2022 ONTD Reading Challenge discussion

It's time for the April wrap-up! Comment here and let us know how your reading went this month, if you had trouble completing this month's task, if you enjoyed the book you read and whether you'd recommend it.

I read His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae thanks to Lea recommending it to me, and oh my god I loved it!!!

I read:

The Girl on the Train - 4 stars - very entertaining, glad I went into it unspoiled and it kept me guessing

Shutter Island - 4 stars - loved the movie, and reading the book I found that the movie was extremely true to the book for the most part, so it was an enjoyable read.

The Collector - 2 stars - honestly was aggressively bored by this book, it was very tedious and not much happened. Pretty disappointed.

So I read The Dinner by Herman Koch and greatly enjoyed my pick. I love books with unreliable narrators and this was probably my favourite challenge of the year yet.

I would recommend this book to people who liked Gone Girl. Read the blurb on Goodreads but don't spoil yourself!

I read The Red Tree and really enjoyed the atmosphere. It's like Haunting of Hill House meets House of Leaves. A little more open ended than what I usually read but I was still thinking about it a couple of days later.

A.D.: After Death

After realising I'd have no time to properly settle in to enjoy a good read this month, I picked this graphic novel with a hefty emphasis on the novel.

I think it's one of those "love it or hate it" deals. I didn't enjoy the art or even find it compelling for the story. I liked the idea of the plot, but the structure and narrating style just failed to deliver for me overall.

I read Rebecca. It was just ok. May's theme is much more up my alley.

I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. It was a re-read since I had read it in high school. It still holds up, I still love it just as much as I did the first time around, only now I can appreciate things differently and sometimes better. Strong recommendation on this one. It's so good and told in such an original way.

I read Code Name Verity which was an EXTREMELY excellent historical YA. The unreliable narrator aspect of it was done very well, clever but not gimmicky, enough to keep us wondering what's really true but not outlandish. And the story and the characters were so. damn good.

I read The Blind Assassin and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I was impressed by how well Atwood weaved the three narratives together--especially since there wasn't one that I liked or looked forward to reading more than the others.

I ended up reading His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae and it was a decent, quick read.

I read The Dinner and hated it.

All the characters were terrible and I just felt it was hard for me to see the motivations behind one of the characters. I can see why the reviews are heavily in the middle with 3 stars. I think I gave it 1. It was an easy story to get through but I wanted it to be over so I could give it that rating.