2023 Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: May

May was a weird month for me reading wise. I read and dropped the same amount of books, leading to one of my lowest reading months in a while. I'm still working my way through publisher advanced reader copies, realizing a long time ago that I requested far too many for 2023. So reading books off my physical TBR have been a bit lower than I wanted, and not as productive as I anticipated. What's the point of going on a year-long book buying ban for the sake of lowering my TBR (and saving money) if I'm not lowering my TBR??

Anyway. I read five books in May and DNF'd five books. Let's get into the stats and reviews.

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: ARCs, Beach Reads, Chick Lit, Favorites

Review: The Collected Regrets of Clover follows a woman in her mid-thirties who is a death doula, essentially a person who helps others in their final moments greet death. Clover chose this profession after not being present when her grandfather (her only parental figure) died alone. This story begins as Clover enters a phase of transition in her life.

I liked a lot about this book: I liked the way the characters were written as flawed but lovable and relatable people. I liked the conversations around death and grief. I liked the building of a community of misfits, and the recognition of how that community can be beneficial for people in multiple ways. The story was equal parts heavy, heartwarming, and light-hearted, which I think makes it a good beach read. It's not so heavy that it feels like an emotional gut punch, but it had a lot of one-liners to contemplate and a few tear-jerking moments.

Overall, a nice little read I'd compare to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine in vibes and overall juggling heavy and light-hearted topics. If it sounds interesting to you, this title published with St. Martin's Press on May 9, 2023. Thank you to them and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Embodied Activism: Engaging the Body to Cultivate Liberation, Justice, and Authentic Connection--A Practical Guide for Transformative Social Change by Dr. Rae Johnson

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: ARCs, Health, Nonfiction, Psychology

Review: Embodied Activism: Engaging the Body to Cultivate Liberation, Justice, and Authentic Connection--A Practical Guide for Transformative Social Change is a great book if you're looking for a stronger foundation and education in how to get in better touch with your body to avoid burnout and maximize your social activism. So often, those fighting for social justice get worn out and therefore can't make the kind of impact they want to make. Doing yoga, going to a therapist, and getting in tune with your body all help, and if you're doing those things (or have done those things), a lot of what's in these pages may not feel super groundbreaking.

However, Embodied Activism gives you terms for the things you may already be doing without realizing it, and then gives you the benefits (some of which you may already know, and some that you don't). All of this information is then woven into the social benefits of activism: how, once we can identify all the ways we have been caging people in through various and multiple ways, we can break that cycle to liberate society in positive, healing ways.

Three stars because this wasn't as mind-blowing as I hoped, but it was still fresh, compassionate, and insightful. I can see it being useful for beginner activists, those without a lot of knowledge on this topic, and may even members of Boards for nonprofits who need to be rejuvenated in how they approach their missions.

Thank you to NetGalley and North Atlantic Books for giving me advanced reader access in exchange for my honest review. This book published May 30, 2023.

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

Shelves: Book Club, Fantasy/Mythology, Historical Fiction, LGBTQIA+

Review: If you're a fan of the writing style of Greek myth retellings, I think you'll really enjoy Kaikeyi. I loved that this took place within Asian mythology stories, particularly the story of Rama, and flipped it to give it a feminist perspective from a centuries-told villain. Kaikeyi was a bad ass heroine that I'm so happy I got to read about.

This book didn't quite deliver the female rage that I had hoped for. There was a lot of misogyny and moments where I felt like the feminist messages were a bit heavy-handed. There were also moments where this felt like a debut novel (which it was)--descriptions and depth of characters lacked in some areas where I wanted more. And considering this novel is almost 500 pages, I felt like some things could have been pared down so we could have gotten more elsewhere.

Overall, this was an enjoyable and easy read. And there are a lot of good discussions here that I can't wait to talk about with my book club!

Everything's Fine by Cecilia Rabess

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Shelves: ARCs, Historical Fiction, Modern Literature

Review: I started Everything's Fine not realizing what a divide it had caused on social media, and so for the first third of the book I thought: "This definitely isn't a romance. Nothing about this relationship is romanticized. It feels like it should be a disaster girl novel, but Jess has it together. Josh is an ass who is, like, sooo obviously racist. But a Black girl in a primarily dude's world is kind of bad ass. I dig it." Then, I saw the horrible reviews and watched the hot takes online.

After spending the last few days trying to get a better picture of this book and its wide array of opinions, I think it's important to note what Black women, in particular (since that's who our main character is and, really, who the story is about), are saying about this book. It doesn't really matter what I think, as a white left-leaning reader, but I found mostly two camps: (1) It was very triggering and this book shouldn't exist, and (2) it was very triggering but I have never felt more seen. I think, no matter your feelings on this book, they're valid. But I do think writing a one-star review before reading is doing this book a disservice.

