This month I read:

• The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Ours Kids Learning– And How to Help Them Thrive Again by Jared Cooney Horvath – I read this book because of the national conversations about educational technology, and kids access to personal devices inside and outside of school. We are having these conversations locally as well, and it’s important to read all of the perspectives out there. This neuroscientist delves into his concerns about AI, cell phone use, reading on digital devices, and the educational technology business boom. There were data points shared with assumed correlations that make significant assumptions about what happens in classrooms, most of which does not happen in any elementary classroom I’ve been in. However, there is always more we can do to ensure we are being purposeful and intentional with tech use, whether for our students in classrooms, or ourselves and the endless doomscroll we all get sucked into at times.
• Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez [audiobook] – I love a fun romance by Abby Jimenez, and this was cheesy and silly and goofy and delightful to read. Our characters meet cute takes place in a vet’s office when Dr. Xavier meets his new patient, Samantha and her rescue kitten. After a rocky start, they realize they have a connection and go on a fun and disasterous first date (Come On Eileen plays a role, which is hysterical!). Then, they attempt a long-distance get-to-know-you situationship because Samantha has to take care of her mother with dementia. This book was full of family, friendship, hard choices, and real life challenges, along with grade sweeping romantic delcarations and gestures.
• Told You So by Macyi Neeley [audiobook] – I know Macyi through the reality show Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, but I clearly didn’t know the reality of her life before reading this memoir. Mayci grew up in Southern California in a very wealthy family. She was a young tennis star, working on a college scholarship when she began to test to limits of Mormon culture as a teenager. She details all of her experimentation with friends, her early dating, and dedicates a significant amount of time descripbing two key relationships she had, one of which was full of abuse and manipulation. I didn’t know these details of her past, as her current life as a working mom, a businesswoman, and TikTok and reality star, is very different. While I didn’t think the writing was strong, I was interested to learn about her history and sad to read so many hard details. I enjoyed this as an audiobook.
• End of Watch by Stephen King – This was the end of a trilogy about the mercedes killer and the retired detective, Bill Hodges, who found and arrested him. In the final insallment, the killer, Brady, is in the hospital with such a severe head injury that he is not fit to stand trial for his crimes. Bill still finds connections back to Brady when mysterious deaths by suicide pop up around town, leading Bill back to his unfinished business with the sick and twisted killer. Bill’s friends, Holly and Jerome, play significant roles in this installment, and the action races to a dramatic closure. I loved this series; I enjoy King’s crime books as they are faster paced than his horror stories.
• Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez [audiobook] – I loved this sweet romcom! When Bri first meets Jacob, there is a lot of miscommunication and you think they will be enemies forever. But once things are cleared up, they quickly become friends, then penpals, then friends who are pretending to be more, and then the fun begins. This was a very slow burn romance with a lot of funny side characters and a LOT of miscommunication, but I loved the main characters and I was rooting for them throughout it all!
• Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser – This is my April book club book, and I would never have read it if it wasn’t chosen for me. This is a retelling of Cinderella, from the perspective of the wicked stepmother. Only in this story. Ethel is a mother of two and stepmother to one, after being twice widowed and saddled in debt, and she is doing whatever it takes to give her daughters a better life. While it was slow to start, I really enjoyed this story once it got going. Whatever you think you know about the Cinderalla story can feel completely different from a new perspective. The last third was so good I couldn’t wait to keep reading and find out how it would end.
• American Fantasy by Emma Straub – My brother got me an autographed copy of this book, when he heard that the book was about a 50 year old woman who loves a boy band from her youth. He knows me well! I swear, this book was based on the New Kids on the Block (NKOTB), who I have seen in concert 26 times, but never on their cruise. In this story, we meet Annie, who agrees to go on the Boy Talk cruise with her sister after her recent mid-life divorce. We also follow the 5 band members and one of the crew responsible for keeping them safe and on time. If you aren’t an avid fan of boy bands, or if you don’t want to know what rabid fandoms look like up close, this is not the book for you. For me, I pictured my beloved NKOTB members as I read the book, and all of the many wild, fun, and totally insane fans I’ve met in the 35+ years I’ve been following them.
• The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai [audiobook] – Knowing that I am travelling to Vietnam in June, I asked my book club for recommendations of books that take place in Vietnam. This beautifully written story was high on the list. We follow a family from the 1950’s through the 1970’s, as their family suffers many tragedies during the Land Reform and then the Vietnam War, which they called the American War. This is a hearbreaking tale of a desperate mother and her children, and the people they become.
• Em by Kim Thúy – This was a fascinating collection of interconnected short stories, based on real events around the Vietnam War. We followed soldiers, young women, orphans, babies adopted in America, young adults who return to Vietnam, and so many stories of how the Vietnam War impacted the lives of millions of people. The author, originally from Vietnam, based the stories on interviews and history and shares even more at the end of the book. I was proud to recognize a few Vietnamese words from my Duolingo studies!