What Did You Read in May?

[dorothyinAus]

Anything interesting?  Anything you wish you had to time back to read something better?

If you have annual goals, how are you doing?
If you're doing an annual or monthly challenge, how is it going?

[minzy]

In May, I only read A Court of Wings and Ruin and The Summer that Melted Everything. That puts me at 22 for the year and still on pace to hit 50. I am still slowly picking my way through The Warmth of Other Suns and will likely finish a somewhat mindless Ellen DeGeneres one (Seriously... I'm kidding) today. I am always looking for recs and have some waiting (next up is Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon and The Pearl That Broke it's Shell by Nadia Hashimi).

[rainbowchip]

I'm kind of in denial that it's June already! May flew by!

I read
The Chosen by J.R. Ward 3*
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas 5*
Born A Crime by Trevor Noah 5*
The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel 2*

I have read 21 books so far this year and goodreads says I'm on track for my goal of 52.

[CrazyLucky]

The only book I read in May is Secret Life of Bees. I'm coaching baseball and took a class, so that limited reading time. I liked Secret Life of Bees, but not as much as the average reviewer on Goodreads. I felt like there were too many unanswered questions.

I'm currently reading Black Like Me. I think it's interesting. I also think the reviews are interesting. They are split between "This guy is so brave!" And "This white jerk thinks he can speak about the black experience based on 6 weeks of being black? Screw him!"

I didn't start keeping track of my books until February and I have 13 since then. That works out to 39 for a year, and that's not bad for me.

[abs]

rainbowchip, yes May went by so fast! It's officially summer somehow now! What? So either I will do a lot of reading now or absolutely none. We'll see.

I read 5 books this month! Pretty sure this was my best reading month of the year.

A Court Of Wings and Ruins: 3.5* (I gave it four stars at the time but have since downgraded it since I barely remember it)

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas: 4.5* (upgraded it since I'm still thinking about it!)

Too Late by Colleen Hoover: 4*

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon: 3*

The Switch by Sandra Brown: 4*

The best of the bunch was definitely The Hate U Give by I enjoyed everything I read this month!

[snshne322]

I had a great reading month.  I'm kicking some ass on my annual goal of 117.  I'm working on 61 and 62.  I don't know what got me into the Dirty Billionaire trilogy and there are clearly so memorable that I've already forgotten what they were about.  They might have just been available when I was looking for an audiobook.  I'm on a Penny Reid kick and I've been really enjoying them.  Flirty, light Rom Coms with some fun characters.

ACOMAF 5*
ACOWAR 4*
The Hate U Give 5*
The Handmaid's Tale 4*
Slaughterhouse-Five 3*
Dirty Billionaire by Meghan March 3*
Dirty Pleasures by Meghan March 3*
Dirty Together by Meghan March 3*
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne 5*
Burn For Me by Ilona Andrews 4*
Withering Hope by Layla Hagen 3*
Love Hacked by Penny Reid 4*
Scarlet by Melissa Meyer 2*
Truth or Beard by Penny Reid 4*
Ninja at First Sight by Penny Reid 3*
Happily Ever Ninja by Penny Reid 3*

[cole]

In May I read (all out of 5*):

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness 2*
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance 3*
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai 4*
Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild 3*

Nothing this month blew me away.

I have a yearly goal of 60 and have read 26 so far, Goodreads tells me I'm 2 ahead of schedule.

[ufcasey]

Masques by Patricia Briggs 2.5 stars
Filthy Beautiful Lies by Kendall Ryan 2.5 stars
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi 3 stars
Day Zero (The Arcana Chronicles, #3.5) by Kresley Cole 3 stars
Arcana Rising (The Arcana Chronicles, #4) by Kresley Cole 3 stars
A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3) by Sarah J. Maas 3 stars
The Summer that Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel 3.5 stars
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick 4 stars
A Fatal Grace (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #2) by  Louise Penny 4 stars
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury 4.5 stars

[pinotgrig]

Shopaholic to the Rescue (I have a hard time saying no to these - I've been reading since the beginning) - 3*

