Last month I got serious. I sat you all down and I told you as solemnly as I could (which is not very): the reading challenge will be taking a hit.
And yet here we are, and the hit has been taken, and I’m still surprised for some reason.
No projects in the whole of May went well. I read fewer books than usual and I liked them about the same as I have so far this year, which is to say not very much.
I’m now 3 books behind on my challenge, 10+ books behind in terms of review copies, and generally behind on my hopes, goals, and dreams.
I guess we can talk about how and why and when and the fact that I’m very brave.
Projects
I AM STILL FREAKING READING GODDAMN WAR AND PEACE!!!
Sorry for the outburst, but oh my god. How am I only three quarters of the way done with this? I swear to you if this book has a plot it’s doing a really good job of being sneaky about it.
In other words, I’m in the midst of YEAR AND PEACE. I have read a chapter a day for nine months, and I will continue to do so for three more.
Last month also marked the occasion of THE COUNT OF MONT-MAY CRISTO, which involved reading three chapters a day of this book because I said I’d do a post in which you guys could pick my reads, forgetting that you hate me, and you selected that 1400 page behemoth. I hit the Goodreads character limit so many times that all of my little jokes have been sliced and diced and ruined, but I did it. Are you happy? Sound off in the comments below.
Then I also just finished that you-guys-pick-my-reads project. You asked for it. Enjoy the chaos.
Review copies
I’ll say it: This slipped through the cracks.
I had 12 review copies to read in May, and I read 7 of them. So now in addition to the 9 review copies due in June, I have those 5 leftovers to catch up on. Surely that will work out fine and we’ll be here this time next month bragging about our successes.
And yes, I did agree to five more e-ARCs today alone. Why do you ask? (The NetGalley addiction does not appear to be going anywhere. Help me.)
What paid subscribers got
As always, the primary benefit in terms of sheer volume is my love and affection.
Additionally, these posts:
First, springtime recommendations. I am an in-between type of person (indecisive, neither outright mean or really very nice, brownish blondish hair) and I love the in-between seasons of fall and spring the best. So: this post features books that really amp the spring-y feeling. We’re hurdling toward summer right now, so I recommend picking these up and pretending it’s 68 degrees Fahrenheit outside on a day when ice cream would melt on impact.
In writing that post, I reflected on how much I love Jane Austen and how wonderfully spring-like her books are. So I made a quiz which will tell you which of them you are. Right answers only — even the most evil person wouldn’t get Mansfield Park on this quiz, because I make the rules here if not everywhere (goals, though).
THEN I realized that even though Jane Austen is as close to pure excellence as it’s possible to get, I still don’t fully and uncomplicatedly love all of her works (unlike my paid subscribers, each of whom is an angel from heaven). So I wrote about every perfect book I’ve ever read, no edits, no notes, no complaints even from me, someone with all of the cheer and positive attitude of a bridge troll.
Then I had a really good day filled with lovely and simple moments, so I wrote about things that make me happy. This is one of my favorite posts ever, mostly because the comments are a (better) lovely extension of the post itself.
(Also, I shared June’s first post already, in which I read whatever you guys told me to. You can read that here.)
These wrap-ups will always be free, and there will always be at least four paid posts. If you like me, I’m sorry for whatever you’ve been through, and I’d like if you stuck around! (I am planning some subscription giveaways in the near future, so free subscribers, keep an eye out!)
The books in question
I feel like every month I want to add a new and longer segment to these posts to procrastinate, but let’s get into it. Here’s what I read in May:
Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller
April 29-May 1 | Source: Library
This is one of the selections for this week’s post, in which I asked if you could make me read any book, what it would be. I liked it!
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
The Book of Everlasting Things by Aanchal Malhotra
April 30-May 2 | Source: Library
This was another selection for this week’s post, in which I asked if you could make me read any book, what it would be. I didn’t really care for it.
Rating: ✯✯
Dirty Kitchen by Jill Damatac
May 1-6 | Source: Netgalley
If I’m being real with you, I picked this up thinking it was a lighthearted memoir about food and coming of age and all that good stuff. It was very, very dark. But it was good.
