I had another really full month of reading in May. I finished 12 books, a pretty good mix of nonfiction, fiction and young adult books. I’m not feeling super chatty today, so let’s just get into the books!
Books Read in May
- Hanagarne, Josh: The World’s Strongest Librarian (memoir)
- Chabon, Michael: Telegraph Avenue (fiction)
- Winder, Elizabeth: Pain, Parties, and Work (nonfiction)
- Gilbert, Jennifer: I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag (memoir)
- Woodward, Bob and Bernstein, Carl: All the President’s Men (nonfiction)
- Jensen, Dean: Queen of the Air (narrative nonfiction)
- Brown, Daniel James: The Boys in the Boat (narrative nonfiction)
- Wolitzer, Meg: The Interestings (fiction)
- Stotts, Stuart: Father Groppi (MG nonfiction)
- Allen, David: Getting Things Done (nonfiction)
- Manger, Barbara and Smith, Janine: Mary Nohl (MG nonfiction)
- Rowling, J.K.: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (YA fiction)
I’m mostly caught up with the nonfiction that I want to write full reviews of (or have reviews scheduled), but I am woefully behind on mini-reviews of fiction and YA titles. I’d like to end June caught up with those reviews, if I can, so I can start the second half of the year fresh.
Other Books Reviewed
- Grossman, Austin: You (fiction)
- Brooks, Max: World War Z (fiction)
- Schuppe, Jonathan: A Chance to Win (narrative nonfiction)
Books I Want to Read in June
- My list of review copies for June is really short, since I finished off two of them in May. The three I have left are Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence by David Samuel Levison (fiction from NetGalley), Eating on the Wild Side by Jo Robinson ( nonfiction about eating for optimum health from Little, Brown) and Big Brother by Lionel Shriver (more fiction from Harper). I’m not sure if I’ll get to any or all of them (since two were unsolicited and one is an e-galley), but I’d like to try.
- Because of my participation in Bloggers Recommend (are you signed up for the newsletter?), I need to read a couple of July books to submit. I’m thinking about The Society of Timid Souls by Peggy Morland (nonfiction about bravery) or Thinking in Numbers by Daniel Tammet (essays on mathematics), but I somehow have a ton of books for July to choose from so it may not be either of those.
- I have two books out from the library that I definitely want to read: Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg (checked out for the second time…) and Last Harvest by Witold Rybczynski (a look at development of a residential subdivision outside Philadelphia).
Writing Around the Blog/Internet
This month I celebrated my five year blogiversary, which feels like big deal. Five years is pretty old in Internet time. This month was also Armchair BEA, and since I wasn’t at BEA I wrote several posts: an introduction, a post about how I make money blogging, a post on blogging ethics and transparency, and a post where I offered to do personal nonfiction recommendations.
I had three posts over at Book Riot in May: I recommended five books to look for in May, confessed that I have an addiction to spoilers, and suggested five books for The cOlbert Book Club.
I’m going to skip the goals review this month and so a six month review at the end of June, so there you have it — my May in books. What was your favorite book in May? What are you looking forward to reading in June?
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Congrats on your five years! You had a very productive May and I look for seeing your reads in June!
I enjoy your monthly updates; they’re a good way to pause and reflect. With my slipshod blogging habits, I feel like a serial reader, falling in love with a book and writing a review, but then immediately moving on to the next one and forgetting about it!
I like doing them too, especially taking a little time to review other posts I’ve written and projects I’ve worked on. It’s a nice reminder to check in on how the blog has been doing over the month.
I really want to read Big Brother too!
Another lovely month 🙂 I hope you end June all caught up! I’d love to do the same 😉
It’s kind of a tall order, given how work has been treating me, but fingers crossed. If I can have one productive Saturday of writing, I think I could do it.
I just finished Lean In over the weekend and loved it! Hope you enjoy as well.
Looks like you had a great reading month. I think I got my groove back and am hoping to read many many lovely things in June.
Good to know! I’ve skimmed the first chapter and it looks excellent, I just need to sit down and read it 🙂
May was a really good month for me. My favorite was probably the graphic novel set from Gene Yang, Boxers and Saints. I’m really looking forward to The Crimson Petal and the White (a buddy read) and The Whole Fromage (non-fiction) in June.
Looks like you had a great month, Kim! 12 books! Woo!
You had a great month, Kim! Congrats. There are so many books being published in July that look so good! I’m also thinking about reading Thinking in Numbers, On the Come Up, and The End of Dark.
Oh my gosh, there are a ton of great looking books in July. My TBR is piled high already.
Congrats on 5 years (me too later this month). You had a great month in May. I always like to read some NF as well as fiction to mix things up a bit.
There are a lot of bloggers celebrating five years. Apparently 2008 was a good year for starting a book blog 🙂
Good job with 12 reads this past month!!! 🙂
Good list! As nice as it is to have review copies, a blank slate is a great thing. Pure freedom to choose what you want to read.
It’s really nice to have a month that feels like it’s mostly for me. I don’t know if that’ll turn out to be the case, but it’s nice to know I’m choosing whatever I read and not feeling a little forced into it.