What I Read in May
When you delayed all your library holds until May 1.
May was a four-week gift in which my grueling spring semester was over and my kids were still in school. I paused most of my library holds until May, so I had a huuuuge pile to get through last month.
I was only somewhat successful. May was also the month where I wanted to catch up on spring cleaning and make sure all my kids have summer clothes that fit, and of course I planned a quick Disney trip with half my family over Mother’s Day because I was in escapist mode when I booked it back in February. Add in a dash of self-reflection and existential thinking, and here we are with exactly the same number of books I always read in a month.
But! The garden has been planted, I had an amazing Mother’s Day trip, all of my kids are adequately prepared with summer clothes, and our dryer vent is no longer a fire hazard. Overall, a rousing success.
Swept Away by Beth O’Leary
Lexi and Zeke are strangers who meet in a bar, have a one-night stand, and accidentally get lost at sea when they don’t tie up their houseboat properly. What ensues is part romance, part survival novel.
I don’t even have mixed feelings on this one; I just didn’t like it. The top review on Goodreads says something along the lines of “I’ll spend my life chasing after the high of The Flatshare,” and that sums it up for me. Both of O’Leary’s first books, The Flatshare and the wildly adorable The Switch, were phenomenal. Swept Away was a letdown in comparison. Too much soap opera drama, not enough character development.
The Tell by Amy Griffin
This is a memoir about trauma and uncovering repressed memories. That’s all I can say about the plot without spoilers, but do look up content warnings if you’re a sensitive reader. (I wish I had.) Possibly an unpopular opinion because this book is everywhere, but I strongly disliked The Tell.
The thing about memoirs is that you don’t need to have an interesting or dramatic life to write a good one. The magic is in the writing itself and in the vulnerability of what’s being shared. How do you frame your story? What of yourself are you offering readers? Griffin laid out her traumas and the burden of keeping them secret, but she somehow managed to do so while keeping readers at bay. Even the dialogue is stilted. If it had been a novel, I would’ve said the writer needed more creative writing practice.
I can respect that Griffin shared her story for her own healing purposes, but my cynical side feels like perhaps this book has only rocketed to bestseller Oprah’s Book Club status because of the author’s wealth and connections. If you’re interested in memoirs with similar themes of childhood trauma, I highly recommend The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr instead.
Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth
Vi Reyes is a girl in the male-dominated gaming world. She runs into a sexism everywhere: her D&D-esque tabletop gaming group, the fantasy conference she volunteers at, and in her favorite MMORPG, Twelfth Knight. That is, until she changes her Twelfth Knight avatar to a male knight named Cesario and discovers she can play without a heaping serving of misogyny from the other players.
Jack “Duke” Orsino is the school’s star running-back with a family legacy to uphold. When a knee injury takes him out of the season, he turns to a nerdy online game called Twelfth Knight while he recovers. Online, he teams up with a player named Cesario to complete game missions, while in the real world he enlists the grumpy and annoying Vi to help him make amends with his girlfriend, Olivia.
Misunderstandings, chaos, and sparks ensue. Of course.
This was a delightfully creative Shakespeare retelling, perfect for fans of 10 Things I Hate About You and She’s the Man. Points in its favor include a clever modern setup that’s actually believable, a wide range of inclusivity and diversity, and good character development. Bonus points for this line in the acknowledgements, when the author describes writing this book with a toddler during the pandemic as “Writing this book was like passing a kidney stone.” I did not manage to write a book during the pandemic, but still. Solidarity.
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
Lauren returns home from her friend’s bachelorette party to discover her husband Michael waiting up for her. There’s just one problem: she’s never been married. What follows is a heavy dose of magical realism as Lauren discovers that her attic will provide her with a never-ending supply of husbands. If she doesn’t like the way one chews, no problem. Send him back up in the attic and wait for his replacement!
With each new husband comes a new world: different friendships, a new job, changes in hairstyle and hobbies. And with each new world, Lauren wonders, What version of myself would have chosen this?
I’m a sucker for novels that explore alternate realities based on the series of small, daily choices we all make. The Husbands is particularly well-executed among that genre. I enjoyed the creative premise, and the author does a nice job of balancing sometimes heavy subjects with a light, funny writing style. It started to drag a bit toward the end, but overall I liked this one.
What My Kids Are Reading
The 10-year-old recently finished the entire Mr. Lemoncello’s Library series in about two weeks. I honestly don’t know much about them, but I’m gathering that they’re a kids’ mystery/puzzle series, possibly along the same lines as The Mysterious Benedict Society but easier to digest. She even emailed the author to tell him she solved a bonus puzzle in the book and he replied, which she found thrilling.
The 8-year-old is deep into the Series of Unfortunate Events books, and she’s also still working through the sequels to The Mysterious Benedict Society.
The 7-year-old is reading Harry Potter on his own after listening to Sorcerer’s Stone on audio about a million times. He likes the illustrated version best. He’s also still working through the Magic Treehouse series.
The 4-year-old grabs whatever looks good at the library at random (honestly, isn’t this a joy for all of us?) but her favorite at the moment is the classic Lyle, Lyle Crocodile.
I started us on our summer read-alouds a week early with the first book in the Wingfeather Saga, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. So far everyone is enjoying it, myself included. The preschooler is happy to listen in even though she’s not really following the plot. I’ll probably do a full review of it next month.
What are you reading as summer gets underway?