Greetings loved ones. Back once again with a book post for you - a round-up of the books I read in March and April - a real mixed bag here! Would love to know your thoughts.

Click on any of the book titles to purchase (not affiliate links).

1. Nightcrawling - Leila Mottley

TW: sexual assault, drug addiction

This story follows Kiara and her brother Marcus, scraping by in East Oakland, living in an apartment complex. Both have dropped out of school, and their family has been directly affected by death (their father) and prison (their mother).

Marcus pursues his dream of becoming a famous rapper while bringing no money in, as Kiara hunts for work to keep the landlord from their door as their rent doubles, while she also takes in the 9 year old next door who has been abandoned by his mother, a drug addict.

With all of these factors at play, Kiara - desperate for work and money - falls into a job she never wanted but now needs: nightcrawling (prostitution). Her name then comes up in an investigation into a massive scandal among the police department and their association with sex workers, and she is required to speak up.

I thought this was a good, but infuriating read. It's the classic story of the police taking advantaged of those in disadvantaged communities in many ways, and although it's one we hear all the time, it doesn't make it any less anger-inducing. The characters are painted well and you feel different things towards them - Marcus comes across as quite unlikeable and unsupportive, as does their mother, while the kid next door is precious and it makes you want to take him out of the story and keep him safe.

This is an easy read in terms of wording and sentence structure, but tough when it comes to the storyline and everything going against the main character.

2. Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro

I can't lie here, this book confused the absolute life and soul out of me - if anyone has read it and has a better understanding of it than me, please let me know!

As far as I can gather, the "artificial friends" in the story are robots (I originally thought they were dolls that could talk, so they may be that too), and they appear to be powered by sunlight.

The story follows Klara, one of these "artificial friends" (known as AFs throughout the book). These AFs are purchased from a store (like a doll would be) as a sort of minder/companion for a child. Klara is known in the store for her outstanding observational qualities, watching the behaviour of everyone and everything both inside and outside the store.

When an ill child comes to choose her as her AF, she embarks on a journey with the child and her family that will alter her meaning of love and friendship forever. 

Parts of this story were interesting but I would say the overall constant feeling I had reading it was just complete confusion, often actually saying "what?" out loud throughout.

If you've read this please let me know your thoughts/understanding of it - I would love to know!

3. Pachinko - Min Jin Lee

TW: suicide

I have to say I adored this book. While it wasn't super exciting plot-wise, I sometimes love the kind of quiet stories where you just follow the characters along through their daily lives.

The story begin in the early 1900s, when Sunja is a teenager. She is the daughter of a fisherman and falls for a wealthy stranger she meets at the market near her home in Korea. He tells her everything she wants to hear, promising her the world, but when she falls pregnant she discovers he is married with children already, and leaves him. At that time, a young woman pregnant with a child would be a major repellent for any many looking to marry, however when a poorly, gentle minister passes through her mother's boardinghouse and wants to marry her, she accepts and they move to Japan to his brother for a better life.

All is not as it seems when they reach Japan, and considerable hardship and tragedy ensues for the family.

This is a beautiful, moving story of love, sacrifice and loyalty, with strong women at the forefront. It is also beautifully written and such a pleasant reading experience. Love, love, love!

4. The Child That Books Built - Francis Spufford

This one seemed so promising - I absolutely ADORED the first chapter and found it so relatable to my reading experience now and as a child, however the rest of the book really didn't do it for me and I found myself struggling to get through it, despite how short it is.

It is described as a love letter to children's books, which it is, but there are times where it really focuses on a very niche genre of books for an extended amount of pages (namely science fiction, which I would not be able to relate to or have much interest in) so it was hard to get through those long passages with references to books I had never read or heard of - rather than more commonly read books.

As I mentioned, some of the chapters are lovely and focus on his experience of reading things like The Wind in the Willows and Narnia, and how he felt reading those and relayed them to his own life and how they shaped him as a child, allowing an escape from pain and the world, but others just didn't do it for me.

If you've read this I would love to know what you thought!

And that's all folks. I am currently on a(nother) book buying ban as trying to get a mortgage, but feel free to leave suggestions that I can add to my mental stack for when I get through my physical one and have somewhere to live.

Thank you for reading as always,