Primates of Park Avenue - 4*

The Red Tent - 5*

Someone Could Get Hurt - 3*

An Object of Beauty - 3*

Animal Vegetable Miracle - 2*

I Hate Everyone Except You (soooo funny) - 4*

Before I Fall - 2*

All the Missing Girls - 3*

Groupie - 3*

10 overall - a good month! I'm a harsh grader so this was a month of good books, too. My goal this year is to read 70 books; I'm at 43 so far (61% and 14 books ahead of schedule). I'll probably bump it up but am waiting to see how far I fall behind this month. We have a weeklong vaca with the kids and one of their b-day parties that will probably derail me for a bit. And ds2's b-day party is next month. Lol

[booknerd]

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 4*
The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley 5*

Slow year so far for me, I've only read 12 books. I'm hoping that when I'm on vacation this summer to get through a bunch of books. While I've read less books, I've been reading better books that I've been putting off for a while.

[oliviapope]

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reed- 1 star
Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris- 3 stars
The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas- 5 stars
The Last One by Alexandra Oliva- 3 stars
The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel- 2 stars
Confessions of a Domestic Failure by Bunmi Laditan- 3 stars
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult- 1 star
Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn- 4 stars
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates- 5 stars

It was a good month for me, the only book I wish I had just not bothered with at all was, I'm Thinking of Ending Things. I got the recommendation from another board, but I did not like it at all. I'm a little behind in my reading challenge but I think I'll be able to catch up this coming month.

I'm excited for my books I'm on the waitlist for at the library to come in. I'm trying to be more picky and also read more books by POC (doing well in that aspect).

[litskispeciality]

May was awful for me.

The Gunslinger 3* (it really gets better as you go)
60 pages of The Summer Everything Melted - so far ok, but I can't wait to finish and move on.

Goodreads says 10 (9 if you don't count the read-read) of 24 for the year so I'm on track, but hoping June will have at least 3 to make up for it.

[litskispeciality]

Jun 1, 2017 10:32:27 GMT -5 c7 said:

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng 4*
ACOWAR 4*

I really enjoyed that book last year. 

[travella]

Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben 4*
The Velvet Hours by Alyson Richman 2*
I'll Be Seeing You by Suzanne Hayes 3*
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware 4*

I'm ten books ahead on my yearly challenge, 73% of the way to my yearly goal. I set it pretty low though.

[kelliebeans104]

I had a decent month with five books read but nothing that was earth-shattering. 3 stars was the best rating given. I've read 22 books so far and am on track for my reading goal of 55 for the year.

The Book of Unknown Americans - 2 stars
The Handmaid's Tale - 3 stars
Dark Matter - 3 stars
A Dog's Purpose - 3 stars
The Brain Fog Fix - 3 stars

[dorothyinAus]

I read:
Arsenic for Tea by Robin Stevens -- ****
Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue by Victoria Thompson -- *****
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie -- ****
The Laws of Murder by Charles Finch -- ****
Caramel Glazed Murder by Susan Gillard -- ***

I didn't enjoy The Murder of Roger Ackroyd as much as I thought I would have, it was slow to start, though the ending was a surprise.   Caramel Glazed Murder was a Kindle Freebie I read to try and fall asleep one night; the Donut Hole series is fun, but not great.  It's perfect for standing in line or trying to fall asleep, but not something I'd recommend.

For the year, I'm at 26 books, which is over halfway toward my goal of 48 books, so I'm feeling good about that. I'm doing a Monopoly Challenge and I have collected 20 of the 40 properties, so halfway on that too.

[snshne322]

Jun 1, 2017 22:58:09 GMT -5 dorothyinAus said:

I read:
Arsenic for Tea by Robin Stevens -- ****
Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue by Victoria Thompson -- *****
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie -- ****
The Laws of Murder by Charles Finch -- ****
Caramel Glazed Murder by Susan Gillard -- ***

I didn't enjoy The Murder of Roger Ackroyd as much as I thought I would have, it was slow to start, though the ending was a surprise.   Caramel Glazed Murder was a Kindle Freebie I read to try and fall asleep one night; the Donut Hole series is fun, but not great.  It's perfect for standing in line or trying to fall asleep, but not something I'd recommend.

