2020 is wild, y’all. May seemed to pass super quickly, until the final week hit, when it seemed like every day lasted 12 years. I was a bit discouraged going into the last week of May because I had only read five print books, which is just enough to maintain my goal of 60 print books for the year, but in the last weekend of the month, I managed to finish three books, bringing my total to 10 for the month!
It was a great reading month. I started with two five star books, The Heart’s Invisible Furies and The Book of Longings, and I ended with two 4.5 star books, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and When We Were Vikings. It’s been a real joy to read so many books off of my own bookshelves, but I’m ready to start diving into library books again!
Books are listed in the order they were read. For more mini-reviews, check out my What I Read tag.
Monthly Stats
- Total Books Read in May: 10 Books
- Total Authors Read in May: 10 Authors
- Total Pages Read: 2,537 Pages
- Total Hours Listened: 41 Hours
- Total Books Quit: 0 Books
- Average Days Per Book: 3.1 Days per Book
- Average Pages Per Day: 81.8 Pages per Day
If you want a great LGBTQ+ character study…
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
Premise: Cyril was born at the end of WWII in a very Catholic Ireland. Growing up, he knew he was… different. This novel follows his life from when he was in utero until his death, and all of the experiences he encountered along the way.
Rating: 5 Stars
Thoughts: Ugh why did this book have to end? Seriously, I could have sat with Cyril all day, and I actually did that for the past three days while I binged this book. I have so many thoughts about this story, but, again, it showed me a new time in history that I hadn’t experienced, and I love books like that.
A few things I loved about this book: 1. The way Cyril is portrayed. He isn’t good or bad. We see characters who think he’s amazing, and we see characters who think he is the worst. And that’s ok… he is dynamic and complex and we get to witness his missteps and faults and accomplishments, and judge him accordingly. 2. There are no surprises, until there are. Boyne favors really blatant foreshadowing (“But if I had known what was going to happen…”), but I appreciated it. I always knew when something bad was about to happen, so I was able to brace myself for the impact. It didn’t keep me from shedding tears, but it did make the story more digestible. 3. I cared about the side characters, but Cyril was the star. As much as I loved (hated?) Julian and Bastiaan and Alice and Maude and all of the other side characters, Cyril’s journey is what kept me captivated from start to finish.
Honestly, this is a really big book and I was super intimidated by the size and the literary fiction label on it, but it was a complex but manageable read that sucked me in from the first chapter.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who likes character studies. Anyone who liked The Great Believers.
If you are interested in alternative tellings of the Bible…
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
Premise: Ana is an outspoken girl who aspires to be a scribe like her father. However, living under Herod’s rule in ancient Nazareth means that she has certain expectations placed on her, and none of those involve reading, writing, and studying. When she meets Jesus in the marketplace, she sees a chance for a different life.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Thoughts: It took a while (and a lot of discussion with other people who have read it) for me to figure out how I felt about this book, and for me to separate my excitement of reading this book (I love the author) from the story itself. But yea… the story stands on its own, and I really, truly devoured it. When I was talking to my mom (who also read it), I told her it felt like a book I was rereading because it felt so safe, like a story I already had read and loved.
There’s a lot of discussion about the religious aspect of this book, but I have to say that I didn’t consider religion much while I was reading. What I saw most was a fierce woman who loved a man and who loved who she was at her core. Her struggle between that love and the need to be herself is something I think any woman can relate to, and, as much as Ana loved Jesus, her spirituality didn’t play a large role in her overarching story. Jesus was there, and we see his whole arch, from when he marries Ana at age 20, through working to provide for his family, to following John the Baptist, to becoming the King of the Jews. But there is a point where Jesus and Ana’s stories diverge (of course there is, because Ana isn’t in the Bible), and at that point, we follow Ana through her trials and her discovery of herself. I love Ana, as a character and a person and a leader, and if I ever revisit this book, it will be Ana that draws me back to it.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who wants to read about a strong female character. Anyone who enjoys well-researched historical fiction. Anyone interested in a new perspective on Biblical stories.
If you like family dramas and the college admissions scandals…
The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger
Premise: When a new gifted learning academy opens up, the town of Crystal goes nuts trying to get their children in. Four mothers who have been friends since their children were one are all going to various lengths to prove to each other that their kids deserve to be in this school.
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: I enjoyed this one way more than I was expecting to! Nothing against the book, but the cover isn’t all that exciting, which immediately means it will sit on my shelf for 6 months to a year (#sorrynotsorry). But I’m really glad I finally picked it up, because it was engrossing and entertaining, and definitely made me think.
