April 2026 Book Marks
As I prepare to head to a writer’s retreat, I’ve been reading as much as I can. Immersing myself in words inspires me and writing a novel is a giant accomplishment. If anyone tells you it’s easy, they’re lying. The beginning and ending are often obvious. It’s just the middle that’s the hard part. That’s the chunk that has to work. The books you hold in your hands, on Kindle, or listen to took hundreds and hundreds of hours, solitude and lots of self-doubt to come into the world. And this month, I’ve tried to pick something for everyone’s tastes…
Fiction: The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
The author of the bestselling book “The Help,” is back with a second novel set in Mississippi in the years before the Great Depression. Meg, Birdie and Charlie have no husbands, no loving families or anyone to “save them” from their various circumstances. The story follows each woman as their lives collide in a sisterhood that will ultimately forge unbreakable bonds. It’s a testament to what happens when you put a smart, scrappy and warm-hearted group of women together (with nothing to lose) in a complicated and colorful place where the rules are defined.
Fiction: Start at the End by Emma Grey
Audrey and Fraser quickly fall in love, but as life unspools over time, one “in-an-instant” moment will change everything. Wrestling with guilt, and rewinding the tape in their heads, they are haunted by the many questions swirling around the “what if’s?” What if one tiny thing had changed the trajectory of events, would they still be here? Or what if events had transpired the other way around? This powerful, sliding doors story is about fate, the power of love, but it is also about loss and grief. In the end, life is defined by the fact that none of us will escape the range of that experience.
Fiction: Heart the Lover by Lily King
During her senior year in college, Jordan meets Sam and Yash in literature class. They invite her into their world, including offering her a room while they live in a professor’s house. Their relationships grow over academic banter, card games and witty repartee in their campus setting. Jordan quickly finds herself in the middle of a triangle in a way that will change their worlds. Fast forward into the future, and the three best friends are settled into middle age, leading separate lives. A surprise visit and unexpected news brings the past fast forward into the present. Jordan is transported into her youth, where she must now face the decisions and actions of her younger self. It’s King at her best, defining the intricacies of the human condition, causing us to rifle through the closet of our own pasts and evoking strong emotions as good literature does.
Non-Fiction- Moral Injuries – When Good Conscience Suffers in a World of Hurt by Michael Valdovinos
Moral Injury is often described as a “wound to the soul.” It occurs when impossible choices pit survival, duty or success against an individual’s personal principles. The simplest way to understand it is when someone is faced with a situation where they are forced to betray some aspect of their personal code of conscious or ethics. Once associated with the military service, in our increasingly complicated world, it is appearing across numerous professions, including healthcare, tech and government, reshaping the heart of institutions, communities and lives. A solider given orders to attack civilians, a healthcare worker enforcing a policy they know will create harm, or an employee at a technology firm charged with working on a product they know could create harm, it’s what happens to our mental health when our core values are violated by our own actions. Dr. Michael Valdovinos is a psychologist, veteran and trauma expert and has written a highly readable book that opens a new and critical conversation about the role we have in society to protect the health of us all.
Non-Fiction – What I Learned from Mom by Jeffrey Dunn and Sherrie Rollins Westin
Moms are known for their good advice. And the CEOs behind Sesame Workshop have compiled a fun and meaningful book you can turn to for inspiration or comfort. They asked 27 remarkable and celebrated individuals from all walks of life; including media, business, politics, entertainment and education to share the ways in which their mother’s wisdom was instrumental in their success. This book is a love letter to mothers everywhere – note—Mother’s Day is on the way!
Non-Fiction: Protect Your Confidence by Diana S. Cutaia
All of us are born with a flame of confidence that is both powerful and fragile. In a world that can be quick to try to extinguish our flame, there are things we can do to protect it and fuel our confidence. Educator, college athletic director and non-profit executive Diana Cutaia founded Coaching Peace to help people achieve their goals and make an impact. This book was designed as a framework to share years of learnings through workshops, interviews and coaching sessions with the reader. The journal-style exercises are designed to help us all protect our confidence in a world where it’s especially important to trust who we are.
Thriller: As Far as She Knew by Diana Awad
For 23 years, Amira Abadi believed she had a strong and devoted marriage. When her husband, Ali, dies suddenly, she learns that he owns a house she knew nothing about. Whispers of betrayal begin to seep out into her tight-knit Arab community. As Amira undergoes her own investigation, she uncovers secrets that will upend everything she thought she knew. Amira must balance how to help her children process their father’s death with her ferocious need to uncover the truth, even as it brings her increasingly closer to danger.
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