For the year, I'm at 26 books, which is over halfway toward my goal of 48 books, so I'm feeling good about that. I'm doing a Monopoly Challenge and I have collected 20 of the 40 properties, so halfway on that too.

Are you on a murder kick?  Is there something you want to tell us dorothyinAus?

[charlatti]

The Finishing School by Joanna Goodman 2*
The Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan 2*

Harmless Like You by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan 4*
Will's Red Coat by Tom Ryan 4*
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan 4*

Setting Free the Kites by Alex George 4.5*
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny 5* (reread)

Goodreads says I'm a few books ahead for my yearly goal. I've only been on summer schedule for a few days but it has been good for reading so far.

[frog]

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper ****
Chomp ****
Frankenstein *****
Lord of the Flies *****
The Shadow Queen **
The Vegetarian ***
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War ***
The North Water ****
The Gray House ***

I'm at 63/100 books for the year.

[AJL]

Read in May:

Must Love Otters by Eliza Gordon - 3/5*
Hollie Porter Builds a Raft by Eliza Gordon - 3/5*
Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl - 3/5*
Fair Chance (All's Fair #3) by Josh Lanyon - 3/5*
Clean Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #1) by Ilona Andrews - 4/5*
Sweep in Peace (Innkeeper Chronicles #2) by Ilona Andrews - 4/5*
Losing It by Emma Rathbone - 2/5*
One Fell Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #1) by Ilona Andrews - 4/5*
Burn For Me (Hidden Legacy #1) by Ilona Andrews - 4/5*
White Hot (Hidden Legacy #2) by Ilona Andrews - 4/5*


Anything interesting? They're all fun, fluffy books. Urban romance, mystery, chicklit. Fast easy reads!

If you have annual goals, how are you doing?
I wanted to read a non-fiction book for every two fiction reads but I haven't been following that very closely. I might just give up on that goal for this year.

If you're doing an annual or monthly challenge, how is it going?
Challenge is to read 100 books this year. I'm at 47/100 (ahead by 6 books.)

[dorothyinAus]

Jun 2, 2017 7:05:37 GMT -5 snshne322 said:

Jun 1, 2017 22:58:09 GMT -5 dorothyinAus said:

I read:
Arsenic for Tea by Robin Stevens -- ****
Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue by Victoria Thompson -- *****
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie -- ****
The Laws of Murder by Charles Finch -- ****
Caramel Glazed Murder by Susan Gillard -- ***

I didn't enjoy The Murder of Roger Ackroyd as much as I thought I would have, it was slow to start, though the ending was a surprise.   Caramel Glazed Murder was a Kindle Freebie I read to try and fall asleep one night; the Donut Hole series is fun, but not great.  It's perfect for standing in line or trying to fall asleep, but not something I'd recommend.

For the year, I'm at 26 books, which is over halfway toward my goal of 48 books, so I'm feeling good about that. I'm doing a Monopoly Challenge and I have collected 20 of the 40 properties, so halfway on that too.

Are you on a murder kick?  Is there something you want to tell us dorothyinAus ?

I do read mainly murder mysteries, so it's not surprising to me but I hadn't noticed the number of times Murder appeared in the titles this month. 

[mrspez07]

The Bone Season 2*
Didn't quite finish but got over 1/2 way, so I think it counts. I was inteigued, creeped out and depressed about the story.

One Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline 3.5*

The Summer That Melted Everything 4*


Having a pretty good year so far.

[MrsAxilla]

A Court of Wings and Ruin, Sarah J Maas - 4*
The Anasazi Boys, Neil Gaiman - 3*
Clean Sweep, Ilona Andrews - 3*

I stopped setting real reading goals, and generally aim to read more pages than I did the year before. Last year was a spectacular failure, so the bar is low - haha. Mostly I'd like to end the year having read more quality books than crap. I hate wasting my precious reading time!

[pinotgrig]

oliviapope - what didn't you like about I'm thinking of ending things? When I realized what had happened at the end I was impressed. It was so-so for me until I put together the ending.

