Rainforest by Michelle Paver

Started: 31.3.26

Finished: 1.4.26

Hardcover

TBR Prompt: Animal on the cover

This book is the story of an entomologist called Simon who is travelling to the rainforest, ostensibly to study mantids. Told from his POV, it's safe to say that he's an 'unreliable narrator'. We learn that he's grieving for someone called Penelope, with whom he believed he was in love, however as he divulges more into his journal, it becomes apparent that his feelings weren't reciprocated, and also that this trip may not have been entirely his choice. Once in the jungle, amongst the natives and their spiritual beliefs, Simon finds that the line between the living and the dead is a tenuous one.

Set in the 1970s, with some 1970s attitudes towards women and indigenous people, I never warmed to the character of Simon, or any of his colleagues really, though I don't think we were meant to. To me, he seemed spoiled and petulant; there were suggestions of a difficult childhood but these were never really explored in any great depth. He just seems to have grown into an angry, self-obsessed man with poor social skills. By the end of his jungle ordeal he has perhaps had something of an awakening, but I didn't feel that he'd fully redeemed himself in any way.

I enjoyed this book but it doesn't come close to my favourite, Dark Matter, by the same author.

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

Started: 29.3.26

Finished: 31.3.26

Hardcover

TBR Prompt: Orange book

Oops, I did it again! I finished one of next month's books, this month! But this was such a fun, easy read, I didn't want to slow down or wait. Great to be back with the Thursday Murder Club, and a few new characters too. I know there are some people who don't like these books, but... well, you're wrong. What's not to like? 

For what it's worth, I've always pictured Ron looking more like the ex-England footballer Jimmy Greaves:

And I can see why they chose Helen Mirren to play Elizabeth in the Netflix film, because she absolutely looks like she could be an ex-spy ("there's no such thing as an ex-spy"). But I thought it would've been a lot funnier to have someone like Anne Reid (though maybe when she was a few years younger, and sounding a bit more like her Dinnerladies character) saying things like "...I suspect my assistance was greatly appreciated when you were being throttled half to death in Odessa in 1974..."

Didn't really have any objections to Celia Imrie and Ben Kingsley though.

March Reading Wrap Up

 

16 books in total, but 5 DNFs.

1. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Heartwarming novel about grief and learning to move on. And a remarkably bright octopus.

2. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

A DNF - just a bit too cosy and twee for me.

3. Weyward by Emilia Hart

Witchy revenge!

4. Blood On Her Tongue by Johanna Van Veen

Made me feel a bit nauseous

5. A Short Stay In Hell by Steven L. Peck

Existential dread

6. Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

DNF

7. The Frozen Silence by Dr James Pennington

Really interesting account of the search for the Franklin Expedition

8. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

A story about loneliness, friendship and kindness. Bit of a slog at first, but a (mostly) happy ending.

9. Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

Reluctant DNF.

10. A Taste Of Darkness by Various

YA horror, but didn't like the first two stories, so DNF.

11. Alice by Christina Henry

Dark, twisted reimagining of Alice In Wonderland. Really good!

12. The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom

A reminder that we all matter to someone.

13. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

DNF

14. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Mushrooms, so many mushrooms!

15. The Unexpected Joy Of The Ordinary by Catherine Gray

Non-fiction, interesting reminder that being ordinary is perfectly ok.

16. The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

Funny, heartwarming, clever; great to be back with the gang. [Should've been an April read].

TBR Picks For April

It's that time again! I now have 80 TBR prompts, and I've bought myself a nice jar and written them all out on coloured paper because it's a lot more fun than using the random number generator 😀

On my book spreadsheet, I'd selected some books that I currently own for my 'Priority TBR', the ones I really want to read asap, so I've tried to choose from that list first, with reasonable success. I've also tried to choose more physical books than digital, because the books were starting to pile up!

So without further ado, here are my chosen prompts and books for the month of April:

1. Witchy/witchcraft - The Witches At The End Of The World by Chelsea Iversen (paperback). It was between this or Hex Appeal, but this is set in Norway which is always a draw for me.

2. Five words in the title - We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer (paperback). Heard a lot of good things about this (but also some not so good), but I'm excited to read it.

3. Retelling/reimagining - Red Queen by Christina Henry (paperback). Since this was the same prompt which led me to read Alice, it seemed a no-brainer to use it again to read the sequel.

4. Animal on the cover - Rainforest by Michelle Paver (hardcover). Author of my favourite book of all time (Dark Matter), so I'm always keen to read anything by her, especially if it's something creepy.

5. Body part in the title - A Head Full Of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (paperback). I had a couple that mentioned blood, and also Yellowface, but I thought 'head' fit the description more.

6. Newest/most recently acquired book - The Sword Of Kaigen by M.L. Wang (KU). Whenever I add a book to my spreadsheet, I record the date that I've added it to the list, but then also the date that I acquire the book. I'd just added this to my KU library on the 26th March, so it was the newest book. 

[Confession: I chose my prompts and wrote this post on the 27th March, because I just couldn't wait any longer! So as long as I don't buy/download anything for the next few days, this is my most recent book!]

7. Green book - Tress Of The Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (paperback). I almost chose this for my five word title, so I'm glad I got another chance.

