1.  The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington

A surreal apocalyptic fairytale for adults about old ladies in a retirement home. I didn’t like it that much but it had its good moments.

2.  Force of Nature by Jane Harper

A good thriller about women on a hike in Australian wilderness. I loved the writing and the descriptions of nature. Most of all I liked the fact that it was a high quality thriller with an unpredictable ending. Full review here.

3. A River of Stars by Vanessa Hua

Meh. That’s all I can say about the book, briefly speaking. A disappointing read that promised some adventures of pregnant women on a run in a foreign country but turned out to be a collection of unrelated reminiscences and memories.

4. The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

I loved this novel. It uses elements of science fiction to make you think about the way people’s minds work and grow. The book will be published in January 2019.

5. The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell

Oh the almighty Universe how do I EVER explain what this book is like?! I can only say that it’s something huge, uneven, unpredictable and definitely not simple. I liked some moments and hated others. The Old Drift will be published on 21st March 2019. You can now read my full review of the book. 

6. Virgil Wander by Leif Enger

If I had to name the best book I read in September, Virgil Wander would get the prize. I liked it the most. Everything is perfect about it: the writing, the story, the characters. I still miss this book and I plan to read it again some time soon just to feel its beauty.

7. April Fool’s Day by Josip Novakovich

A scary, hard, funny and unusual book about a man from ex-Yugoslavia. He lives through the regime and the wars. It’s definitely not a light reading but it’s worthwhile. 

8. Checking Out by Nick Spalding

Light, silly, funny at places. If you are looking for something superficial but well written you might like this book. The full review is here.

9. Day of the Accident by Nuala Ellwood

A very well written thriller about a woman after a coma. The twists are not too guessable but the characters behave strangely sometimes. It’s one of very few recent thrillers that I actually liked. The book will be published on 21st February 2019. My full review will also be posted later.

10. The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

To me this thriller was not what it promised to be. In my opinion it’s not really a gothic thriller. It’s still quite gripping and fast-paced. It’s about lives of teachers and students of a collage where bad things start happening. The book will be published on 1st November. 

That was my September list. Have you read any of those? Which one would you like to read? It would be nice to hear from you. Meanwhile I’m off for my October reading. So excited, so many Universes ahead!

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April Fool’s Day is about the life of Ivan Dolinar.

The book starts with Ivan’s childhood during Tito’s times. Although a childhood during a communist regime doesn’t seem to be a good setting for a comedy, the book is often very funny in the beginning even though the humor is mainly black. Novakovich is an amazing writer. He looks deep into things and he’s able to show them to you from an angle you wouldn’t have otherwise noticed. His writing is perfect. That’s why I continued reading the book even when it turned gruesome. There’s not much laughter allowed under a regime, and Ivan soon learns this for himself. Then Tito dies and the wars of ex-Yugoslavia start. Those wars were extremely scary. They were happening between neighbours, classmates, friends or even members of one family. The nature of what was going on then is conveyed really well in April Fool’s Day . That part of the book is also very well written but hard to read because of what it describes so I had to take often breaks.

The final part of the book is philosophic and even surreal although still written in the same style. The ending of the book is one of the most beautiful ones I’ve ever seen but I don’t use the word “beautiful” and “happy” interchangeably.

The events in the book are horrifying, the protagonist is often despicable, but the book is perfectly written. In my system of values the writing is the most important so if you can go through graphic scenes for the sake of reading good literature I would definitely recommend April Fool’s Day to you.