[oliviapope]

Jun 4, 2017 18:34:38 GMT -5 pinotgrig said:

oliviapope - what didn't you like about I'm thinking of ending things? When I realized what had happened at the end I was impressed. It was so-so for me until I put together the ending.

I think it's just one of those "if you liked it you loved it, and if you didn't then you hated it" kind of things. I didn't care for the ending, I got to the end and read it 3 times and still felt like, "that's it?!"
Also, I think it didn't help that I was expecting something more like Bird Box (I got the rec from a thread on ML).

[darnkatz]

I read Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin by Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, and it was fantastic. Highly recommend. It is so infuriating, the lack of justice. I also read The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, and I thought that was fantastic as well. I would give both of those books five stars. Lauren Graham's book Talking As Fast As I Can was a good fluff read, as was The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares. I was reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson, but I had to return it to the library before I was finished because I had a fine on it. I want to finish reading it, though, because I thought it was great.

I set a goal of a 100 books for this year, and I've read 28 so far. Apparently, that makes me 14 behind, but I think I'll catch up. I'm just currently reading a bunch of books that are rough content to get through. Not doing so hot on my PopSugar reading challenge, but I committed to that before I found work that takes up a large majority of my time.

[pinotgrig]

Jun 4, 2017 19:24:01 GMT -5 oliviapope said:

Jun 4, 2017 18:34:38 GMT -5 pinotgrig said:

oliviapope - what didn't you like about I'm thinking of ending things? When I realized what had happened at the end I was impressed. It was so-so for me until I put together the ending.

I think it's just one of those "if you liked it you loved it, and if you didn't then you hated it" kind of things. I didn't care for the ending, I got to the end and read it 3 times and still felt like, "that's it?!"
Also, I think it didn't help that I was expecting something more like Bird Box (I got the rec from a thread on ML).

Ah, got it! I only know a handful of ppl who have read it and some loved it, some hated it. That reminds me that Bird Box has been on my list for awhile; I need to pick it up soon.

[oliviapope]

Jun 4, 2017 19:26:41 GMT -5 pinotgrig said:

Jun 4, 2017 19:24:01 GMT -5 oliviapope said:

I think it's just one of those "if you liked it you loved it, and if you didn't then you hated it" kind of things. I didn't care for the ending, I got to the end and read it 3 times and still felt like, "that's it?!"
Also, I think it didn't help that I was expecting something more like Bird Box (I got the rec from a thread on ML).

Ah, got it! I only know a handful of ppl who have read it and some loved it, some hated it. That reminds me that Bird Box has been on my list for awhile; I need to pick it up soon.

I liked Bird Box a lot!

[booknerd]

Jun 3, 2017 11:20:19 GMT -5 MrsAxilla said:

A Court of Wings and Ruin, Sarah J Maas - 4*
The Anasazi Boys, Neil Gaiman - 3*
Clean Sweep, Ilona Andrews - 3*

I stopped setting real reading goals, and generally aim to read more pages than I did the year before. Last year was a spectacular failure, so the bar is low - haha. Mostly I'd like to end the year having read more quality books than crap. I hate wasting my precious reading time!

That last paragraph is so me. I just want to read better books, more than I did last year, etc. I found that when I was just trying to reach a goal it was too much pressure for me.

[MrsAxilla]

Jun 4, 2017 21:02:38 GMT -5 booknerd said:

Jun 3, 2017 11:20:19 GMT -5 MrsAxilla said:

A Court of Wings and Ruin, Sarah J Maas - 4*
The Anasazi Boys, Neil Gaiman - 3*
Clean Sweep, Ilona Andrews - 3*

I stopped setting real reading goals, and generally aim to read more pages than I did the year before. Last year was a spectacular failure, so the bar is low - haha. Mostly I'd like to end the year having read more quality books than crap. I hate wasting my precious reading time!

That last paragraph is so me. I just want to read better books, more than I did last year, etc. I found that when I was just trying to reach a goal it was too much pressure for me.

Me too.  The year I quit, I read Gone with the Wind, which is like 900 pages!  That should count more, somehow.