We are now finished with April which means that it is time to discuss my monthly reading review. In April I managed to read 22 books overall which brings my yearly total to 81 books in 2025 so far. This also means that I once again hit my monthly goal of 20 books and am more than likely going to surpass my yearly goal of 200 books if I keep this rate of reading up for the whole year. Having gone over all of the boring stuff it is time to get to the good stuff. My discussion of which books really stood out from the rest in regards to all of the books I read last month.
The first book I have picked out Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller. This one stood out because it dealt with a somewhat difficult and controversial topic, banning books, but did so in a somewhat realistic but also somewhat humorous way. I have to admit that reading this was incredibly fascinating as it really showed the consequences of banning books. It also at the same time discussed exactly how books can change people’s lives for the better. This book explored the reasons why people want to ban books and what lead might have led them to making that decision. However, it also shows that not everyone does it for the same reason and that this is something people need to take into account when discussing this topic. On the flip side it shows how just one book can change a person’s life by showing anecdotes from various townspeople about the books that helped them. This is a topic that is just as overlooked as banning books. I liked this book because it helped show both sides of the discussion and showed why banning books is not necessarily a good thing. Overall, this book dealt with the topic rather well and seemed to handle everything sensitively. It also dealt with a lot of other issues too though and I don’t think these other themes should be overlooked. Due to the issues raised by the book banning other issues start to come to light in this small town so it also deals with things like the blaming of rape victims, the consequences of slavery and institutionalized racism, homophobia, and any number of other related issues but all of them are dealt with maturely and respectively which is not always something that can be said for a book. This book gained a great deal of respect from me for how it handled these kinds of topics, ones that are not typically addressed in media but that probably should be.
The second book I want to address from last month is The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith. This book really drew my attention because the title makes it sound like it would a reader’s paradise. Can you imagine having access to all of the unfinished manuscripts in the worlds? All of the stories that were imagined and thought of but for whatever reason were never actually finished. What I really liked about this book though is how it uses this concept of the unwritten works to address any number of other topics. For instance, by having books be able to come alive and manifest characters it is able to discuss how stories evolve beyond the control of the author, oftentimes without meaning to. Perhaps the most important issue though is how it addresses the idea of what is a story, or perhaps what is a piece of art. The book references this idea when the librarian, Claire, starts searching for a manuscript by learning to listen for its song. I have to admit that I hadn’t really thought about stories that way but if you think about it many of the oldest stories, from any literary tradition, are actually transcribed oral poems or transcribed songs or epics. This really means that a story can take multiple forms and have multiple elements which was rather fascinating to me as I like thinking about abstract ideas like this so I rather enjoy books that make me think about these ideas. On top of that the book also indirectly touches on other ideas like what is imagination and where does it come from. How does it work with the artist? What is art? These and any number of other similar topics are all touched upon over the course of the book. I really enjoyed the ideas and themes present in this text and that is not even mentioning how original the actual story was as well.
The last book I want to discuss is the longest of the three books I have picked out and perhaps the most intriguing one of the three. The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu is not actually about prophecies. I mean it is but only sort of as it is actually about prophecies failing and being broken. It takes the basic premise of a prophesized hero and quite literally turns it on its head by saying that never mind the prophecy isn’t going to happen after all so the hero isn’t really needed. Instead of the hero struggling with being the hero he has to struggle with not being the hero. I have to admit that is a rather original and unique storyline right there and one that I don’t think I have ever come across before. On top of that the story doesn’t even take place in a world where people have some kind of magical power or superpower or some other kind of unusual ability. It takes place in world based around ones skill in martial arts. This book is one of the most unique blends of themes and ideas I have ever come across that is superbly blended with an incredibly unusual plot concept. The best part was that the book was well written with excellent pacing and plot development. I also really liked the various characters as they were really well developed. So much so that I could easily see them being actual people instead of just characters in a book. It is rather rare that I find a book that was both well written and actually original in its plot. So many books utilize common concepts that I genuinely enjoy when a book decides to change it up some like this one did. I will definitely come back to this series and probably this author as well.