What did you read in May?

[ufcasey]

What books did you read in the month of May? Any ratings/reviews/recommendations?

[travella]

5*
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi

4*
When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi

3*
The Cuban Heiress by Chanel Cleeton
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

2*
West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

DNF (I can't say these books are bad, they just are not for me)
A Curious Beginning By Deanna Raybourn
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand By Helen Simonson

[Vespasia]

I'd describe everything I read last month as good but not great. The one exception is Scorched Grace, which was disappointing. 


Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling  

This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs 

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai  

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin 

The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

[tacokick]

I really got through a lot!


Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming by Ava Chin (eh)

Butter: Novellas, Stories, and Fragments by Gayl Jones (good)

The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin (not bad)

A Pocketful of Happiness by Richard E Grant (very sad)

The Long Way Back by Nicole Baart (okay)

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead by Eleanor Kelley (amateurish)

Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst (great!)

Tell Me Everything by Minka Kelly (wild)

I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee with Anton Hur (Translator) (eh)

Calling Ukraine by Johannes Lichtman (took a wild turn)

The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters (okay, kind of slow)

Knocking Myself Up: A Memoir of My (In)Fertility by Michelle Tea (good, especially as an audiobook)

To the Temple of Tranquility…And Step On It! by Ed Begley, Jr (lively!)

Lies She Told by Cate Holahan (really dated despite being fairly recent)

Five Bad Deeds by Caz Frear (not as good as her series)

The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda (fun)

Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah (unexpected downer)

The Dig by Anne Burt (not great!)

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (downer)

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang (good! entertaining!)

Decent People by De’Shawn Charles Winslow (good!)

You Will Find Your People: How to Make Meaningful Friendships as an Adult by Lane Moore (should have been a regular memoir)

How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don’t by Lane Moore (this was more memoir and better)

Come & Get It by Kiley Reid (horrible mess)

The Rye Bread Marriage: How I Found Happiness with a Partner I’ll Never Understand by Michaele Weissman (learned rye bread)

Sleeping with Friends by Emily Schultz (fun but confusing timeline and useless teenage boy character)

Little Threats by Emily Schultz (fun)

Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up by Alexandra Potter (long)


Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin (ok)


The Woman Inside by M.T. Edvardsson (interesting but too much time spent on boring characters)


One Night by Georgina Cross (predictable)


Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears by Michael Schulman (very very long and got weird 2/3 in)

[estrellita]

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez *****

Wahala by Nikki May ***

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas *****

[mrspez07]

Audio
Sabrina and Corina 3* no more short story collections for me, I just can’t get into the format. I liked a lot of the stories but didn’t want to keep picking up the book.


Visual
Ribbons of Scarlet by Kate Quinn and other collaborators 4*
The River by Peter Heller 4*
Sister Stardust by Jane Green 2* I used to love her books but this one was a bunch of name dropping partying, meh. Setting was good.

[charlatti]

5 stars: The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (I hesitated because it's so long, but it was gorgeous)

4.5 stars : The Long way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (reread -- love this series)

4 stars:
A Molecule Away from Madness by Sarah Manning Peskin (nonfiction, very interesting)
Transcription by Kate Atkinson (weird and enjoyable, but I almost always like her books)
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (never read any of his before -- fun and page-turnery)

3 stars:
Lone Women by Victor LaValle ( I normally like his style but this one did not work for me)
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer (had potential, but boring)
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne (everyone loves this, but I was disappointed. Jarringly comic tone, too convoluted while also being predictable)

[dearprudence]

5*
The Mermaid

4*
The Deep
A Song Below Water
A Chorus Rises
American Mermaid
The Salt Grows Heavy


3*
Deep Blue
Thirsty Mermaids