May was not the best “books read” month for me in terms of reading quantity or quality. I had a lot going on in many facets of my life. First, my youngest child returned from a semester abroad on May 1st. It was great to have her back at home so the first week of May was spent focusing on her a bit. Then shortly after, my oldest child graduated from college. Not only did we all travel to his graduation for an amazing weekend of celebration, but I then stayed put and helped him pack and relocate even further away from our home to start his adult life. Once returning I spent most of my time back at work and caring for my mother who is continuing to have health issues. The youngest then had to get packed up for the summer away as a camp counselor, although she did most of the work on that. It is finally quiet here again as we return to the empty-nester phase and while I love the calm, I miss the craziness as well. I did wind up doing ok on Audible for my books (4 of the 5 I finished we audio books), but just didn’t have as much time to pick up a book as you can see. With that said, here are my books read in May.
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me – Mindy Kaling
My husband and I recently starting watching The Mindy Project on Netflix. I really don’t know how we missed this when it was on network tv, but gosh is she funny. I decided to look up her books and took the plunge and loaded this one to my Audbile account. It was just what I needed to get me through my commutes and a couple of sleepless nights. I enjoyed this on Audible. Mindy Kaling is a very, very funny woman.
🍷🍷🍷🍷
The Kind Worth Killing – Peter Swanson
This was a hard book for me to rate. I recently read another Swanson novel, enjoyed it, and decided for more. I have seen this one reviewed on Instagram quite a bit so picked it up. I have to admit the title bugged me. At first I found it very difficult to get into the book. I just didn’t like the characters or what was happening. I was encouraged to continue and so I did. I have to say, the second half of the book was WAY better than the first. It starts with Ted & Lilly meeting in an airport shortly after Ted discovers his wife is cheating on him. He divulges that he would like to kill his wife, although it seems like he is just drunk and not serious. Lilly keeps this conversation going throughout the plane ride and then a few weeks later they meet again. Ted becomes pretty obsessed with Lilly and things become pretty twisted from there. If the book had started out differently and/or had a different title, I may have rated this a little higher. Regardless, Swanson is a talented, yet creepy, twisted, unputdownable author that I will continue to read. This is the one book in May that I actually read, as opposed to listened to.
🍷🍷🍷1/2
A Woman is No Man – Etaf Rum
A Woman is No Man is another book that I completed in the audio version. I do wonder if it is one that would have been better for a traditional read. I had a little bit of trouble with all of the time hopping and keeping that all straight. But even if I had read, it would not have changed the fact that this book is so devastating and gut wrenching that it would be really hard to like it. I do think the author went a bit overboard in telling us, literally, how oppressed women were in this story, every 2 to 5 minutes. She did a fine job showing us that, and actually mentioning so often felt like too much to me. I realize that is such a deep part of the book so of course she emphasizes it again and again, but the point was well made and about half of these references could have been eliminated. I also had such a deep dislike for so many characters, especially Adam’s mother, that it was hard to get past any of that. I did like Deya and cheered for her, but her part on Audible was read a little whiney so it got hard to hear. Overall, such a tragic story. Lots of triggers in this one relating to violence towards women.
🍷🍷🍷1/2
Why Not Me – Mindy Kaling
As I mentioned, the hubby and I have started binge watching Kaling’s sit-com. I started listening to Why Not Me after the prior that I started earlier in the month. I enjoyed the first more. Maybe it was a case of too much too soon between the show and both books. Not a bad listen or read, parts are hysterical but I didn’t like this as much as the other.
🍷🍷🍷
The Girl He Used to Know – Tracey Gravis-Graves
I picked this up, well actually downloaded it on Audible, after it appeared on my Instagram feed over and over and over. I listened to a big chunk of it in a minivan filled with most of my oldest child’s possessions while following my son across the state of Washington for 5 1/2 hours. I enjoyed the first half of the book much more than the second. I can’t really pinpoint why but without spoiling anything, there was a plot development near the end that I did not like AT ALL and really didn’t like how that part of the story ended up. It felt cruel and unfair for many readers to me and the bow that tied it all up felt like those fake plastic bows that you find in the dollar store that just doesn’t look or feel real. The rest of the book was done so well that this just about ruined the whole thing for me.
🍷🍷🍷 – But you’ll need to drink more than this to get through the end.
Did Not Finish
The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness – Karen Armstrong
I probably could have given this one more effort, but I just wasn’t interested and quit pretty early on.
May Book of The Month: It’s a tie this month!
The Kind Worth Killing & Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me
If you like my May book list, you may like some of my others if you are looking for something to read!
What Should I Read Next – Favorite 4 & 5 🍷 Selections
My Books to Read List for 2019: Books Published Before the New Year
My Books to Read List for 2019: New Releases
2018 in Reading & My Favorite Books of the Year
