Even in a month where I felt like I hadn’t read much, I finished 19 novels and 2 short stories. I don’t feel like it’s fair to count the short stories as books, but they are included in my collage. Here is a little information about each book.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo: This was the first classic that I’ve finished in awhile, and I attribute that to Hugo’s writing style. While he also fell into the trap of writing about a lot of things that really weren’t relevant to the story, he did it in a way that was mostly interesting. However, it wasn’t modern enough for me to give it more than 3 stars, even though the story was good. It’s just easier to see how enjoyable the underlying story was from a distance than it was while I was in it.

The Overstory by Richard Powers: I picked up this book because it won the Pulitzer Prize. I mostly enjoyed the story, but there were some weird things about it that I’ve already written about in another blog post. Another three star book for me.

The Little Sisters of Eluria by Stephen King: I picked this up because I learned that there is more to The Dark Tower than I had known and wanted my experience to be complete. However, this story didn’t really add much other than more background on the complexity of Roland. I also generally don’t like short stories, so I couldn’t give this more than 3 stars.

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by JRR Tolkien: I own this book and have tried several times to read it and various points in my life. For some reason, I’ve never been able to get through it. This time, I listened to it on audio and it sounded like it may have been the audio version of the animated movie I watched. I think a lot of the unnecessary parts of the story must have been removed, because it didn’t seem impenetrable at all. I had to give this one three stars too.

The Hedge Knight by George RR Martin: I found this short story in the book I’d checked out from the library to read The Little Sisters of Eluria. I hadn’t heard of the Tales of Dunk and Egg before, but I need to pick them up now. I absolutely loved these characters and getting to dive back into the world of Game of Thrones. I gave this one five stars!

The Editor by Steven Rowley: As I suspect everyone else did, I picked this book up because it featured Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The first 60 or so pages, I was hooked, and could not read fast enough. However, after we finished the first section, it seemed like someone else had picked up the story and they did a less than stellar job. Conversations were unbearable to read, bits of information were included that were completely unnecessary and seemed to have been included as padding, and I found myself losing the storyline. I also found myself wondering how the author knew these things about Jackie, and did a bit of research where he basically said he just made it up. I found that very frustrating, and I felt swindled. I think this book would have been better served by a fictional former First Lady so I wouldn’t have had to focus on whether his portrayal of her as an editor was accurate. I gave this two stars because I don’t think it’s worth anyone’s time.

I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney: This was my favorite book for the month of May, and I think that means something bad about me. This book was sick and twisted in all the best ways. I can’t say much without giving anything away, so just pick it up if you can handle all the triggers.

A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny: This is the second book in the Inspector Gamache series and my only regret is that I didn’t wait until winter to read it. It was so cozy, and all the mentions of snow and Christmastime just made me want to curl up in front of a fire. I was so happy to go back to Three Pines, and I look forward to the next murder there…that hardly seems fair that we keep meeting like this, but it’s true.

You by Charles Benoit: I listened to this as part of the 2019 Audiofile Sync program. Overall, it was interesting to hear a story from a male teenager’s perspective, but it was a bit confusing in the audio format. I really am not even sure what happened at the end. I’d recommend it to teenagers though.

The Outsiders by SE Hinton: What can I say about this book that hasn’t already been written? This is an incredible story, full of heart and guts and grit. I loved all the characters, and I think Hinton was a prodigy.

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by FC Yee: Another Sync book. I would have never picked this book up on my own, but I’m so glad I listened to it. The narrator did a fantastic job bringing all of the characters to life, and saving me from stumbling over Chinese pronunciations. This was a fun way to learn about Chinese mythology and college admissions struggles. Overall, very entertaining and informative. I may even pick up the second book.

Abbott by Saladin Ahmed: I picked up this graphic novel because it was on a list of books based in Michigan. I couldn’t resist occult activity happening in the city of Detroit. However, it felt like the author had a slightly different agenda which overshadowed the occult activity. I think the book would have been better served by making a clearer, stronger connection between the racism the main character was experiencing and the occult activity.

Day Zero by Kresley Cole: This book is more like a guide to The Arcana Chronicles than a story within itself, but I absolutely loved being introduced to all the cards. I am really excited to see how they all come together – let’s get the game going instead of focusing so much on the stupid love triangle we’ve been enduring for the last three books, please!

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding: This book was recently released, and I was super interested in it as soon as I heard about it. This author focused on the gruesome details of childbirth and raising infants in a way that I could connect with. Everything the mother went through was harrowing. However, it seemed like she might have kind of lost the story at the end, because there was some twists, or red herrings, or whatever, that just really didn’t work the way I think she thought they would. I could only give this one three stars because of the ending.

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames: This was the book I chose for a journaling book club I joined recently, so I spent a lot of time reading this book in great detail. I wish I wouldn’t have, because it really dragged in the middle. Overall, there is a rawness to it that I really appreciated, but I was disappointed in the turn the story took. I wanted to see Stella really be able to stand up for herself and do what she wanted to do. I could only give it three stars, because I came for the deaths, which were only a small portion of her life.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: I kept hearing really great things about this book, so I had to pick it up. I have not read the Shadow and Bone Trilogy yet, and I don’t think I would after reading this and learning that the problems I had with this story are common for Bardugo. Action was cut up by these long forays into character backstories. Really important actions were taken in one sentence amidst a lot of other detail, so I had to go back and reread because I missed how something happened. Overall, I enjoyed the characters and the story, I just wish it had been set up differently.

The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos: I received an ARC of this book just before publication date, so I spent a Saturday morning burning through it. It was an enjoyable story, but I was really frustrated by the complete selfishness of the main character and the rest of her family. They just had one of the most ridiculously self-centered magical powers I could imagine. I enjoyed their interaction with the other family, and there are some wonderful examinations of gender roles in this book that I don’t want to say too much about. It’s worth a read, but I was just frustrated by certain aspects of it.

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King: This is a fantasy book by King. What can I say? It was excellent. Straightforward, well written, good action.

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen: This book was really well written but it annoyed the bejeezus out of me. I hate these books where the main characters are so focused on the fidelity of the husband. This book reminded me a lot of Behind Her Eyes in that way. I was just exhausted by the time we got to the end, which was rather unsatisfying. I don’t get the hype about this one.

A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen: A YA book about the division created by The Berlin Wall. Part of the Sync program. Well written and narrated. Would recommend to any young person.

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum: This book was absolutely lovely, and I was crying by the end of it. I had gone in with reservations about my interest in a bunch of teenagers, but I was won over by Jessie and SN. Pick it up and share it with those you love.

Run Away by Harlan Coben: This book was also well written, but there were some things about it that annoyed me (I think that’s the theme of May). This book was about a rich white man whose daughter becomes a drug addict and disappears and his search to find her. It was entertaining, but there was some repetition that got annoying. I also had the ending figured out almost right away, which never happens to me.

There were also books that I didn’t finish this month, but I don’t think I’ll get into them, because it appears that my overall reading attitude this month was “Annoyed,” so some of them probably just didn’t get a fair shake.