Best Books of May
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 read that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better about 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.
Skipping the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes because, yes, I love Sherlock Holmes, but no, you don’t need a review of each short story collection. But since I technically liked it (vs. felt meh about it), I’m mentioning it.
And just in case you read this post and are worried that you’ll learn the name of that book, don’t worry. I don’t list it below.
All Your Twisted Secrets (Diana Urban): I am not the right audience for this book, but I promise you that 15-year-old Melissa would have loved this. It’s a fun young adult mystery with a locked room, ticking bomb, and poorly behaving teenagers. It was like a brain soda: zero nutritional value but totally delicious on the right day.
Just One Damned Thing After Another and A Symphony of Echoes (Jodi Taylor): These are the first two books in the Chronicles of St. Mary’s series. They were both good fun, and I will pick up another book in this series in the future. They’re time travelers—sort of Doctor Who meets Jasper Fforde—and the plotting feels like she was being chased while typing. In other words, a lot of random things happen, one after the other, and each story feels like four books smushed into one. But, again, really good fun, and the perfect read for right now.
Chosen Ones (Veronica Roth): Were there major plot holes in this book. Yes. Was the whole thing set up to be a series and doesn’t completely work on its own? Yes. Even with those two damning facts, I still really loved this read. It wasn’t what I thought it would be, which made me a little disappointed for the book I hoped to get and also pleasantly surprised with the book I got. Think of it like a more realistic epilogue to Harry Potter—what happens to the heroes after the bad guy is vanquished and they’ve saved the whole world? I have something specific about this book to unpack, but I promise no spoilers.
What did you read last month?
2 comments
I’m on the fence about whether to start Veronica Roth’s new series. I really liked Divergent but did not like the second and third books in the series as much as the first book and didn’t really like the way she wrapped up that series of stories. (I will avoid saying more to keep from spoiling for those who may not have read those books.)
I read six new books in May, so I will list their titles and authors but not a full review of each. I also re-read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin which I originally read shortly after it came out.
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay. I started this book in April and finished it in May. It was just what I needed at the time.
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix. This was my book club’s May selection, and while it wasn’t what I thought it would be, I liked it.
Unseen by Karin Slaughter. Karin Slaughter never disappoints me.
The Huntress by Kate Quinn. Very good read.
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms. An entertaining light read.
The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer. Parts of this book were formulaic and predictable, but overall I enjoyed it.
I also started Eight Perfect Murders are reading about it here, but I didn’t finish it until after the first of June. 😉
I love that you do this, because it makes me realise that maybe I read more in May than I thought I did. And “unashamedly copying” someone is the sincerest form of flattery. That’s what I say every time I do one of Loribeth’s “Right Now” posts, anyway!
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne was a sometimes troubling but ultimately lovely read. I gave it four stars on Goodreads, and suspect it will stay with me longer than other four star reads. It has an adoption/birth mother story. I highly recommend it.
Then I turned to Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, which I knew was very popular, but didn’t know why or what to expect. At the beginning I was a little nervous about how it might work out – as a review has stated, it is both funny and heartbreaking. A very easy read, and the perfect way to get back into reading. Another four stars.
Then I delved into the first of a series by Iain Pears, The Raphael Affair. Another very easy read, both satisfying but feeling as if there should have been more. I gave it three stars (Goodreads standard = I enjoyed it), but probably enjoyed the reading of it more than that – perhaps because it was set in Italy? It was a very happy three stars though, and I’ve already (just last week) read the next in the series, and will read the rest.
And I finished the month with the audiobook of How to Survive the Roman Empire by Pliny and Me, by Hattie Naylor. It’s a BBC production, so brilliantly done, and was both funny and tense. I gave it four stars too, making May a very successful reading month, with no books I did not enjoy!