everything I read in May
it's 28 books, sorry
When things are going well in my life — and I mean really flourishing — I read quite a bit. When events are trending downwards, I read little.
When everything is tending towards “very, very poorly indeed,” I read tons.
In May, I read 28 books.
You fill in the blanks.
Let’s get into it.
What paid subscribers got
Less than usual, I’m sorry to say. If you wanted to choose kindness (and who does?) you could say “quality over quantity” and I’d be wildly grateful for that sweet little lie.
Still, I was sending out my undying love and affection even if you didn’t get an email about it.
Plus these three posts:
unforgettable books: When you read a lot (much, much more on this soon), people often lash out at you. One of the things they like to say is “I bet you don’t even vividly remember every single book you finish!” And they are right. There are also middling episodes of syndicated television, or Snapchat stories, or cafeteria meals that don’t stick with me. The good stuff does, though, like these.
blind date with a book: A romantic quiz! You can plan a date and get a book recommendation, and I can pretend that it’s 2011 and I still think I’m going to work at Buzzfeed.
every BookTok book I’ve read, ranked: I am at a loss for what inspired me to do it, but I read dozens of lists and collated everything that repeated and ranked 100 reads commonly recommended on BookTok. So there’s that.
What all subscribers got
After a bit of a lull, I’m having more fun than ever here on Substack (and I think finally figuring out a difference between free and paid posts beyond “I feel like it”).
Here’s May’s lineup:
everything I read in April: Not a bad reading month, but certainly no May.
books about books: I love the idea of reading about bookworms and bookstores and people who work in and with them, but I rarely enjoy the execution. These ones are in my coveted, rarefied good graces.
the 20 best novels: I hit 20,000 subscribers (???) and The Guardian released a strange best 100 list (intentional) so I celebrated by making my own bizarre suggestions.
short books to end your reading slump: The fourth installment of a series I have, purely coincidentally, added to every three months. See you in August I guess.
Projects
I did the unthinkable: something that makes perfect sense.
After four straight (really five) months of average-to-bad reading experiences, I sat down and read the 10 I was most excited to get to.
It went extremely well.
I finished The Penguin Book of the International Short Story, which I’d been reading at a story a day clip for my becoming a genius project.
I also did the even more unthinkable: MAYBY-DICK. Or, I read Moby-Dick throughout May for my long classics project.
I don't want to talk about it.
Review copies
When May began, I had 15 review copies to read. I read 20.
When June began I was partway through 2 books that came out in May and had two more I had not yet begun.
I don’t know what my problem is but I’m ready to do it all again, with my May leftovers plus 14 more for June alone.
Other media on my mind
I just began this section last month and I’m already stumped.
Okay, wait, let me Dakota-Johnson-to-Ellen myself: that’s actually not true.
I have begun a rewatch of The West Wing with my husband (who’s never seen it), a show so powerful that when I was 17 it convinced me I was destined for a career in politics.
I’m enjoying it as an adult, but my “it was a different time” count is in the three figures and I’m still on season one.
Other than that…wow, the Summer House reunion. Now that’s television. That’s journalism.
And my sister got us tickets to Phoebe Bridgers! I can’t wait to put my phone in a pouch and write a thinkpiece.
What you should read on Substack
Might start a new tradition where I add yet another non-book-related section to this every month. I’m having fun procrastinating writing about 28 novels.
So I bought a Brick for my phone and it has worked immensely well, which I have been unable to stop proclaiming at every turn. However.
For some reason it does not recognize Substack as an app, so the result as of now is my Instagram time is zero, my TikTok time is zero, my Substack time is higher than it’s ever been.
For now it’s fine and I’m reading so many good articles. Here are three you should read too:
Ann Patchett Says She’s ’Remarkably Vice-Free,’ Book Gossip — Ever since I finished Whistler the only thing I want to read is Patchett interviews.
I Traded Streaming Platforms For A DVD Player, Long Live — I am a worshiper at the altar of analog media but DVD players intimidate me. This made them seem charming and almost influenced me to open Facebook marketplace.
