As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from April.

Malice (Keigo Higashino): This was brilliant. Every single plot point is accounted for. Every detail snapped into place. It was so neat, so clever. I want to read every book in this series. The numbering is different in Japan vs. here; it listed this one as #1 and/or #4. But you will be fine following the story if it is #4. I treated it as #1.

Moderate Becoming Good Later (Toby Carr and Katie Carr): I read about this book before we left for the UK this winter, and I was lucky enough to snag the last copy at the bookstore. (And thank you to the employee who ran from section to section saying, “It has to be here, somewhere.”) I love the Shipping Forecast, and I’ve long told Josh that my dream is to take a trip where you visit each of the Shipping Forecast locations. Toby Carr did just that — in a kayak. The book is a meditation; time spent on a verbal sea. I cried at the end despite not knowing Toby personally. Spending time with him in the pages made me feel like I had been on the trip with him. I’ll reread this one whenever I need time on the water.

Expiration Dates (Rebecca Serle): It is exactly what you expect from a Rebecca Serle book: It’s a super sweet book about being okay with the unknown. If you think too deeply, you’ll end up with a lot of questions that poke holes in the plot. My recommendation is not to think too deeply and just enjoy the story.

How To Solve Your Own Murder (Kristen Perrin): First and foremost, I love the cover for the U.S. version. Brilliant. It was a fun cozy quirky mystery, set in a great town with interesting characters. I am so happy there will be a second book.

The Husbands (Holly Gramazio): I laughed so hard reading this book. There were passages I tried to read aloud to Josh, but I couldn’t get through them, so I had to hand the book over. The story is perfect from beginning to end: Interesting situation, funny exploration, wonderful ending.

What did you read last month?

I read an interesting piece about how the increased sensitivity and inclusivity over Mother’s Day does just as much emotional damage as ye olde insensitive days; specifically, brands and advertising and social media.

They explain,

In the weeks leading up to May 14, I’ve received a slew of somber emails from brands acknowledging that this day might be hard for me and giving me the option to opt out of whatever offer they’re about to send me … Well-intended as it may be, “dead mom” marketing rubs me the wrong way, especially because it results in the exact thing the brand is claiming to help recipients avoid: an inbox full of emails that remind them of their dead mom (or estranged mom, or lost child).

Yeah, I can see that. But they really can’t win, can they? I would rather be asked because it shows the person understands we’re not all in the same boat. However, I see their point: offering the opt-out can also send unintended messages. What is your take?

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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Neil Kramer always makes me think. He recently had a public Facebook post about the power of words vs. pictures. He writes:

People never get offended by my photos, but if I use the wrong word or phrase, people go crazy. This is nothing surprising. If I hold up a photo of a fire in a crowded theater, no one will care. But if I yell “fire, all hell breaks loose. Words have the power.

It made me think about how I’ve certainly been emotionally impacted by an image shared in someone’s feed, but I’ve never unfollowed someone on social media due to an image. Words, yes, I remove people from my feed due to their words, but not because they posted a particular picture. Neil’s point is larger: we stop taking in the information in the image when we focus on accompanying words because the words are more powerful than the image.

It may not hold true in every case, but in a general sense, it’s interesting to consider.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts connected to businesses or sponsored posts.

Oh, Mother’s Day. You keep looping back around on the calendar. I said everything I feel about it last year, and, indeed, one is home, and the other is far away, deep in finals. Looking ahead, the same thing will happen next year, too. We will likely move one out of the dorms that Sunday, so at least I’ll see them. It is what it is.

It’s hard to have them far away on all other days of the year, and this one is no different.

It’s funny looking back at last year’s post because while I knew intellectually that it would be hard to separate, I don’t think I fully fathomed how it would feel to go through this year. And I certainly didn’t think about the breathing space afforded by summer breaks or how it would feel to set up the following year’s calendar and think about all the days between now and the next break.

I’m sending deep breaths to everyone, whether you celebrate or not, whether this day is filled with light or heavy feelings.

A few weeks ago, we were at the Brambles, and we saw two geese on the opposite bank staring us down. Really, one goose was staring us down, and the other goose was trying to get her gosling to join its siblings underneath it. The gosling was exploring the river bank and kept coming close to the larger goose, who would rise a bit to encourage the gosling to enter their cover. It took a few minutes for the gosling to finally disappear under the goose, and we told the couple that there was no possible way for us to mess with them. As I said, we were on the opposite bank and not about to swim across.

The moment we walked away, the goose released all of the goslings beneath them.

I feel a little like that goose right now, wishing both kids were home.

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

No Kidding in NZ is featured in a new book, but the post is also about the importance of sharing your story. As she’s reading the other essays in the book, she comments: “She mentioned an experience I thought I alone had had. But of course, I wasn’t the only one. And although I felt alone, I was not.” Stories reduce loneliness and isolation.

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled has gripes and pleasures. I don’t know why the bear question is having a renaissance now vs. all of the other times over the years that I’ve heard it. Or why men are just hearing it (seemingly?) for the first time. Though I’m all for men understanding what additional factors balance into decisions. And totally agree on the price of books. And I’ll add to the list — movies.

The roundup to the Roundup: Feeling like a goose. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between May 3 – May 10) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.