8. Oldest book on my list - Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (paperback). Again, I can filter my list to see which book I've had the longest. Technically, this is the second longest (from the 28th Sept 2025), because the first is The Silent Patient (1st Sept 2025), which I'm going to read this month for Book Club, and I didn't want to use that book for this prompt!

9. Orange book - The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman (hardcover). I don't have many orange books so this was a fairly easy choice.

10. Free pick from the shelves - Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (paperback). I've heard so many good things about this so I'm really excited to read it, I hope it lives up to expectations.

11. Set in the early 1900s - Dark Voyage by Helen Susan Swift (Kindle). This is the first book in a series of five, I think, and I've been wanting to read it for ages, so I'm really excited about this (set in 1914, by the way). 

12. Let Anthony choose - I've been so excited to get this prompt because I was really curious about what he'd choose, and why. I had to wait a while though, because he was doing homework, and then went out to play with a friend, but when he came in I asked if he wouldn't mind helping me with something. He was a bit overwhelmed by all the choices, so instead I asked if he wanted to choose another prompt for me, which he did, and he got Water on the cover, and he then chose Ascension by Nicholas Binge (hardcover) which I was really pleased with.

13. Book Club choice - The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. As mentioned, this has been on my list the longest, but I've been hanging on because I knew it was an upcoming choice for the book club.

And there you have it, my April books!

The Unexpected Joy Of The Ordinary by Catherine Gray

Started: 26.3.26

Finished: 29.3.26

Hardcover

This was a bonus read in March, something I found whilst browsing Amazon and thought I might find interesting. I did; it's a really well-written and well-researched book about finding joy and acceptance in the everyday, average and normal. Bits of it weren't really relevant to me, and I did skip a few pages here and there, but I enjoyed the rest and it's given me a lot to think about. The section about phone usage has already made me make changes to my notifications and layout of app icons, and I'm going to try (again) to wean myself off Facebook and Instagram. It's interesting that I happened to read this just after the clocks have gone forward; I feel like spring-cleaning my phone and social media! I particularly liked the suggestion to make your home screen wallpaper something that you enjoy, and which you could be doing if you weren't on your phone, so mine is now a pile of books that I'd like to read!

I'm glad that I got a physical copy of this book, as it's something I think I might re-read on occasion, and maybe annotate, when I need a little reminder that I am enough.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Started: 26.3.26

Finished: 28.3.26

Paperback

TBR Prompt: Title begins with 'M'

Hmm, this didn't quite live up to the hype for me. Described as gothic horror, I can see where the gothic comes from, but not so much the horror (I just don't find mushrooms scary!). Some of the characters were horrible in their own attitudes and opinions - Howard was particularly unpleasant, Virgil was a creep and Florence made Mrs Danvers look more like Mary Poppins.

I found it odd that Catalina had been the one to send the initial plea for help, but almost half way through the book we'd only really had a couple of small scenes with her. Her cousin Noemi proved to be a strong-willed, determined character though, and I'm glad that Francis remained her friend. I was really hoping that she was going to finally put her cigarette lighter to good use, but an oil lamp worked just as well!

Didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped, I'm afraid.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

Started: 26.3.26

DNF: 26.3.26

Kindle

TBR Prompt: City setting

I chose this book for the city setting prompt, as it's set in London. It follows an apothecary called Nella, in 1791, who dispenses poisons to women across London for the purposes of disposing of men. This aspect of the story appealed to me, as we all like a little bit of female revenge, don't we? There was another POV from a woman named Caroline in the present-day, who was an American currently in London. I believe it was a pre-planned anniversary trip, but she was there alone after finding out her husband had been cheating on her. I'd only read up to the end of chapter three, but the story hadn't really grabbed me at this point, and then I read some online reviews, which persuaded me that I probably wasn't going to enjoy this book, so I've decided to DNF (yes, I'm easily influenced!) 

The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom

Started: 24.3.26

Finished: 26.3.26

Paperback

TBR Prompt: Book from the middle shelf

Thought-provoking book where a lonely war veteran dies and then learns lessons about his life from five people he meets in Heaven.

Alice by Christina Henry

Started: 22.3.26

Finished: 23.3.26

Paperback

TBR Prompt: Retelling / Reimagining

Ooh, I really enjoyed this! Loosely based on Alice In Wonderland, this is a very creepy reimagining of what happened to Alice after she met the Rabbit, though the characters of Rabbit, Caterpillar, Walrus and Cheshire are very different in this book. This was a lot darker than I was expecting, but I loved Alice and Hatcher's relationship, and their journey to track down the beast; the ending was possibly a bit of an anti-climax, though it fit into the whole magical theme of the story. There is a sequel, The Red Queen, which I'm looking forward to reading.

Bonus TBR Picks For March

Since I've finished (or DNF'd) all of my March books, and it's only the 22nd, I've chosen four bonus TBR prompts, and they are as follows:

1. Retelling / Reimagining - Alice by Christina Henry. "A dark and deeply disturbing revisit of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland"

2. Title begins with M - Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Because my name begins with M!

3. Middle shelf - The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom. This was a kind of free pick from the middle shelf of my bookcase.

4. City Setting - The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. Actually a bit tricky to choose, as I don't know where all the books are set, but I remembered that this is set in London.