May brought us snow, rain, and 90 degree days. Welcome to Cleveland. We finished up our 4th grade homeschool year on Friday, but are starting half days today for the month of June. Mainly fun stuff and short worksheets, so I can assess what we need to work on next year.
May also gave me 32 books to add to my book a day totals, giving me 173 for the year. I added two bookish movies this month bringing that yearly total to 5.
My top category was kids non-fiction with 7, followed by 6 adult fiction, 6 non-fiction picture books. 4 thrillers, and 3 historical romances. Other categories included kids fiction, memoir, poetry, and fiction picture books.
My Top 5 in May
Our Souls At Night was a lovely surprise. Seventy somethings looking for an answer to loneliness find more than they’d hoped for. 179 pages. Highly recommend. Find Her is the 8th in a series but the first I read. Flora had been kidnapped for over a year before being found and now she must come to terms with the bad things that happened in the best way she can. More character depth than I anticipated for as fast as it read.Seduce Me At Sunrise is a historical romance set in England with Romani men as heroes. Kleypas is becoming my favorite romance author.Dawn is a follow-up to Wiesel’s autobiographical book Night, but this one is fiction. Elisha, a Holocaust survivor is a Israeli freedom fighter (calling themselves the Movement) in British-controlled Palestine. He has been tasked with executing a British hostage at Dawn. It’s a short, introspective book (100 pages) about war, becoming a murderer, and how, we as a society, got to this point.The Undocumented Americans is more than a memoir of her undocumented life, more than a series of interwoven stories of people living in fear, more than what gets printed by news sources. Its’s authentic. It’s raw. It’s impactful. It’s her truth and you don’t have to like it. My flag, of sorts, represents my short stack of books I’ll be looking at to choose my books this month. Last month I only read 17 of 35 from my May stack, but it’s nice to at least pare down some options from the beginning.
Nice work this last month! I really slowed down. I think I finished off two books last month. I have a ton of longbooks going on right now. So that’s my excuse! Life was a bit rough in May, so my reading slowed down and I’m following the NBA playoffs so that cuts into my night reading. Hopefully things slow a bit soon but with summer upon us!
Your weather sounds like our weather! We had snow, rain, windstorms, and 90 degree weather as well.
Love your stack! I really enjoyed Sager’s Final Girls. I’d be interested in what you think of a Curious Incident in the Night with a Dog. I read it a few years ago and enjoyed it but I wonder how it holds up. Would love to hear your thoughts! Good luck with your reading in June! Love it.
Life does get in the way of good books doesn’t it? My books got shorter and shorter as the month went on 🙂 And 2 movies in place of books this month? Slacker.
I’m looking forward to both books you mentioned. I have Final Girls high in the stack. Thrillers and romance are perfect for summer.
I love Kent Haruf’s novels and this one is especially good, isn’t it? I’m so sorry it’s his final book and was very sad when he passed away. It might be time to reread the Plainsong trilogy…
I only finished two books in May (quite a drop from previous months) and neither were impressive. I’m now reading a chunkster (The Overstory) and have decided to put it down and read some mysteries so I complete more than just one book in June!
Getting a book a day done has definitely shortened my books! So, like you, if I start a big one I have to keep throwing in shorter ones. Easier for me to do with kids books, but still 🙂
This is the only Haruf I’ve read (gasp) even though I had Plainsong sitting on my shelf for years. That was a mistake I need to rectify.
Stacy's Books 
Nice work this last month! I really slowed down. I think I finished off two books last month. I have a ton of longbooks going on right now. So that’s my excuse! Life was a bit rough in May, so my reading slowed down and I’m following the NBA playoffs so that cuts into my night reading. Hopefully things slow a bit soon but with summer upon us!
Your weather sounds like our weather! We had snow, rain, windstorms, and 90 degree weather as well.
Love your stack! I really enjoyed Sager’s Final Girls. I’d be interested in what you think of a Curious Incident in the Night with a Dog. I read it a few years ago and enjoyed it but I wonder how it holds up. Would love to hear your thoughts! Good luck with your reading in June! Love it.
Life does get in the way of good books doesn’t it? My books got shorter and shorter as the month went on 🙂 And 2 movies in place of books this month? Slacker.
I’m looking forward to both books you mentioned. I have Final Girls high in the stack. Thrillers and romance are perfect for summer.
Hope June brings happier days for you.
I love Kent Haruf’s novels and this one is especially good, isn’t it? I’m so sorry it’s his final book and was very sad when he passed away. It might be time to reread the Plainsong trilogy…
I only finished two books in May (quite a drop from previous months) and neither were impressive. I’m now reading a chunkster (The Overstory) and have decided to put it down and read some mysteries so I complete more than just one book in June!
Here’s to summer!
Getting a book a day done has definitely shortened my books! So, like you, if I start a big one I have to keep throwing in shorter ones. Easier for me to do with kids books, but still 🙂
This is the only Haruf I’ve read (gasp) even though I had Plainsong sitting on my shelf for years. That was a mistake I need to rectify.