA playoffs with my Jazz team in the first and now second round (which they will probably and most definitely lose to Houston...but I can keep the hope alive!)

April has been a crazy zany month. We ventured out on a mini vacation to Park City, Utah. We enjoyed some Easter shenanigans.

But the worst thing is my best friend moved Monday with her family up to Olympia, Washington. We've been best friends since pretty much the moment we met back in 2012. Her two kids and my G have also been best friends. Our families have done so much together-- 3 vacations and many a game night.

She's just one of those people who you connect with instantly and can say or do anything. She's amazing and I'm going to miss her and her family desperately. There have been many tears from me and G this whole month. So in honor of the most amazing human and her kids, here are some pics!

Thanks for the memories with more to look forward to! Though, unfortunately, not as often. (sad face)