Hello Interwebs!
So I posted my April wrap-up and here's my May preview. I have a lot of books I'm wanting to read this month and we'll see what comes of that. Maybe I'll have a good reading month again in May.
Currently I am reading five books and I've already finished one in May so we'll do those first.
- Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary. This is a children's series about a girl named Ramona. I've already finished this book in May.
- A Promised Land by Barack Obama. I swear I will someday finish this book on audio.
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. Started in February on audio and ebook.
- A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas (ACOTAR #5). Started in March on ebook.
- The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow. Started in April on ebook.
- The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor. May's Book Troop selection started in April in Hardcover from the library.
Now on to the rest of the books I want to read in the month of May.
- Bear Town by Fredrik Backman (Beartown #1): this is a literary fiction about a small town that thrives on hockey and hte junior team going to national and the semi-finals game that is a catalyst in a violent attack on a young girl. This is the first book in what is supposed to be a trilogy.
- Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman: another literary fiction about a character introduced in My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, Britt-Marie who has left her husband moved to a tiny town and taken a job with the hopes that she'll make herself into someone who will be remembered, someone who was here.
- The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman: this is a novella about a man who is dying on Christmas Eve and a chance to make a deal to benefit someone else for once in his life. I have very definitely A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life vibes from the description.
- Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary (Ramona Quimby #7): the penultimate book in my reread of the series.
- Ramona's World by Beverly Cleary (Ramona Quimby #8): the final book in my reread of the Ramona series.
- A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes: a historical fiction retelling of the story of the Trojan War but through the stories of the women mentioned in the Iliad and the Odyssey but whose stories are usually only framed in terms of the larger story and through their relationships to the male participants in the story. This is their stories on their own terms.
- Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng: this story is about a Chinese American family in the 1970s in Ohio who have their beloved middle daughter Lydia found dead in a lake and unravel as a family while trying to figure out how Lydia ended up where she ended up. This book is by the same author as Little Fires Everywhere, which I read and enjoyed last year and I've heard this book is even better.
- A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf: this is a nonfiction essay that Virginia Woolf presented in 1928 discussing a hypothetical sister of William Shakespeare who while equal to her brother's talent and genius never writes a word. Woolf argues that if women have a steady income and a room of their own they will have the same freedom to create as men always have.
- The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: this is an adult fantasy about a caseworker who has been summoned to an orphanage to assess the true danger the magical children that live there pose to society.
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables #1): this is the first book in the Anne of Green Gables series about Anne Shirley, an orphan who has come to live with a childless couple in Canada. This is a classic that my best friend growing up loves more than anything and one that I have never been able to get through but I'd like to try again.
- A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression by Jane Ziegelman and Andrew Coe: this is a food history about the Great Depression and how it changed how we ate and how it affects how we eat even today. I heard about this from a short video about popular foods in the great depression.
As always I also follow a number of book clubs/reading groups and these are the books for those whether or not I'll read them in May.
- Read with Jenna: Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
- Reese's Book Club: The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave.
- Darling Desi Patreon Buddy Read: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
- The Book Troop: The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor
- The Late Night Book Club: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
And finally there's the books I'm excited about that are coming out in the month of May.
- Ariadne by Jennifer Saint (May 4): this is a historical fiction/retelling of the Greek Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur but from the perspective of Princess Ariadne the daughter of King Minos who helped Theseus defeat her father's labyrinth and the minotaur.
- Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee (May 4): this is a young adult historical fiction about a young British-Chinese woman traveling on the Titanic to reunite with her brother in America with plans to work for Ringling Bros as acrobats. It's the story of the Titanic told through the perspective of a group not generally talked about and inspired by the recently uncovered accounts of six survivors of Chinese descent.
- People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry (May 11): this is an adult contemporary romance about best friends who had a falling out two years before and are now on a weeklong trip to fix everything. It's an enemies-friends-to-lovers romance and I already have this since it was an early release option for Book of the Month in April.
- Last Chance Books by Kelsey Rodkey (May 18): this is another romance about a woman who returns from college to take over family's bookstore when a chain bookstore opens across the street along with the guy who works there. This is definitely giving me You've Got Mail vibes and an enemies-to-lovers romance.
- The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren (May 18): the new romance from Christina Lauren about a single mom who decides to try GeneticAlly, a DNA based matchmaking company. Hijinks ensue when she's matched at an unheard of 98% with the company's founder.
- The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (May 18): a nonfiction collection of essays about our current geologic age and humans' impact on the earth. This is a review of different facets of human life on a five-star scale based on his podcast of the same name.
So that's all that I'm excited about in the month of May: books I hope to read, books chosen for my many book clubs, and new books coming out. We'll see how much of a dent I make in these things.
Happy Reading!
Richelle
