What I’ve been reading lately: the new and the notable

Short and sweet book reviews of what I've been reading lately

Welcome to Quick Lit, where I share short and sweet reviews of what I’ve been reading lately on (or around) the 15th of the month, and invite you to do the same.

Most of my print reading this month has been in service of the 2024 Summer Reading Guide (coming May 16, did you see?). I won’t talk about those books just yet, but I still have plenty to share. Do you remember last month when I told you my audiobook listening was underrepresented, since I was almost done with three titles at the time? Today I have lots of audio listens to share!

This hardly ever happens, but our new edition of Quick Lit includes exclusively 2024 titles: we have literary fiction (Lottie Hazell’s Piglet and Rachel Lyons’s Fruit of the Dead), narrative nonfiction (Emily P. Freeman’s How to Walk Into a Room), historical fiction from the Cold War Era (Katherine Reay’s The Berlin Letters), a British thriller (Ruth Mancini’s The Woman on the Ledge), and a family drama with a strong love story component (Kennedy Ryan’s This Could Be Us). If you love old books, take note: I’m finishing up several backlist titles now that you’ll hear about in May.

I hope you find something that looks intriguing for your TBR on this list (and in these comments), and I look forward to browsing your recent reads below. Thanks in advance for sharing your short and sweet book reviews with us here!

Welcome to April Quick Lit

Fruit of the Dead

Author: Rachel Lyon

I was intrigued by this new release—just published March 5—because it promised to update Greek mythology's tale of Persephone, Demeter, and Hades, though the plot still works for those not familiar with the myth. In Lyon's version, Persephone becomes camp counselor Cory, a floundering NYC teen who didn't get into any of the colleges she applied to and doesn't know what she'll do after graduation. Goddess of grain Demeter becomes agricultural executive Emer, and Hades becomes Rolo, an affable middle-aged dad who grew deliriously wealthy manufacturing a potent new painkiller. When his kid's camp session ends, Rolo persuades Cory to come work for him on his private island ... and then refuses to let her leave, or even call her mom, but softens the blow with regular doses of his company's flagship pharmaceutical. I was curious to see how Lyon might creatively translate the ancient myth for our modern times, but ultimately found this tale of a Sackler-like man exploiting a naive teenage girl pretty bleak. More info →

The Woman on the Ledge

Author: Ruth Mancini

I just recommended this plotty British thriller to Tara on last week's episode 425 of WSIRN ("We're all mood readers"). In the opening pages, a woman falls to her death from a London skyscraper. Another woman on the scene is arrested for her murder. As readers, we're convinced the suspect must be innocent. And yet as the investigation proceeds, it becomes clear to the detective on the case—and to us as readers—that she's hiding something. She seems to be protecting someone, but we don't know who, or why. As the story progresses and the timeline expands, we slowly come to understand what really happened, and more importantly, why. I listened to the audio version, narrated by Annabel Scholey. Thanks to Fabled book buyer Elizabeth Barnhill for putting this on my radar: when she told me it was one of her recent favorites, I couldn't resist giving it a try. More info →

The Berlin Letters: A Cold War Novel

Author: Katherine Reay

This is the first historical I've read from Katherine Reay, though her last several novels have been of that genre. I picked this up because I was certain we would pop over to Berlin when we were in Germany earlier this month. While we didn't make it to that great city, I'm thankful I at least got to visit on the page. The story revolves around a German family that was separated when the Berlin Wall went up overnight in 1961. Many years later, in 1989, Luisa puts the decoding skills she's been taught from a young age to use for the CIA in the DC area. She lives with her grandparents, since her parents were killed in a car accident when she was three—or so she was told. But after her grandfather dies, she finds a secret stash of his letters that leads her to question everything she's been told about her family, and eventually leads her to Berlin to catch up for lost time. I listened to the audio version, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, Ann Marie Gideon, and P. J. Ochlan. More info →

How to Walk into a Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away

Author: Emily Freeman

I've been excited to read this new book, just published March 12, since Emily first shared that she was writing it. In this compassionate and personal work that's part instruction and part memoir, Emily explores how we discern where exits and entrances are needed in our lives, and live those transitions out as best as we are able. The parts about endings—be they anticipated, forced, or chosen—were particularly poignant, as Emily builds much of her story around her family's decision to leave their longtime church after one of their children began questioning their sexuality. This book felt like a quiet conversation with a wise and trusted friend: I loved it. More info →

This Could Be Us (Skyland Book 2)

Author: Kennedy Ryan

The first book in the Skyland series Before I Let Go was one of my favorite audiobooks of 2023, so I couldn't wait to read this next installment, just out March 5. This novel stands alone just fine, but if you read the first book you'll remember Soledad from the trio of friends. She suspected something was amiss in her marriage, but is shocked when she discovers her husband embezzled millions from his company, with the help of his assistant, with whom he was having an affair. At first Soledad is strictly focused on survival for herself and her kids, but she eventually develops a flirtation with a handsome and kind divorced dad who also happens to be the forensic accountant who uncovered her husband's crimes. Seeing him is a terrible idea ... but also the best idea she's had in a long time. I flew through this steamy and fun read, and look forward to the next book in the series. (I'm trusting that we'll get another one!) More info →

Piglet

Author: Lottie Hazell

I picked this up because I wanted a quick hit of something a little different, and this discomfiting novel—at 287 pages, or 7 1/2 hours for the audiobook—delivered. The central character is Piglet, a cookbook editor at a London publisher set to marry her fiancé in 98 days. Piglet believes she's building the life of her dreams, and she's hungry to fulfill the next steps: to marry the upper-class man, to get the big promotion, to impress her wedding guests with a wild show of talent and competence by baking an ambitious cake herself. But when her fiancé confesses to a betrayal just thirteen days before the wedding, cracks start to appear in the shiny façade of Piglet's carefully constructed life—though she has no intention of calling things off. There's much to discuss here, though I wish some of the novel's essential questions had been explored more deeply. I particularly admired the structure, which gives a character-driven novel urgency as it counts down to the wedding, her fitting allegiance to describing appearances and surface trappings over essential character traits, her reservation of Piglet's real name until the book's final pages, when it's gracefully spoken for the first time. This book made me deeply uncomfortable, and I can't stop talking about it. More info →

What have YOU been reading lately? Tell us about your recent reads—or share the link to a blog or instagram post about them—in comments.

P.S. I didn’t read any of the pictured books this month (though I sure did love Lucy by the Sea), but I couldn’t resist sharing the top pic of the staff favorites shelf from the Frankfurt bookstore Hugendubel.

What I’ve been reading lately: the new and the notable

Short and sweet book reviews of what I've been reading lately

Welcome to April Quick Lit

Fruit of the Dead

The Woman on the Ledge

The Berlin Letters: A Cold War Novel

How to Walk into a Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away

This Could Be Us (Skyland Book 2)

Piglet

42 comments

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Find your next read with:

100 Book recommendations
for every mood

Welcome to April Quick Lit

Fruit of the Dead

The Woman on the Ledge

The Berlin Letters: A Cold War Novel

How to Walk into a Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away

This Could Be Us (Skyland Book 2)

Piglet

42 comments

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Find your next read with:

100 Book recommendations for every mood

100 Book recommendations
for every mood