My April reading was a mish-mash of whatever books I had ready to hand, so I couldn't really come up with any connection to riff on in the intro.  Instead I thought of the word olio, and figured I should just take the opportunity to recommend Tyehimba Jess' really excellent book: OLIO

Rambling introduction accomplished.

The problem with being on a book publisher's email list is sometimes they send me pictures of their newly published books and then I think, "Ooh, those look cool. I bet I would like reading those..." and now I have more books in my house that I didn't even know existed before that email arrived.  I'm weak.

"Attila" is the final work of Aliocha Coll, an experimental Spanish writer.  It's described as "untranslatable" and "a stunning labryinth of allegory and metaphor".  Should be fun!

"Attila" is a fictionalized version of Coll's attempts to finish "Attila" and a meditation on authors that continue to be dedicated to their vision in the face of failure and dismissal.  More fun!

Books Read in April:

"Wizard of the Crow" was big and mythic and interesting and I really wish is had stuck the landing at the end of its 760 pages. It's the story of a fictional modern African nation that must deal with a despot, colonialism, exploitation, and history.  Magic and reason are both employed (sometimes) and it ends up quite often feeling like a myth or a parable in a really interesting way.

"Ordinary Wolves" was a really arresting book.  It told only its own story.  The main character, Cutuk, grows up in an igloo in remote Alaska and then must find his place inside or outside of society.  He hunts, he moves to Anchorage, he moves back to the tundra. He has people that he looks up to and those he fears.  A good coming-of-age narrative, but with a unique perspective on the world.

"Tongues" was a graphic novel that retells the Promethean myth with a post-apocalyptic bent.  It was interesting enough that I'll read volume 2 when it arrives, but I wasn't blown away.