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 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?
3 comments
Can’t wait to put these on hold at the library. So excited.
I read Belinda Bauer’s “Exit” a while back and hugely enjoyed it. She is definitely on my list of authors I’d like to read more!
I finished three books in May — all reviewed on my blog, as well as on Goodreads & StoryGraph:
* “Miss Austen” by Gill Hornby. Adapted as a 4-part series that recently aired on PBS Masterpiece. “Miss Austen” is Jane’s older sister, Cassandra, who burned many of Jane’s letters, some years after her death. This book (and the show) proposes an explanation of why and what those letters might have contained. It starts out slowly but gradually becomes more interesting. The writing has an Austen-ish flavour — although of course, there was only one Jane Austen. 😉 The final few chapters were lovely. From a childless perspective, there’s a lot of fodder here for thought & discussion as Cassandra reflects on her life as an older, unmarried childless woman, in an era where there were few options for women like her, Jane and Isabella (another single woman in the story). (3.5-4 stars.)
“* A Burning” by Megha Majumdar (the June selection for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club). Jivan is an ambitious Muslim girl from an urban Indian slum who lives with her parents and works in a clothing store. At the train station one day, she witnesses a terrorist firebomb attack, in which 100 people die. A provocative, anti-government comment about the event on Facebook brings the authorities to her door: she is dragged off to jail and accused of carrying out the attack herself. Two other characters’ lives intertwine with Jivan’s — and with her fate — in ways that become clearer as the story unfolds: PT Sir, a phys ed teacher at a girls’ school, who becomes involved in local politics, and Lovely, a hijra (a trans person who plays a spiritual role in Indian culture). This is a short, fast read — very well written (especially for a first novel!). It keeps you turning the pages, and it packs a powerful punch, especially near the end. I appreciated its merits. But overall, it’s a pretty grim read, and I can’t say I loved it. (3-3.5 stars.)
* “Anne of Windy Poplars” by L.M. Montgomery, for my LMM Readathon Facebook group. Newly graduated from Redmond College, Anne becomes principal of the high school in Summerside, PEI (a real place), while her fiance Gilbert attends medical school, and she finds a new home as a boarder at Windy Poplars with “the widows” — “Aunt Kate” and “Aunt Chatty” — and their feisty housekeeper, Rebecca Dew. She makes new friends — and enemies (the entire Pringle clan) — and describes her adventures (some of them quite funny) in chatty, detailed letters to Gilbert. (4 stars..)
Surly detective in Denmark? I’m in!