what i read in may
all the books i read in may
Somehow it’s June and time for a round-up of everything I read in May. I’ve been continuing with my goal of picking up books I already own and getting through my stack of advanced copies, but I did get swayed by books at the library and had to take them home (I’m only human).
Here’s everything I read in May:
The Nix - Nathan Hill [4.5]
A stagnant college professor and avid gamer investigates his estranged mother after she goes viral online for a political attack.
There’s nothing like an incredibly written, structurally unique, and ambitious brick of a novel to remind you why you love literary fiction. I like a short book you can read in a day as much as the next person (I’ve made many recommendation lists for those), but whenever I read a book like this I’m reminded of the pleasure of a long novel. There’s something soothing about sitting with a book for a longer period of time, really getting settled into the characters and their world.
The Nix earns its place amongst other ‘Great American Novels’, with a cast of entertaining, complex characters, jumping timelines, masterful pacing, and deftly woven social analysis. Hill covers a lot of territory in 600+ pages: small-town life, technology, the 2008 financial crisis, the Occupy Wall Street protests, the 1968 Chicago riots, mother and son relationships, loneliness, academia, the pain of growing up (I could go on and on). Though some sections could’ve been shortened or perhaps cut, I had a great time reading this novel. When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it.
(Note: As I’m proof-reading this post before publishing, I just read that Madeline Cash cites The Nix as one of her favourite novels and a huge inspiration for her novel (and internet book of the year, so far) Lost Lambs. Now that I know that, it makes a lot of sense)
Almost Life - Kiran Millwood Hargrove [4]
Two women who first meet in Paris in the 70s continue to fall in and out of each’s other lives across the decades.
This is a tender, bittersweet love story made up of missed chances, bad timing, and lots of yearning. It’s full of people being messy and making the wrong choices — but as a lover of unlikeable characters in fiction, that what I want in a novel. The writing is so vivid and atmospheric that it feels like you’re walking beside the characters as they roam the sweltering Paris streets, having your heart broken and put back together alongside them.
I didn’t love the ending, as I felt it was trying a bit too hard to land an emotional punch and veered into cliché. But aside from that, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. A perfect read if you’re chasing that Euro-summer feeling.
The Correspondent - Virginia Evans [3.75]
A novel told through letters written and received by the protagonist Sybil Van Antwerp, a women in her early seventies who has always made sense of her world through writing.
Though I’m not usually the biggest fan of epistolary novels and thought this book might be too twee for my tastes, I ended up being pleasantly surprised by it. The novel’s strongest asset is the voice of its narrator, Sybil, who is cantankerous, dry-witted, and a bit rude; she prevents the novel from becoming too mawkish.
It’s definitely not a perfect book by any means—it gets a little repetitive, and there are some strange sections where the author puts her own words into the mouths of dead authors—but I went into it expecting to dislike it and find it overhyped, so it was nice to have my expectations exceeded.
Wild - Cheryl Strayed [3]
A woman with a tragic past decides to kickstart a new life by hiking 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail alone.
Whenever I heard about this book over the years I always thought ‘why would you even bother’ but I’m turning 26 this year so I’m starting to get it now. Why wouldn’t you impulsively decide to undertake a huge hike so you could get some alone time and process your life? Makes perfect sense to me.
Wild is a combination of a finding myself / adventure memoir, meeting Strayed as she decides to hike the PCT after the sudden death of her mother, a divorce, and heroin use. I’m not an outdoorsy person (anyone who knows me in real life is probably laughing at this huge understatement) but I can appreciate an adventure/nature story, à la Jon Krakauer, and I liked how this memoir detailed both Strayed’s physical and emotional journey. Strayed is a woman who doesn’t always make the right decisions, but she always learns from them and pushes on.
Kala - Colin Walsh [2]
Three former friends, estranged for fifteen years, reckon with the terrifying events of the summer that changed their lives.
I held off on reading this book for many years, partly because of the mixed reviews, and now having read it, maybe I shouldn’t have bothered. It started off fairly strong, but I quickly lost interest. The writing style was melodramatic to the point of becoming trite, the actual thriller/mystery element was quite cliché, and it was all dragged out far too much. For a literary thriller to work, the characters and the writing need to be interesting enough on their own, and sadly that wasn’t the case here.
Another problem I had with this book is how poorly the female characters were written. Many of them make decisions, express certain thoughts, or put themselves in situations that felt unrealistic. I’m not saying authors can’t write characters of the opposite sex, but with this book, the female characters felt unconvincing (and manic pixie dream girl-esque) and it often took me out of the story.
Whistler - Ann Patchett [3.75]
A former stepfather and stepdaughter, Eddie and Daphne, meet again after decades apart, revisiting the events that prompted Eddie’s abrupt departure from her life.
Ann Patchett’s books are honestly such a balm. I’ve only read her novel Tom Lake before this, but both times I’ve found them wholesome, life-affirming, and heartwarming. She’s able to strike an emotional tone that I could find mawkish with other authors, but somehow here it just works.
This novel is thoughtful, intelligent, sensitive, and overall just full of heart, which seems like a trademark for Patchett’s books. It wasn’t life-changing, but sometimes a book can just tell a lovely story, and that’s enough.
As always, I want to hear what you read, loved, and maybe didn’t love, in May. Anything you’d recommend? Have you read any of these books? Leave a comment and let me know! 💌
i also read whistler and almost life this month! wanted to love almost life and truly did love whistler
I want to read Almost Life and Whistler!!!