Of the five books I read in April, Bill Roorbach’s Writing Life Stories was my favorite. Roorbach excels at writing memoirs, and within the volume he collected the best and most practical writing advice I’ve seen. Certainly, I wish his book had been available when I studied English as an undergraduate at the University of Louisville.

Here are all the titles I read last month:

• Death on the Nile, by Agatha Christie
• The Silk Road, by Kathryn Davis
• Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki
• Melmoth, by Sarah Perry
• Writing Life Stories, by Bill Roorbach

Death on the Nile is, of course, a classic, but I found it tiresome.

Davis’ The Silk Road was a challenge to read. The novel’s lack of plot and dark subject matter prompt introspection; the book is not a light read.

I’ve read Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind twice, now. I respect the movement, and its precepts, but I consistently find myself becoming lost trying to understand how form is emptiness and emptiness is form.

A gothic read best enjoyed in winter, Perry’s Melmoth provides a contemporary update to the Melmoth the Wanderer tale. The story, while well written, did not appeal to me, however.