When I started the book, I thought every single character was unlikeable. But then, once I got to know the characters and see their motivations, I found that I was intrigued to see more about what they will do and I had trouble putting the book down. I’m not typically a fan of rich, white character studies, but this one felt a bit more real. The characters doubted themselves, royally screwed up, came together as friends, and fell apart over and over again. This book was not so much about a school… it was about friendships and the tests of those limits.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who likes family dramas. Anyone looking for a book about friendship.
If you’re interested in kings and queens and wars between brothers…
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
Premise: When widow Elizabeth Woodville sees the king of England riding by, she can’t pass on the opportunity to ask for a favor. That favor leads to love and her becoming the Queen of England. She spends the rest of her life fighting for her rights and the rights of her children, the princes and princesses of England.
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: First off, Philippa Gregory is just an amazing historical fiction author. She may not be the most sensational or the most emotional, but she does her research (and includes her extensive list of sources), and while I was considering giving this one 3.5 stars, I bumped it to 4 solely because I feel like I truly learned about this queen and this time period.
That being said, there is a lack of emotion in the novel… but that’s sort of why I picked this one up. I’ve wanted to work my way through The Plantagenet and Tudor series (of which there are 15 books), and I was searching for a book that would soothe my nerves, not excite them. This book was perfect for it. There’s sadness and tragedy, sure (it’s 1400s England..), but Elizabeth doesn’t spend a lot of time lamenting her losses. I did think she was super ambitious (to a fault), but it seems that that is accurate to the real Queen Elizabeth. It was a good, solid read, and I already picked up the next one in the series, which runs parallel to this novel but looking at a different character’s point of view.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who loves reading about the British monarchy. Anyone who appreciates a good historical fiction novel. Anyone who enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl.
If you want to learn more about the history of medical science and the ways it has taken advantage of minorities and the poor…
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Premise: Henrietta Lacks was a mother of five and a wife of a not-so-faithful husband when she discovered she had cancer in her uterus. This cancer eventually killed her in 1951, but the cells from this cancer live on today, leading to the polio vaccine, major improvements in cancer research, and nuclear testing.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Thoughts: Oh, this book made me angry. I totally get that the majority of this book and what happened to Henrietta happened in a different time, I do. And I also totally get that her cells made my life, and the lives of my family and friends, possible. But hearing the story of Henrietta’s family was gut-wrenching, soul-igniting, super angering. This author did a great job of balancing the story of Henrietta’s cells and their impact on science with the facts of Henrietta’s family and loved ones.
I was pretty impacted by the way that Henrietta’s family was treated back in the 50s and 60s, when all they wanted was information about their mother, but the doctors in charge refused to tell them anything. They preyed on the family’s ignorance and used it to their own advantage. Granted, that advantage led to a polio vaccine that saved millions of children around the world. But it’s hard to set that parallel to Henrietta’s children being unable to afford basic healthcare and living expenses in 2005. Then! Cut to the afterword, where the author goes on to discuss the fact that, oh yea, they still do this stuff today, with any biopsy, organ removal, and blood tests… They don’t even have to tell you they will be profiting off of your tissues or get you to consent to their use. It’s mind-boggling and I’m blown away by everything I’ve heard in this book.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who enjoys nonfiction about untold stories. Anyone interested in medical science and research.
If you’re looking for a unique perspective and a quick read…
When We Were Vikings by Andrew David MacDonald
Premise: Zelda lives with her brother Gert and is obsessed with Vikings. She understands that, in order to be a strong Viking, she must not be scared and face her enemies. When her enemies find their way into her house, however, she understands that not everyone is either good or bad.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Thoughts: Oops… I just finished this book in less than 24 hours. I didn’t mean to… last night, I started this novel just to get a start on it, intending for it to be a June read. Next time I looked up, I had read 50 pages. This afternoon, I laid down in bed intending to read a few chapters. Next time I looked up, I had finished the book. It was so quick and compelling and entertaining.
We talk a lot about reading diversely, but I don’t think that neurodiversity is something we discuss often enough. Zelda was born on the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum, and her point of view is so unique in this novel. We see everything through her lens, which both softens the blow and makes the blows all the more horrible. If we were looking at the events in this novel from another character’s point of view, or even third person point of view, this would be a very different, much darker novel. But because of the simplicity of writing and the lens of Zelda’s worldview, the book ends up reading like an epic tale where the hero has to slay some dragons and save some heroines.
Who Should Read It: Anyone looking for an interesting narrator. Anyone interested in neurodiverse characters. Anyone who likes Vikings.
