Happy almost June, everyone! I love summer, from the heat to summer travel to grilling and eating on our patio. Here are a few things that made me happy in May:
- Finishing my classes: having my evenings and weekends free this month has been glorious.
- Planning summer trips. We nixed the idea of going to Scotland this year, because of uncertainty with my class schedule and trying to plan around work trips. Still, we’ll be spending a weekend with friends in Ohio, going to Montreal and Quebec for a week with my sister and her family, and going to California for beach time and wine drinking.
- My summer garden. This year the husband “challenged” me by telling me I can’t keep a plant alive. Ha! I’m growing tomatoes, peppers, green onions, a ton of herbs, and I’m attempting cucumbers for the first time. Okay, I haven’t produced much yet but here are a few pics (I have a very small space to work with).
- Celebrating the five year anniversary of my blog! I posted about this last week, and that prompted a whole lot of ideas for related posts. I’m excited to have finally added a review directory to my site, which has links to all my reviews alphabetized by author. I’m also working on some posts where I’ll follow up with authors whose books I loved. So stay tuned.
Here’s what I posted in May:
- The Vagabond Vicar
- The Water Knife
- All the Light We Cannot See
- A Long Thaw and an interview with author Katie O’Rourke
- The Portrait of a Lady
- Should bloggers write book reviews?
- My fifth year anniversary
- Violence and the end of Outlander, Season 1
Here’s what I read in May:
- How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran
- Getting the Picture by Sarah Salway
- Unclaimed by Courtney Milan
- The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
- Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger
- The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin
- Symbiont by Mira Grant
My favorite book this month? I’ll say The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. This is an incredibly ambitious, and at times completely maddening, read. I love Mitchell because all of his books are so different. This one goes from past to future, jumps around from character to character, and has a really complicated storyline. Not an easy read but a great one.
Disappointing: I was less enthused by How to Build a Girl than I expected. Partly because I felt it rehashed what made How to Be a Woman so great, and partly because I didn’t love the main character. BUT, my caveat here is that I read most of this book on a long, crappy travel day where the airport was crowded and I sat on the runway for 2 hours waiting for my plane to move. So that might have colored my reading.
What I’m reading right now: Plainsong by Kent Haruf, and I am loving it. This book has made me laugh and cry, and the writing is beautiful.
Books this month made me think about… The Bone Clocks and The Water Knife made me think about the impact of climate change and human impact on the environment. Both books have near-future scenarios that are both realistic and terrifying. Symbiont, The Water Knife, and Outlander made me think about torture – how much I can handle to read about, why it’s so prevalent in books and television, and whether onscreen violence is easier or harder than book violence. At the same time, I re-read the ending of Outlander, and while it’s horrific, it reminded me of all the things I love about Gabaldon’s writing. The question is whether the onscreen version captures that.
Happy Monday, happy June, and happy reading!
