Books Read in May

No, that's not a typo. It's July 5, and I am only just now summing up the books I read in May! I get behind like this every summer - travel, kids home, etc.

The other reason it took me so long to finish writing all my reviews from May is that I read 9 books that month! That's a record month for me. Here's what I read in May:

• Books for Living by Will Schwalbe - nonfiction, for Booktopia
• Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney (NYC) - audio, fiction, for Booktopia
• Everybody's Son by Thrity Umrigar (NY) - fiction, reviewed for Shelf Awareness

• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - audio, teen/YA
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (MA) - fiction
• The Journey of Crazy Horse by Joseph M. Marshall III (SD & WY) - nonfiction

• The Baby by Lisa Drakeford (UK) - audio, teen/YA
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (Sahara Desert - Africa) - fiction
• NewsPrints by Ru Xu - middle-grade & teen fiction, graphic novel

 
Wow, a huge reading month for me! I finished up my Booktopia reading, then jumped into book group choices and review books, with a few of my own choices thrown in. I read two nonfiction books, which is unusual for me, and the rest were fiction. Five of my books were for adults and the other four were for children or teens/YA (though I always have trouble categorizing The Little Prince). I listened to three audio books in May (and my husband and I gave up on another one not listed here after listening to half of it). I enjoyed all nine books, and some were really outstanding. The Hate U Give takes the prize for my favorite from May because it is not only a riveting, engrossing book (and amazing on audio) but also very powerful.

Progress on 2017 Reading Challenges:
This is my favorite part of my monthly summary - updating my Reading Challenges! Only 2 of my 9 books were from my own shelves for my Read Your Own Damn Books Challenge - bringing my 5-month total up to only 10. That's dismal, and my shelves are getting buried! For the Monthly Motif Reading Challenge, May was Book to Movie month and The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood has had several movie and TV adaptations made. I am dying to see the new TV show based on it, but we don't get Hulu - might have to sign up just for that!  I FINALLY read another classic for the 2017 Back to the Classics Challenge - The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. That brings my grand total for the year so far to...2. I had hoped to count The Handmaid's Tale as well, but this challenge only counts books published more than 50 years ago as classics. I slotted all 9 books into categories for my Well-Rounded Challenge, but that is getting tougher as the categories fill up. For my Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge, I added northern Africa/Sahara Desert. For my 2017 Literary Escapes Challenge, I added two more states: Massachusetts and South Dakota.

Finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month! Here is my Bingo card for May, with 20 squares filled in - one of my best months!

Books fit in the following squares:

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk - marriage/wedding, multi-word title
Books for Living - read a physical book, baking/cooking
Everybody's Son - free book, transformation, red cover
NewsPrints - in a series, nerd/geek
The Hate U Give - audio book
The Handmaid's Tale -  forbidden/inappropriate romance, shelf-love book (TBR)
The Journey of Crazy Horse - historical, library book
The Little Prince - not a new release, extraterrestrial
The Baby - drinking tea, secrets, dual narration

Free Space

What was your favorite book read in May?