This past month has not been my favorite. I mean, some good things have happened like I’m fully vaccinated and accepting hugs from a select few people I’m not related to and who I don’t mind touching me. I also got to see my family for the first time since November 2019. However, the reason why is because my grandma passed away last week from COVID. And if you didn’t see my tweet, I am definitely not OK.

I don’t want to go on a rant but if you aren’t still wearing a mask and you’re sharing misinformation about the vaccine, please stop doing that. Put on a mask. Trust the science. Because people are still dying and it’s fucking horrible. I don’t care if they’re old or have underlying conditions or if they’re healthier than The Rock. They’re still dying. COVID is still very much real and I have zero tolerance for anyone saying different.

(If you can’t tell, in addition to grief, I’m feeling a fuckton of anger.)

Through it all though, I keep on reading. My grandma loved reading and while I have almost no memories of her reading to me, I do know that she used to give me books and I can’t remember a time when she didn’t have a book or a newspaper with her. Even when she started using a walker, she had one in the little pocket thing that was attached to it. So, despite wanting to hide away in my own mourning cave, it’s important to me that I honor my grandma by talking books.

I only read 5 since we last met but one of them was such a beast, it should count as 3 books. It was a mixed group this month, which is fine. I don’t expect every month to be filled with 5-star reads.

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee. This is the book beast. It tells the story of a Korean woman in NYC in the mid-90s and what seems like everyone she ever met. It’s a highly detailed, very wordy, slog of a story at times but the last 200 or so pages really picked up. I cared enough about Casey to not quit on it, and I use the DNF with gusto when I need to. It’s a good book for the right readers but I caution you to put some thought into whether you are that reader.

Free Lunch by Rex Ogle. A middle grade memoir about the author’s sixth (?) grade year and what it was like being poor in a wealthy school. It should come with a trigger warning for abuse (it might. I’m not sure). It’s harrowing, brutal, honest, and I highly recommend it.

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. I thought this book was just fine. Nothing special. I do see why people connect with it, the idea of using a personal “winter” to, I don’t know, reform themselves or whatever point she was trying to make beyond understanding that dark times happen to everyone and you can come out stronger. As someone with depression, I feel like the whole book feel flat. I also found her stories slightly long-winded and annoying at times.

The Night Always Comes by Willy Vlautin. This is a short, fast-paced book that isn’t quite a thriller but isn’t NOT a thriller, either. Maybe it’s fiction with a thriller filling. I don’t know. Anyway, I really liked it. It’s dark and twisted and also makes some social commentary and even though some parts seemed kind of unnecessary, I’d actually like to see this turned into one of those one-season shows. It’d be fantastic.

The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep by Laurie Faria Stolarz. I had to think a little harder about what this book was about. It’s not that it was bad, but it’s more one of those you read and it just blends into the shelf. For me, it wasn’t that memorable. I’m not sure I even remember how it ends. Which fits with the theme of memory loss that was in the book. So that’s cool.

TL; DR: Free Lunch and The Night Always Comes get a solid recommendation for me. The others are fine depending on your preferences.

Currently reading: The 57 Bus (via audio with my daughter on trips to NY) and Fucked at Birth.

Now it’s your turn. Link up and show us your books! Don’t forget to visit my co-host Steph and some other bloggers on the list, and make sure to mark June 8 for the next one (and June is my birthday month so that’s extra fun).

It’s book time again. Yay! I love book time not only because it’s the only time of the month I remember to write and engage with people not on social media, but because I love finding new books to love (and hate). And since books are my only hobby, it all works out well.

This month I did something I rarely do. Two things, really. I read FOUR NetGalley books in one month and listened to an audiobook. I don’t know, man. COVID’s making me do weird things.

My total since we last met is 10, which makes sense since it was a week longer than our usual four and I was on vacation and I always read more on vacation. It’s amazing how much I can get read when work doesn’t interfere. Don’t get me wrong. I like my job. But it does interfere with all the books.

Rude.

So here’s what I read in no particular order:

The Removed and Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson. I’m reviewing both books together because I have basically the same thing to say about them and since they’re both by the same author, it works. He is a good writer. His stories are different and interesting but they’re super slow and feel like they drag at times, which is not what you want in relatively short books. I wouldn’t NOT recommend them, but don’t rush to get them either.

Oslo, Maine by Marcia Butler. Facets of this book were excellent. She made a moose an integral part of the story (not unlike the camel in Stolen). The memory loss plot was pivotal. But for the most part, it was mediocre. I didn’t really care what happened to anyone except the moose and the epilogue was way too neat for how messy the story was. Thanks, NetGalley, for this one (not sarcasm. It was a good, quick vacation read).

The Incredible Winston Browne by Sean Dietrich. If I were someone who cried, I would have sobbed at this book. I loved it. All of it. The historical context, the weird side plots, the setting which was a character itself, the weaving of baseball into the whole thing, the writing. I’m so so glad I read this book (and it wasn’t at the top of my vacation list, either). Thanks for another one, NetGalley.

You Love Me by Caroline Kepnes. As I said on IG, I love Joe. I will always love Joe. But this book…oy. It was slow, circular, repetitive, and there were too many fucking people and plots and it felt like kind of a mess at times. I feel like I did after the third Louisa book. I think I’m done with Joe’s story now. And if there are more, I won’t be in a rush to read it. Yet another NetGalley book (that I wound up preordering because I didn’t think I would get approved so now I have a paper copy, too).

Sweet Virginia by Caroline Kepnes. This was the audiobook, and it’s narrated by Kristen Bell. It’s a great story (it’s part of the Out of Line collection on Amazon) but for me, it lost something listening to it. I would have preferred to read it. I think the annoying parts would have been less annoying if they weren’t being read to me and the darker parts would have been more engaging.

The Three Mothers by Anna Malaika Tubbs. This is the story of Berdis Baldwin, Alberta King, and Louise Little. You know their sons: James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Malcolm X. By using these three icons, the author talks about what it was like to be a Black mother and how they influenced (heavily) their sons, along with discussions of civil rights, racism, and outliving your children. She also gives them their rightful place in history. It’s not an easy book, but it is excellent and I highly recommend it.

Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson. There is no denying her talent but honestly, I didn’t love this book. It was kind of fragmented and read weird, but it did tell quite a story of poverty and friendship and death, addiction, loss, and a whole host of other things we don’t really like to talk about that much.

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth. I flew through this book. Definitely a great twisty domestic thriller (and, side note, I liked the domestic part was between sisters rather than spouses. Something different) with an end that is both predictable and comes out of nowhere. It’s in the same realm as BA Paris, JP Delaney, and all the other initial thriller writers if that’s your thing. Thanks for yet another book, NetGalley.

The Unwilling by John Hart. I’d probably call this a thriller but it’s more just solid fiction with some violence thrown in. Not quite graphic violence, but violence and mystery. Similar to Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens. I guess normal people call this crime fiction. Anyway, regardless of how you label it, it’s really good. The characters are compelling, you want to know what happens next, and I’ll definitely read some more of his books because I like his writing a lot.

TL; DR: The Three Mothers, The Unwilling, The Good Sister, and The Incredible Winston Browne are my must-reads for this month. The rest are, as always, a use-your-judgment situation.

Currently reading: The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep by Laurie Faria Stolarz.

OK. Now it’s your turn to link up and show us your books! Nonbloggers, leave a comment with what you’ve recently read and don’t forget to visit my co-host Steph, some of the other bloggers on this list, and mark down May 11 for our next one.