25 books i love in genres outside of my comfort zone, cool gal writing — Jocelyn and I read very similar lists of books and have about 70% of the same feelings on them, which keeps things fun and interesting.
The books in question
Alright, enough already. I’ll get to the actual stuff I read.
Here are the 28 books I finished in May:
Leave Your Mess at Home by Tolani Akinola
April 29 - May 1 | Source: NetGalley
This is a very fun title, and a book that is as fun as any book can possibly be while also being extremely depressing.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Other Women and Other Stories by Nicola Maye Goldberg
April 30 - May 2 | Source: NetGalley
Ostensibly a short story collection from an author whose under-read and low-rated debut I really enjoyed, except it was actually one perfect novella with two other less good stories thrown in. It’s been years since the book only I liked, so I’ll take what I can get.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Selfish by Kerry Docherty
April 26 - May 3 | Source: NetGalley
A memoir about a semi-self aware, very well-off white woman navigating a troubled marriage with an unfeeling and ambitious husband. I would say I feel bad that it’s doomed to share a publishing cycle with Strangers, but this is not in the same league. It would benefit from riding some coattails.
Rating: ✯✯✯
Harmless by Miranda Shulman
April 28 - May 3 | Source: NetGalley
Gave me the heebie-jeebies and the same feeling as putting off textbook chapters until your whole night is going to be homework. Trying to think of a worse combo and coming up blank.
Rating: ✯✯
The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald (reread)
May 1-4 | Source: Owned
This was nice and all, but I am befuddled by the level to which teenage me loved it. It’s promising, but it’s an unfinished novel. It’s got its moments of brilliance, but ot’s both bloated and underdone.
This is what happens when you raise young women on the concept of being not like other girls.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Liar’s Dice by Juliet Faithfull
April 25 - May 5 | Source: Publisher
It took me ages to get into this, but once I did, I cared about the characters. Still, life is short and this was long.
Rating: ✯✯✯
A Long and Speaking Silence by Nghi Vo
May 3-6 | Source: NetGalley
Now this series, on the other hand: can be read out of order, always short, doesn’t matter if you don’t love one — you’re just as likely to enjoy the next. Their releases are always welcome.
Rating: ✯✯✯
Brazen by Penelope Bagieu (reread)
May 5-7 | Source: Publisher
Teenage me was onto something here. This wasn’t the five star read it was when I was in high school, but it’s funny and edgy and beautifully illustrated and entertaining (if error-ridden). Sorry but I read fiction, so I’ll take that trade.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Pretend You’re Dead and I Carry You by Julián Delgado Lopera
May 2-7 | Source: NetGalley
This is not a bad book, but I didn’t like any of it as much as I enjoyed the title.
It’s not saying that much since it’s a really good title.
Rating: ✯✯✯
The Forester’s Daughter by Claire Keegan
May 6-8 | Source: Publisher
I love Claire Keegan and I love short books and I love fairytales, but I could not track down this book for the life of me.
I might as well be under some sort of witch’s punishment to the publisher for how grateful I am that they sent it to me. All of it would be worth it — this is so good.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean
May 4-11 | Source: NetGalley
That cover! It’s too good. There was both too much and not enough going on in this book and all I wanted to do was gaze into those creepy non-eyes <3
Rating: ✯✯✯
Devotions by Lucy Caldwell
May 11-12 | Source: Publisher
I am shocked by how much I enjoyed this small book and how much I didn’t want it to end. Some of these stories may very well stay with me for the rest of my life — sweet and deceptively light tales of paths untaken and hopes dashed and happiness, or the chance of it, found anyway. What better themes to read of right now?
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Change of Plans by Sarah Dessen
May 7-13 | Source: NetGalley
I’m not in the right age group and this was not her finest and I couldn’t summon up the level of nostalgia it would have taken to have a rip-roaring good time, but there is no book that feels as summery as a Sarah Dessen YA contemporary.
Rating: ✯✯✯
The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket (reread)
May 10-14 | Source: Owned
Similarly this did not reach the level of nostalgia I expected on reread, but at least it gave me one of my all time favorite words.
I sound like an absolute grump in this post. I liked this, I swear! I don’t know why I have a bad attitude!
