If books are the calendars we keep for the days that elapse, it has to be recorded on this reading journal that I finished reading Project Hail Mary on the day Artemis II was launched. “Amaze, amaze, amaze!”
To expand my literary horizon and push myself to read beyond the familiar zone of my TBR stack or outside the often commercially driven influence of bookstagram, April was devoted to books recommended by friends (2 of whom are not on IG, and 2 of whom do not post their reading exploits on their IG feed).
04/01/2026 Project Hail Mary (recommended by Christian who had me at, “The alien’s language is music!”)
And that’s why, even though most of my friends know that this is not my usual genre, I found it quite entertaining! It was a “light” and welcome break from my usual fare. (You can tell the world’s in a pretty bad state when an apocalyptic bestseller can be labelled “light”.)
Andy Weir’s casual prose exudes a deep but playful enchantment for science, and chapter after chapter reveals an author having fun while taking the reader for a ride! And who wouldn’t enjoy those puns and Beatles references?
I have yet to watch the movie, but I hope they included Ryland Grace and Eva Stratt’s conversation circa page 429 when Stratt discloses that she was a history major. The dialogue that ensues suggests that, despite the exceeding heights of technology and engineering that man achieves, it is still history that puts science into perspective.
04/05/2026 The Bridge of San Luis Rey (recommended by Yuri) imparts a line that carries our whole argument against AI in literature.
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04/08/2026 Unwritten Women (recommended by Gabi)
“It is in the everyday experiences of ordinary women that we find true history—the texture of our nation as lived, felt, and dreamed.” – Zea Asis
At last, a book that looks beyond the men of Philippine history and, “Beyond the official portraits and the hagiographic accounts,” as Zea Asia writes. At last, a book that celebrates the women on whose shoulders this nation stands.
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04/16/2026 The Persian Boy (recommended by Gabi and Anna)
Mary Renault does not so much bother with dates as open one’s perception of the classical world beyond textbook language and to a nuanced observation of the collision between a highly civilized East and an ambitious West. She does not so much bombard the reader with history as open one’s heart to the depth and texture of feeling, of longing, of belonging. Her musical prose is the novel’s epic cinematic soundtrack. Renault wins one over, heart and mind, the same way only the greatest conquerors knew that winning hearts and minds is the ultimate siegecraft.
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04/21/2026 Breasts and Eggs (recommended by Vera)
This book leaves one, especially a woman, with so much to chew on. It is probably the most existentialist contemporary novel I have encountered so far. A revelatory work of which the main subject is still too personal for me to discuss on social media.
But it is also revelatory in a sense that it sees through the cracks of Japanese society, which, as Filipino tourists in Japan, we tend to envy and glorify, but it is truly through reading that we get a glimpse beyond the surface.
04/25/2026 As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow (recommended by Anna who was right when she said that the gut punch in this book is everything).
When Assad fled Syria in 2024, my initial reaction was, “What? Just like that?!”
I corrected myself immediately. No, not “just like that,” rather, finally. The long-drawn-out revolution had finally concluded.
And it’s interesting how characters in this book correct each other if what has been happening in Syria is referred to as a war. “It’s not a war, Salama. It’s a revolution.”
This was published two years before the Assad regime fell, but it informs an outsider’s view of how the collapse wasn’t “just like that” — and in simple language. Simple enough for an early teen, but straightforward enough for the reader to make the daily struggle, the fear, the trauma, and the humanity tangible. Although it isn’t without heartwarming moments, too.
I thought I knew what was coming, and there was a point when I underestimated this book after I encountered several clichéd lines. But somewhere in these pages, was a gut punch like no other book I’ve read recently has delivered (hint: it’s not exactly at the moment when someone dies) — and that’s coming from someone who has a steady literary diet of stories from places of conflict.
No, it’s definitely not War and Peace. But these books, they carry their own childlike wisdom, too, and add to our understanding of Syria, less from a geopolitical perspective but more from a human one.
04/28/2026 The Museum of Modern Love (recommended by Anna) is highly original and uniquely structured with a title that is clearly a play on Love and Art, cunningly asking, what’s the point of art if we don’t realize their interchangeability?
“Art did not stop, that’s what Marina had said. Art did not get to five o’clock and say, ‘That’s it, the day is done, go think about TV or making dinner.’ It wasn’t like that. It was there all the time: when you were chopping vegetables, talking with a friend, reading a newspaper, listening to music, having a party. It was always there offering suggestions, wanting you to go write or draw, sing or play. Wanting you to imagine big things, to connect with an audience, to use energy, to find energy. It wasn’t ready when you were, it didn’t come when you wanted it or leave when you were done. It took its time.” — Heather Rose, The Museum of Modern Love
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April was a special reading month, thanks to books and friends. How dreary life would be without you!
The Book-Butterfly 