As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from May.

The Impossible Thing (Belinda Bauer): This book was a slow burn that sucked you in until it was all you could think or talk about. It is very clever, not only in how everything came together but in how the author makes you care deeply about these eggs, even if you entered reading the story thinking you didn’t really care about eggs. She makes you care. It’s a great story, masterfully written.

Probably Nothing (Lauren Bravo): A perfect, hopeful, kind, heartwarming book. It literally made me feel good while reading it. I loved every character and wished I could get to Ann’s kitchen, too. She would annoy me in the moment but I would be grateful to feel her love. This book is like being squished in the best kind of hug.

A Game of Lies (Clare Mackintosh): This is the second book in a series (third book coming out soon), and you probably need to read the first book to like the second. You cannot go wrong with a Clare Mackintosh book. She writes a solid, page-turning thriller. Not scary. Packed with fun Welsh terms and scenery. This one stretched some believability, but it was still enjoyable and I heard the next book in the series is excellent, so I didn’t want to skip a book.

Count My Lies (Sophie Stava): 3.5 rounded up. I liked the writing, but this book fell into the pit that many thrillers fall into, where the character knows what the reader knows. In other words, they get to conclusions that the reader could get to with their knowledge but which the character could never possibly get to with the character’s knowledge. It’s an enjoyable read but so far-fetched.

The Keeper of Lost Causes (Jussi Adler-Olsen): This is the first Department Q book — I wanted to read them before I heard spoilers from the tv show. Every so often you find a series where you instantly love all of the characters and setting, and your heart fills up with joy for days as you think about how many good books you have ahead of you. This was one of those series. I love Carl. Love Assad. I even love Vigga. It was intense, especially the end, but wonderful. Amazing book. Think Three Pines but more surliness and in Denmark.

The Absent One (Jussi Adler-Olsen): This is the second Department Q book. This one was 4.5 rounded up. I didn’t love the translation style as much as the last one, but it was still an intriguing (and disturbing) plot. And I love these characters so much.

What did you read last month?

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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Quentin turned two months old and went on his first road trip. We went to visit Josh’s parents, and while you can normally leave a guinea pig alone for a day or two with food and water, he’s still a bit too little to stay alone. So we packed the same amount of gear that we used to bring when the kids were little (little carrier and big carrier and playpen and toys and food and and and) and jumped in the car.

He was a joy in the car (he mostly slept) and took a few hours to get comfortable in a different house, but he was a good roommate — I had some fears that he would want to play at 2 am because he could see us — and after his nightly zoomies around the playpen, he went into his big carrier and slept until morning. Road trip plus: Justine got to meet him and give him a cuddle.

I love that he’s such a chill pig and game for any adventure. Plus, I literally feel my body calm when I’m stroking his back. He’s a great travel companion.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts connected to businesses or sponsored posts.

We went to a town on the eastern shore to read by the water. When we sat down on the benches, it became apparent that the group of people standing on the bank were scattering someone’s ashes. They were taking turns opening plastic bags and dumping the ashes into the water. Later, they climbed up onto the grass and continued to catch up with one another now that the ceremony was over.

I’ve scattered ashes myself, but it was my first time witnessing another group releasing ashes. I found it oddly moving to get to bear witness to an ending.

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Our local library system holds a yearly summer reading program. I participated in it as a kid. They’ll put your name up at the local library if you read the requisite number of books.

This year, the library invited adults to participate, too. We don’t get our name up at the local branch, but if you read six books, you get a coupon for ice cream and stickers. We signed up as a family, and if we reach our reading goal, I’ll cut out paper stars and put our names up in the kitchen. You need to take the wins where you can.

It’s Friday the 13th, and as always, I have the compulsion to point that out in the Roundup when the date aligns. It’s not as if you don’t have a calendar or that the date even means anything. But I got it out of my system. Carry on.

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

And now the blogs…

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But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Scientist on the Roof muses about what it’s like to be an extrovert amongst introverts. I related to this: “Having conversations can be a lot of work (I have to talk! and ask questions! and then ask more questions! it’s exhausting!)” People often talk about it the other way around — being an introvert surrounded by extroverts — but I hadn’t thought about the opposite situation.

Lastly, Bereaved and Blessed answers a set of reflective questions, something she has done every five years. She explains, “When I turned 40 and 45 I wrote and shared reflection posts here on my blog, which turned 18 this year. I decided to do it again, as I appreciate being able to revisit what I was thinking, as well as feeling, back then and how far I have come since.” It’s a long posts, and I love this question at the end: “What is your heart telling you that you need right now?”

The roundup to the Roundup: Friday the 13th. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between June 6 – 13) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.

My Sweet Dumb Brain had a profound thought that made me sad. She told the story about a cake that upset her father, joking about his age when he turned 40. She wrote: “He passed away in 2013, at just 58 years old. If life is a hill, he was already well on the other side when he turned 40. Maybe he knew that. No wonder he got mad.”

It’s such a strange idea. I think I’m middle-aged, but how can I know what the middle is if I don’t know the end? Perhaps my twenties were middle age, or I could still be a decade away from middle age if technology advances in such a way that the lifespan pushes on to 120.

It’s a lovely essay about what it means to age, gain wisdom, and change with time.