Happy Tuesday! It’s almost the end of the month, so I am sharing the books I read this month and what I am currently reading. I am linking up with Joanne and Dara for Share Your Shelf so be sure to check it out on the first Thursday of next month for other great bookish posts.
Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser ☀️☀️ 1/2
When I finished this book, I awarded myself a ⭐ for perserverance but 👎🏼 for using my reading time in an enjoyable way. Mona is a little girl that is experiencing moments of total blindness. As part of her treatment, her mother asks her grandfather to find a psychologist for her to see. He decides to take her to three art museums over the course of a year to make sure that her possible last glimpses of earth include quality art. They visit one piece of artwork every week. Mona shares what she thinks of it, her grandfather shares a bit of art history, and then they discuss the work. Their discussions grow more involved as the book goes on because Mona has more prior knowledge to draw from. There are also a few side stories – some friends from school, her father’s vices and business, her grandmother’s death – that are woven into the story, but not always in a smooth way. This is a translated book, and I don’t think that made it better. It took me almost a month to get through this book! I stopped to read a few beachy books, but this was really a slog. I enjoyed looking at each piece of art and learning about it, but the story lost me.
Ape Escape by Stuart Gibbs (kids audio)
Luke and I loved the latest installment of the FunJungle series. In this book, Teddy and his family head to Africa for a friend’s memorial service. When they get there, they find him still very much alive in a gorilla sanctuary. Shortly after they arrive, a baby gorilla is stolen and finding this gorilla takes them across Africa. It was all the fun and excitement that the rest of the FunJungle series had and we loved it.
Leave It Up to Love by Kristy Woodson Harvey ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
I really enjoyed this short story about two authors working together in a beautiful coastal setting. It was the perfect book to read on the plane to Easter weekend.
Down with the Shipmans by Meg Mitchell Moore ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
**2026 Sunshine & Books Summer Beach Read**
This has everything I love in a book – family drama and a beach. I loved it. Dad calls three sisters back to their family’s beach house for a week of mandatory family time. When they get there, the sisters find out their father is selling the beach house and he wants them to help him get it ready. Each of the three sisters is facing a big dilema in their own lives – one is broke, one is unhappy, and one is unsure what to do next professionally. Like sister do, they work together and poke at each other’s tender spots. I loved every page of this one!!
Falling by Jane Green (audio) ☀️☀️☀️☀️
I listend to this and loved that Jane Green narrated it. Emma left the corporate world and NYC to settle in a small Connecticut town. She plans to take some time to herself and figure out what she wants to do. Then she meets Dominic, her landlord, and things change quickly. She thinks he’s incredible and handsome and adores his son. Things progress as you might imagine, but I was shocked by the ending. Whoa!
For the past few years, I have volunteer for a committe where we pick 10 books for our county’s Battle of the Books. We select from the 20 nominees for our state’s book award. So, here we are again the two months where I read as many of the twenty books as I can. As a reminder, I do not give a rating for children’s books. I am an elementary school librarian in a county with many book challenges, so I do not feel comfortable publishing them here. It stinks, but that is the way it is these days. Here are the books I read this month:
Currently Reading: The Insomniacs by Allison Winn Scotch
You can always checkout what I’ve been reading on my Books 2026 page. I have all of my yearly reading pages linked here if you want to see what I’ve been reading for the last 8 years.
This wasn’t my best month of reading, because I stuck with Mona for so long. My first clue that I should’ve DNF-d the book was that I wasn’t reaching for it very often. Oh well, I did learn about 52 beautiful works of art. After reading Down with the Shipmans, I am getting very excited about my 2026 Sunshine and Books Summer Beach Reads list! It will be out in May! What have you been reading? Have a great day full of sunshine and books!
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