What I Read: May

May was a great month of reading and included some really wonderful author events as well! Ty and I went to see Tom Hanks right before Ty's birthday. We were surprised to open the book before the event and see it was signed! Later in the month Jeremy and I went to see Matthew Desmond at a special event that included a free copy of his new book which was also signed.

Morning off work for a doctor's appointment included a trip to my favorite coffee shop after dropping the kids off at school.

Books:

• Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman- I was thrilled to see Waxman had a new book out because I have loved all of her books. I was disappointed by this one. I didn't think it was nearly as good as her other books. I did like getting to check in with characters from previous books.

• Stealing by Margaret Verble- With as much attention as this book had received, I was surprised it wasn't as good as her other book I've read. I went to see her at an author event and she said this was actually her first book she wrote, she just couldn't get it published. That made more sense to me. I didn't think she utilized the voice of a child as her narrator very well. It felt like she was attempting something like To Kill a Mockingbird, but it fell a bit flat for me.

• The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman- This was the 2nd book in the Thursday Murder Club series. I liked this one even more than the first.

• The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid- I was excited about this because I loved Exit West. It was strange. I didn't dislike it, but I wouldn't recommend it to others.

• The One and Only Ruby by Katherine Applegate- My class was so excited for the 3rd book in the One and Only Ivan series. On May 2nd when the book released, they came in saying it was "The One and Only Ruby" day! When I pulled the book out of my bag the following day, they all screamed with excitement. It was one of the best moments I've ever had as a teacher. I read this with my class and adored it. The whole series is fantastic.

• The Wild Robot by Peter Brown- I read this one with Carter and Elise. It was really cute and as we got close to finishing it, Elise asked to buy the 2nd book in the series, so we did and started it the day after finishing this one.

• One Night on the Island by Josie Silver- This was okay. It was by far my least favorite of her books.

• Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond- I read this right after going to the author event because I was so excited about it. He did such a great job hitting all the main points of the book in his talk that the book was basically just more details added to what he shared in his book talk. I should have waited a little while to read the book because it was not as interesting to me. It was fascinating to read about the housing market and his explanations for why housing is so expensive right now!

eBooks:

• Ground Zero by Alan Gratz- This was a middle grade novel recommended by the son of one of the ladies in my book club so we read it for our May book club. It was about September 11th and was quite well done. I think it is a book Carter will like once he's a little bit older.

• Verity by Colleen Hoover- I seesawed between being sucked in by this book and kind of hating it. It was very different from her other books I've read. Everyone raved about this one, but I was disappointed. I was expecting a more shocking reveal at the end than what we got.

Audiobooks:

• Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne- This was an interesting book. I was disappointed with how Gwynne talked about the Comanches at times. I didn't get the sense he was writing from an unbiased perspective.

• Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah- I wanted to read this for an author event at Magic City Books. I didn't end up getting to go to the event because I had a cyst on my back/back of my neck that got infected so I had to go to Urgent Care and missed it. This book was really good. 

• Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune- This book started slowly for me. I didn't like it very much until about half-way through and I ended up loving it.

• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus- We picked this for our July book club meeting and I loved it. It was so well written and I loved how she highlighted the wasted minds of women in science from that time period.