Rating: ✯✯✯
Favorite Daughter by Morgan Dick
April 29-May 7 | Source: Netgalley
Here’s another reason why quitting my NetGalley addiction will never work: Sometimes I see cool people whose opinions I trust talking about a book, and then I request it and there’s still time to read it. This was one of those instances and I had a blast.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
May 7-17 | Source: Library
Another one for the you-guys-pick-my-reads post. This one…I don’t want to talk about it right now. More to come. If you read that. For better or worse.
Rating: ✯✯
Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan
May 2-19 | Source: Netgalley
The one-two punch of being disappointed by a middle grade book from the early 2000s immediately followed by a Kennedy Ryan romance…it’d be enough to take a person out. Not me, though. I’m like a cockroach. I’d survive the apocalypse if there were still books to have unpopular opinions about on the other side.
Rating: ✯✯
The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei
April 30-May 20 | Source: Publisher
The publisher (so kindly!) sent me this book 10 months ago, and I still managed to read it late. Does it make up for it at all that I thought it was fantastic, or does that make it even worse? I love reading about sisters and this relationship was so complex and frustrating. A good time.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
May 18-20 | Source: Library
Yet another selection by you lot for the Make Me Read Something post. You won me back with this one, I won’t lie to you.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
The End of Loneliness by Benedict Wells
May 19-20 | Source: Library
You guys picked this one as well. I don’t know whether you won or lost points with it. I had so many contradictory feelings that it all kind of evened out to a net neutral in the end.
Rating: ✯✯✯
My Name is Emilia Del Valle by Isabel Allende
May 19-20 | Source: Netgalley
Speaking of my NetGalley addiction…sometimes I see a book, and I think, “That doesn’t really sound like my cup of tea.” And then I see it again, and still I think, “Not for me.” And then I see it a third time and request it. I don’t know what my problem is either.
Rating: ✯✯✯
Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen
May 8-22 | Source: Library
To be loved is to be known, so you guys must be obsessed with me. You know I love a weird book and you made this one of your assigned readings for this week’s post. (I could’ve done with even weirder.)
Rating: ✯✯✯
Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild
May 22-23 | Source: Netgalley / Libro.fm
My particular brand of social anxiety makes it hard for me to tell long stories at gatherings, but I made a group of strangers at a grad party listen to me summarize this for upwards of 10 minutes. I accidentally walked 5 miles because I was so mad while listening to it on audio. I don’t even know how to review it beyond: This book is f*cking insane.
Rating: ✯
Notes to John by Joan Didion
May 23-24 | Source: Publisher
I wrote at length on Instagram about the ethical question posed by this book, and the various circus tricks I had to do in order to arrive at my decision to read it, so here I will just say: It’s excellent. I loved it.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Second Life by Amanda Hess
May 24-26 | Source: Netgalley
Those of you who have been here a minute are well aware of my inexplicable interest in books about having children, a pattern that does not extend to movies, podcasts, small talk, or interpersonal relationships. But once again, I enjoyed this.
Rating: ✯✯✯
Clean by Alia Trabucco Zeran
May 26-27 | Source: Library
I always feel like literary horror is going to be so much scarier than the more commercial alternative, but this was less frightening than anticipated. More boring and then suddenly not.
Rating: ✯✯✯
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
May 27-28 | Source: Netgalley
I love memoirs. I don’t know how Yiyun Li even survives what she’s been through, let alone writes about it, let alone does so so clearly and wisely, but. We’re lucky for it.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
The Memory Collectors by Dete Meserve
May 28-29 | Source: Netgalley
There are certain things that I love when they fall under a more literary umbrella, but don’t otherwise. Horror, as mentioned above, is one. Time travel is another. Not a huge fan of this book or its cover.
Rating: ✯✯
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
May 1-29 | Source: Library
As mentioned above, I read this also for the you-guys-pick-my-reads post, and it took the entirety of my month of May and my mental fortitude. If you have a spare 90 minutes, you can read my magnum opus. If you have less time, just read this.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Summing things up
This was a really tough reading month in … every way. I am a creature of habit, so I read the most when I’m deep into my usual routines. I was almost never in my routines this month, which amounted to a reading slump-level disruption in my literary life.
Thanks to filling the minutes I could with reading, I still managed to finish 18 books. The tough part is that I would only really recommend 7 of them, or a brutal 39%. I think that’s the worst since I started doing this?
The very best book I read was Notes to John, and the very worst book I read was Finding Grace.
Pie charts below for my fellow stat appreciators!
What were your best and worst reads of May?