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
The Hill by Harriet Clark
May 12-19 | Source: Publisher
The whole time I read this book, I had no idea what was going on, and when I finished it and learned that it’s based on the author’s life I felt that even more strongly.
What a one-of-a-kind-level strange read. That’s a compliment.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Honey by Imani Thompson
May 8-20 | Source: NetGalley
I don’t feel like I have really high expectations — no, that’s not true, I have some level of self-awareness, but I’m going to go on with my point anyway — but I do expect that books about women becoming serial killers in the name of taking out gross men should be interesting.
Rating: ✯✯
On Witness and Respair by Jesmyn Ward
May 13-21 | Source: Publisher
Between Jesmyn Ward and Yiyun Li, I don’t know how we have such wise, eloquent, unforgettable writing about unthinkable tragedy.
And I’ve fallen in love with the word respair.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Mostly Hero by Anna Burns
May 20-22 | Source: Publisher
I mean, it’s a superhero book. In hindsight I don’t know what I expected.
Rating: ✯✯
Rachel West and the Fallen Starlet by Emma Mills
May 19-23 | Source: NetGalley
What happens when an author you really like suddenly writes a novel in a genre you really don’t? Nothing good, as it turns out.
Rating: ✯✯
Turn (W)here by Chet’la Sebree
May 14-16 | Source: NetGalley
I generally really enjoy memoirs by people I’ve never heard of. I read memoirs for introspection and reflection and truth, which your average joe is more capable of than a celebrity anyway.
But when they are neither completely honest nor cohesive, it can make for a tough read.
Rating: ✯✯✯
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
May 18-26 | Source: Library
At this point, I gave up. I was more than halfway through what was shaping up to be yet another nightmare of a reading month, full of self-assigned books and forgettable reads and honest-to-goodness duds.
So I decided to read the 10 books that excited me most, beginning with this one. And oh my god, what relief.
Read more: Reading the books I’m most excited about
Mother Tongue by Sara Novic
May 21-27 | Source: NetGalley
Now THIS is a good memoir. Wide-ranging, well-researched, complex, truthful to a fault, interesting, offering a unique perspective, set in Philly. What more could you need.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
May 23-27 | Source: Library
Everybody and their mothers loves this book so of course I was excited to read it. And I mean, I do get the appeal.
Read more: Reading the books I’m most excited about
Strangers by Belle Burden
May 26-28 | Source: Library
I’m nosy, I’m obsessed with breakups, I have a love/hate relationship with grotesque exhibitions of excessive wealth. I could not wait to read this book.
Read more: Reading the books I’m most excited about
Tar Baby by Toni Morrison
May 22-29 | Source: Library
As long as I have Toni Morrison books left to read, those will be the ones I’m most excited for. If there is a Morrison fan club, religion, cult, or sponsored cruise I can join, just let me know.
Read more: Reading the books I’m most excited about
June Baby by Shannon Garvey
May 26-30 | Source: Publisher
Reading this felt like Summertime Upmarket Beach Read mad libs, like every key aspect of an oceanside bestseller was tossed between two covers, shaken up, and published. I guess there are worse things.
Rating: ✯✯✯
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
May 1-31 | Source: Library
You kick off this long book with a love story between a whaler and a cannibal and you think “Oh, this isn’t so bad.” And then it’s a million pages of whale baiting.
Wait. Because it’s clickbait…but whales.
Rating: ✯✯✯
Summing things up
Rough start, but we got there in the end. Kinda.
Out of the 28 books I read, I would truly madly deeply urge you to read 12 of them. That 42.8% is better than I’ve had to offer you in ages.
The very best book I read was REDACTED. Read to find out! But I’ll just go ahead and tell you the worst book was Harmless. Nothing fun or exciting about that.
Now it’s your turn.
Best Book: And Now, Back to You by BK Borrison (4.5 stars)
Worst Book: Indigo Ridge by Devney Perry (2.75 stars)
I’m most surprised/impressed by your ability to read several books simultaneously!
I consider myself a very avid reader, BUT, I am still unable to dedicate myself to more than one at a time 🙈