March Reads Ranked & April Books on Deck

Before we get to today’s newsletter, it is the first Friday of the month, which means it’s $5 Friday. This month, in honor of the Trans Day of Visibility, which was on March 31st, and the ongoing attacks on trans people in the US, I’m asking you to join me in donating $5 (or more) to The Okra Project. They are a Black trans-led mutual aid organization that provides support to Black trans people through initiatives around food, safety, and mental health access.

$5 Fridays.

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Welcome to April, babes. We made it to another month (barely). But we’re still here. Today, I’ve got a recap of The Stacks episodes from March¹, a ranking of everything I read in March, and the books I’m looking forward to in April. And that last bit is no small feat—there are so many exciting books coming out this month. I feel like April 7, the first pub day of the month, has been haunting me since last year because so many books are coming out that day. How are we supposed to read them all?

But before we get to the book stuff, tomorrow, Saturday, April 4th, marks eight years of The Stacks! And to celebrate, we’re hosting the first-ever The Stacks Meetup Day. We’re going to be in 33 cities around the world meeting up with fellow readers in our communities. It is not too late to RSVP². You can feel free to invite (or bring along) friends (even if they don’t know the show…yet). All are welcome.

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The Stacks March Recap

The great Namwali Serpell joined me on The Stacks to kick off Morrison month and discuss her book, On Morrison. Serpell and the book are as good as advertised. Listen to this episode and you’ll understand.

Everyone loves Tayari Jones and I understand why after talking with her for an hour about her new, fantastic novel, Kin.

t kira māhealani’s debut novel, Whidbey, has been on all the lists of buzzy and exciting fiction for the year, and I get why. Hearing her share the behind the scenes on how this book got made was so much fun. This episode is for my process geeks.

We did the Oscar’s recap to end all recaps with two of my faves, Saeed Jones and Zach Stafford. A real hoot.

Unabridged: Let’s Never Talk About These Oscars Again with Saeed Jones and Zach Stafford

Paradise by Toni Morrison is a rich and complex text made even better by discussion. Thank you so much to Namwali Serpell for coming back and bringing her insights to the novel and to Morrison’s work as a whole.

I hate to toot my own horn but, this was a hell of a month on The Stacks. The guests were guesting and the range was ranging. It’s months like this where I just feel so lucky to get to do what I do every single day.

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April Books On Deck

This has been the hardest month to whittle my list down. I managed to get my list of 25+ books down to 13. It took me multiple days. And then, of course, I added more books to my list while I was trying to remove them. I am the worst. This month is just an embarrassment of riches. Thank you, publishing gods. We need good things these days, and it feels like, at least on the bookish front, we might get them.

As per usual, if you want to know about all the books I’m looking forward to in April and beyond, check out my #teampreorder list on bookshop.org. It is a running list of forthcoming titles that have sparked my interest.

The books here are listed in order of pub date, and anything I’ve read (or at least started) appears in bold.

• The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (April 7)
  I do not really feel like a person qualified to think or talk about theoretical physics³, but Chanda Prescod-Weinstein has given me that permission in this new book. Her passion is so contagious even when I don’t “get it” all, which is also why I love the connection she draws between poetry and physics.

• London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe (April 7)
  It’s great. It is smaller than his last two books, but damn can this man write. The story of a teen who dies under mysterious circumstances and then a whole web of lies are revealed. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that PRK is going to investigate.

• The Oracle’s Daughter: The Rise and Fall of an American Cult by Harrison Hill (April 7)
  Like the subtitle says, this book is giving the rise and fall of a cult. In this case, a woman-led cult called Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps.

• We Mend with Gold: An Immigrant Daughter’s Reckoning with American Christianity by Kristin T. Lee (April 7)
  Kristin T. Lee is writer who focuses on Christianity and faith, she is also a bookstagrammer⁴, so of course I’m excited to check out her book about the American church, and how it wasn’t particularly inviting to Lee as an Chinese-American.

• Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (April 7)
  I basically know nothing about this book except that it’s trad-wife speculative fiction, and I would like to see what that is all about.

• Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry by Ada Limón (April 7)
  A speech⁵ delivered by Limón in 2025 that examines the power and usefulness of poetry as a way to feel, and maybe even a tool to help us move forward together.

• Don’t Tell Me How It Ends by Adrienne Thurman (April 14)
  Me, wanting to read romance? I dunno, am I okay? This one has a matchmaking sister and a woman who has sworn off love. I like the idea of it.

• If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation by Daniel Hahn (April 21)
  Shakespeare in translation—be still my nerdy heart. I don’t think many of you will be into this, but I am and this is my newsletter, so please allow me my indulgences.

• Questions 27 & 28 by Karen Tei Yamashita (April 21)
  You know I am sucker for WWII books, and this one is about Japanese internment and the questions of loyalty that were presented to Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor.

• Small Boat by Vincent Delacroix (April 21)
  A fictionalization of a tragic incident where a boat of immigrants sank in the English Channel while in communication with French authorities who never sent help.

• This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark by Criag Fehrman (April 21)
  When Zach Stafford came on The Stacks in 2024⁶, he talked about his passion for Lewis and Clark. So now I’m curious to read this book, because Zach made it sound kinda like a unrequited love situation. Give me old, dead white (maybe gay) guy gossip, or give me death⁷.

• Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg (April 28)
  A short story collection described as “An electrifying collection of linked stories following a cast of characters navigating bodies, queerness, power, and sex.” I mean, who doesn’t want this?

• Selling Opportunity by Mary Lisa Gavenas (April 28)
  The story behind Mary Kay cosmetics. Oh, hell yes.

Your turn—what books coming out in April are you excited about? Anything you think will have award-season buzz?

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March Reads Ranked

I read ten books in March and the were all over the place. I loved two, I liked a bunch, and then there were two others that were very much not for me. I ranked them all for you in under 15 minutes, because I know we all have shit to do.