May has been a month of great reads. I read nine books, the most I’ve read this year, but that’s what happens when all the books are so great, that they don’t last long.
This whole month is a blur, I’ve spent most of it working, reading and going for long sunny walks in the park, but all my days blend into each other. What I remember the most are the books. I borrowed most of them from my library app, and I mainly chose fiction, some thrillers, a bit of romance and two non-fictions.
Best reads of May
Beach Read by Emily Henry
I’m obsessed with this book. This is the type of story I would love to write if I ever manage to finish a draft. A romance writer and a literary writer end up living next to each other for one summer and decide to make a bet to get them out of their creative ruts. They have to write a book in each other’s genre, and whoever sells it first wins.
Beach Read was so perfect I regret getting it from the library instead of buying a physical copy. I want to keep this story with me forever. The protagonist is named January, which is so ugly but cool at the same time. I love books where the characters have uncommon names. The other writer is named Augustus, how many of those do you know?
That was what I’d always loved about reading, what had driven me to write in the first place. That feeling that a new world was being spun like a spiderweb around you and you couldn’t move until the whole thing had revealed itself to you.
He fit so perfectly in the love story I’d imagined for myself that I mistook him for the love of my life.
The Art of Making Memories: How to Create and Remember Happy Moments by Meik Wiking
I wrote about this book in a separate post. Needless to say, I loved it! Meik Wiking never disappoints.
Fiction reads
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
I love every Lisa Jewell book, but I thought this story had the perfect amount of mystery, crime and drama. Set in a boarding school town, a mystery writer gets involved in solving a cold case of a teenage couple that disappeared near her cottage. Told from the perspective of multiple women in different timelines, this is one of those books you can’t put down.
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
I saw this book in my therapist’s office, the cover had a nice, calming presence, and I knew I had to read it.
Set in a dystopian world not so different from our reality, the story follows an AI named Klara that’s been bought to work as a nanny for a sick girl. We see how Klara learns to navigate the human world, making assumptions and trying to understand human emotion.
It’s a fascinating read, so different from what I usually choose, but I wanted something new, a story I had never heard of before, and this was perfect.
Until recently, I didn’t think that humans could choose loneliness. That there were sometimes forces more powerful than the wish to avoid loneliness.
Lost Property by Helen Paris
I wanted to like this book, and I think, in general, I did, but it was too soapy at times for my taste. The story follows a somewhat odd worker in the London Transport Lost Property office who’s grieving her dad’s death. I loved the insight into what happens when you lose something in the tube or bus, and while I enjoyed the story, I can’t read about grief.
The Night Shift by Alex Finlay
A perfect thriller to end the month. Alex Finlay has a distinctive way of storytelling, writing his novels as actual true crime stories, including perspectives from the victims, detectives and lawyers. Part of the “two different timelines” troupe, the story follows the attack of four teenage girls during a night shift, where only one survives. Fifteen years later, another attack in the same town leaves three night shift workers dead and one alive.
I was obsessed with this book from the first page. I need more stories like this. I love how real this story felt, it was like watching a true-crime show.
YA
Blade of Secrets by Tricia Levenseller
I read this book at the beginning of the month, but it feels like months ago. Set in medieval times, a teen blacksmith with social anxiety who can add magic to the weapons she creates has to go on the run after making the most powerful and dangerous magical sword.
I know it sounds like an odd plot. I only chose this book because it was on my library app, and Tricia Levenseller is one of my favourite YA writers, and honestly, this story was great. I didn’t expect it to be this good.
I hate feeling as though I don’t fit right in my own skin. As though the anxiety takes up too much space, pushing me aside.
Comic book
Adulthood Is a Myth by Sarah Andersen
I related so much to this comic book. I am this girl. She is me. Full of short stories, this is a cute book for the introvert twenty-somethings out there. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.
Non-fiction
A Greener Way to Cook: Joyful, Delicious Recipes for One-Pot Meals That Are Good for You and the Planet by Anna Jones
While this book has great one-pan recipes, it isn’t just a cookbook. It’s full of insight into how to choose better products to help the planet, reduce food waste, make kitchens plastic-free and tips on how to use leftovers.
Spring is almost over, and as an autumn person, I don’t look forward to summer, at all. But at least there’ll be lots of new summer books to read!
Willow in Winter 