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 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 Soulmate (Sally Hepworth): Hepworth books are hit-or-miss. They’re always well-written, but the plot is sometimes so farfetched that I can’t suspend disbelief. This was one where I also guessed the ending early on. It’s okay that it was forgettable because I enjoyed the act of reading it at the moment, which is a long way of saying that I’ll read her next book, too. They’re all solid four-star reads.
In the Lives of Puppets (TJ Klune): I bought his first book (first book that I read, that is) for everyone. I thought it was amazing. I recommended his second book to a bunch of people. I thought it was moving. I am on the fence about how I feel about this book. It is complicated, and as you’re laughing over the robots’ conversations, the author presents some uncomfortable answers to the questions at the heart of the book: Can we love beings who do terrible things? What if they don’t have free will and are forced to do terrible things? What if they do have a choice and make a terrible one?
A Rule Against Murder (Louise Penny): The books in this series just get better and better and better. This one was even better than book three, and I loved book three. It’s a great mystery, and while I ended the book with a few questions I’d love to discuss with someone else who read it, I leave the story super impressed with Penny. Again and again and again.
La Belle Sauvage (Philip Pullman): I listened to this as an audiobook. Michael Sheen is one of the most talented book readers on earth. I rarely have time to listen to audiobooks, but I would make time to listen to this one again.
What did you read last month?
5 comments
I’m so excited for you that you have so much Louise Penny still to come! In my view, she really hits her stride from book four onwards.
Ooh, I haven’t read book 3 OR 4 of Louise Penny (our library has them all except 3 and I feel kind of stuck as a result – I know, I should just buy it), but you’re really encouraging me to do that now. Especially with Turia’s comment.
I’m going to add the audiobook to my list too – especially when you mentioned Michael Sheen. I love him!
I actually read some books in May, even when I was on holiday. (And April – as I missed the May blog.)
Eddy, Eddy by Kate deGoldi was lovely. She writes great YA fiction, really gives heart to the characters, and in this one there was a twist I suspected (or something similar) at one stage then dismissed, and so didn’t see coming. A NZ author, this book is set just after the earthquake in Christchurch. But it is really universal. Highly recommend.
In April I finally finished Stony the Road, by Henry Louis Gates Jr. I’d listened to it as an audiobook, and April was rainy, so it took me a long time! As someone who doesn’t know a lot of the details of the post-slavery politics in the US, this was absolutely fascinating. And appalling. And a bit academic and dry – especially as an audiobook. But it was so relevant to what happens today as well.
The Chancellor, by Kati Marton, a biography of Angela Merckel, was fascinating. I didn’t know much about her except the basics. Mostly very interesting, sometimes a bit depressing (especially when they got onto Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine).
I just finished “A Rule Against Murder” (it will be on my June reading list!), and I loved it too. I was prepared not to like it as much as the first three because almost 95% of the story takes place outside Three Pines — boy, was I wrong. 😉
I read five books in May, all of them reviewed on my blog & on Goodreads and StoryGraph:
* “Sarah’s Cottage” by D.E. Stevenson, which my DES group is now reading & discussing together, chapter by chapter. It’s a sequel to “Sarah Morris Remembers,” which we read late last year: the war is over, and Sarah & Charles are married and living in Scotland near her grandparents. Part of the story involves their relationship with their neglected niece Frederica, daughter of Sarah’s spoiled, wealthy sister Lottie. I kept waiting for a “miracle baby” ending, which, thankfully, did NOT arrive! 3 stars.
* “Funny Girl” by Nick Hornby. I read this before the six-part TV adaptation, Funny Woman, began airing on the W network here in Canada. It’s about a beauty queen in 1964 England who heads to London to pursue her dreams of becoming a TV star. Not quite what I expected, nor quite as funny as I expected. A pleasant read, but I’ve read better books by Hornby. (The period fashions & music in the TV version are fabulous, though…!) 3 stars.
* “The Whispers” by Ashley Audrain. Very readable — it sure kept me turning the pages — but also very disturbing. None of the characters was particularly likeable. Lots of motherhood-related themes and lots of ALI triggers here — be forewarned. 4 stars.
* “Anne of the Island” by L.M. Montgomery, a chapter-by-chapter re-read together with my LMM Readathon Facebook group. Anne’s college years include lots of unexpected lessons about life and love. This is a favourite among many Montgomery/Anne fans, and it’s easy to see why. Particularly remarkable for Montgomery’s subtle messages about women’s education and independence in the late 1800s/early 1900s (written in 1915). 5 stars.
* “Women Without Kids” by Ruby Warrington. 4 stars. Warrington is childfree by choice, and the book mixes her personal story and extensive research with a psycho-socio-political analysis of life without children and what it means to never be a mother, as well as questions to get the reader thinking about their own stories and feelings on the subject. 4 stars.
I’m reading The Lonely Hearts Book Club. I like it. I just finished Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I found that to be unsatisfying. I don’t even know why.
Popping back in to say I’ve just finished the audiobook La Belle Sauvage that you recommended, and OMG I loved it. Michael Sheen was soooo good. Thank you for the recommendation! I’ve just downloaded the second book too! (But I need to go write a blog post before I start. lol)