April 2026 results > Likes and Comments

In the voting to select our April 2026 book of the month, we had a tie between two books, both with seven votes: The Cypresses Believe in God: Spain on the Eve of Civil War - A Novel by José María Gironella and Encyclical Letter, Dilexit Nos - He Loved Us: On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ by Pope Francis.

The moderator used a randomizer to select the order of our reading both books.

"Dilexit Nos" will be our book for April.

"The cypresses believe in God" will be the book for May and June. As this book is quite long, the moderators decided we will be given two months to read it.

The rest of the voting was as follows:

With 5 votes:
The secret of the Holy Face
This Thing of Darkness
With 4 votes:
The anti-Mary
With 3 votes:
With two eyes into Gehenna
With 2 votes:
Conversation with Christ
The burning bush
Reclaiming quiet
The rifle
Why religion went obsolete
With 1 vote
Champions of the Rosary
The genius of Christianity
Pilgrims
War demons
With 0 votes (this book will be removed from both lists):
The seven spiritual weapons

The four books with 1 vote leave the Voting List, but are moved to the end of the Nominations List.

The six books at the top of the Nominations List will be added to the Voting List for the July 2026 voting, which will take place on May 15.

The moderators have discussed the result of the last voting, and make the following proposal:

As Encyclical Letter, Dilexit Nos - He Loved Us: On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ by Pope Francis is a short encyclical,

and as Dilexi Te: Apostolic Exhortation on Love for the Poor by Pope Leo is also in the current interest list, is even shorter,

and as both documents follow one another thematically,

we have the following proposal:

Let us read both documents during the month of April.

Do you agree? Or is anyone against it?

Manuel wrote: "The moderators have discussed the result of the last voting, and make the following proposal:

As [book:Encyclical Letter, Dilexit Nos - He Loved Us: On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Je..."

I agree.

Neither my public library nor my usual used book site has this book in stock, and one volume is $70 on amazon. Any clues where to find it more reasonably?

P.S. I mean the Cypresses book.

Jill, I found this:

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/los-cip...

I agree about reading both papal documents in April.

Jill wrote: "Neither my public library nor my usual used book site has this book in stock, and one volume is $70 on amazon. Any clues where to find it more reasonably?"

Amazon is unusually difficult with this. That same Ignatius Press full single volume version is available used for about $15, delivered. There is usually a link to those offerings on the Amazon site. Mine is supposed to be delivered in about a week.

As nobody is against our reading the two Papal documents in April, this is what we'll do:

March: A Song for Nagasaki: The Story of Takashi Nagai a Scientist, Convert, and Survivor of the Atomic Bomb by Paul Glynn

April: Encyclical Letter, Dilexit Nos - He Loved Us: On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ by Pope Francis and Dilexi Te: Apostolic Exhortation on Love for the Poor by Pope Leo XIV

May-June: The Cypresses Believe in God: Spain on the Eve of Civil War - A Novel by José María Gironella

I agree with both documents for April.

Also, did you know there is a free search engine for books? bookfinder.com

https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?au...

Manuel wrote: "As nobody is against our reading the two Papal documents in April, this is what we'll do:

March: [book:A Song for Nagasaki: The Story of Takashi Nagai a Scientist, Convert, and Survivor of the Ato..."

Cypresses will be the BOTM for both May and June, right? So the next vote will be May 15 for the July BOTM.

I really think that a good title to read during the month of May would be my book "Jamie's Prayer and Our Lady's Message" because May is the month dedicated to Our Lady.

John wrote: "Cypresses will be the BOTM for both May and June, right? So the next vote will be May 15 for the July BOTM."

My mistake. It's now corrected.

Joy wrote: "I really think that a good title to read during the month of May would be my book "Jamie's Prayer and Our Lady's Message" because May is the month dedicated to Our Lady."

Joy, the book we'll be reading in May and June was selected in the last voting of the club, whose result we are discussing here. Your book went into the nominations list today and should wait its turn.

So sorry. I'm still learning how all of this works. Thank you.

Mariangel, what Thriftbooks has is in Spanish.

Jill book finder.com is a free search engine for simple and advanced searches for books for sale.

https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?au...

Thank you for your helpful discussion. I’m in agreement about reading both papal documents in April.

Jill wrote: "Mariangel, what Thriftbooks has is in Spanish."

When you scroll down, it says the language is English and the publisher Ignatius press. Maybe it is wrong...

I received my copy of The Cypresses Believe in God. It’s quite the tome! Again recommend searching for a used copy through https://bookfinder.com Verify language and whether it contains both volumes. Volumes 1 and 2 are low sold separately.

Christopher wrote: "I received my copy of The Cypresses Believe in God. It’s quite the tome! Again recommend searching for a used copy through https://bookfinder.com Verify language and whether it contains both volume..."

That caused me a lot of confusion at first - the first English language edition was in two volumes and appeared to be 1000+ pages in total. The Ignatius Press edition is a single volume and 800 pages - I was worried that it may be printed in a tiny text impossible to read, but it is pretty good. Still a serious doorstopper of a book.