For those of us walking in the world with white privilege and fragility, this book holds up a very clear mirror to the ways in which we make BIPOC walk on eggshells in every possible way. I felt so uncomfortable for Jess, who was trying her best and was still making two steps backward for every one step forward. There were cyclical arguments between Jess and her love interest, Josh that highlighted his white privilege and lack of perspective. He infantilizes her and her very real anger and sadness. Yes, there were cringe conversations, but those cringe conversations I've heard my actual family members say those kinds of things. I felt like, as a white reader, the nuances in this book that made me stop and think would be nothing new to Black people who inherently know and live the racism, misogyny, sexism, identity struggles, and social and economic conversations that were introduced here.

I think, if you go into this book expecting it to be an escape or a romance, your expectation should be changed into one of expecting discussion. This isn't a romanticized love story about people from two sides of the political spectrum. I think it's a story about the very real struggles BIPOC go through daily, but especially how Black women have to navigate this world and how much the Trump years and leading up to it really did a lot of social, emotional, and mental damage. How white privilege and fragility are harming and hateful, and how we as a society really need to work on how we treat each other and how we listen to each other.

I'm glad I read this book. I thought it was worth the read, and it's been worth listening to and engaging in the discussions that are happening because of it. Thank you to Simon and Schuster for sending me an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. This title publishes June 6, 2023 in the US.

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Shelves: Beach Reads, Fantasy, LGBTQIA+

Review: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is a perfect summer read. It's got pirates from a lesser discussed part of the world, a female captain who is a total bad ass, and it's bursting at the seams with action. The first third to first half of the book is a bit of a slow start as we learn about the world and its characters, but after that, the action picks up quickly and stays up until the last pages. I loved the idea of "the band getting back together again" as middle-aged pirates reunite for one last mission. The foreboding was strong, and I was invested in the story almost from the outset.

A few things kept this from being a perfect read for me. As a person who isn't big into fantasy, all the fantastical creatures tended to remove me from the story. The peris and nasnas in particular. As well, there was like a false climax and the subplot thrown in between that and the actual climax (meant to set up for additional books, I think) could have been shorter or less involved overall. There was also quite a bit of dark and brutal gore that I wasn't expecting--I don't normally mind that, and I expected some with it being a pirate novel--but I didn't anticipate the violence to be as evil as it was. And lastly, the language of the characters went in between feeling fitting for the time it was set in to feeling a bit too modern. These elements weren't deal-breakers for my enjoyment of the book overall, but they tended to take me out of being fully immersed in the story.

Was it a good time? Yes! I'm unsure whether or not I'll continue the series (assuming this will become one), but I had fun while reading.

Did Not Finish

Pieces of Happiness by Anne Ostby

Review: DNF at 16%.

After meeting most or all of the characters, I wasn't really invested in their stories. The character who invited her high school friends to her cocoa plantation in Fiji felt manipulative, and some of the other characters felt vapid or victimizing. In addition, I thought the whole idea for the story seemed far-fetched. Couldn't get into it, not going to force myself to.

Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee

Review: DNF at 6%.

It was moving a bit slow, and there's not enough of a hook to keep me interested. Hardly anything is explained, but it's not holding my curiosity enough for me to stick around to figure out what's going on. It's touted as being for fans of Terry Pratchett, so maybe for those interested in his work, this would be a good one to check out! Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the advanced reader copy. This title publishes May 23, 2023.

Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer

Review: DNF at 58%.

I was intrigued by this book but I went back and forth with it. I think this is a case of right book, wrong time. I'd love to finish it, but compared to everything else I have going on reading wise (and considering this is a library book that I've checked out the max number of times), I'll just stop it where it is and hope I come back to it when it feels more appealing.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

Review: This is definitely a DNF for now at 21%.

I'm still very interested in reading this, but it's such a big time commitment that I just don't have at the moment. A 33+-hour long audiobook is a lot without being in the middle of other books that require reviews. So, I'll come back to this one eventually! It's been fast-paced and interesting!

The Moon Represents My Heart by Pim Wangtechawat

Review: DNF at 32%.

Mirroring other reviewers' thoughts, I liked the overall idea and premise of this story, but ultimately I was unable to connect with these characters. The formatting of the eARC was not very good, and a lot of the storyline/plot felt disconnected/disjointed. Eva felt like an afterthought. Tommy and Eva's parents lacked depth for me. Tommy's plot was okay, but not one I found myself caring about.

I got hints of The Time Traveler's Wife, and hoped that a bigger cast of characters (a Chinese family! who time travels!) would be really cool and interesting, but alas. It just didn't meet the expectations I had for it. Which was a real bummer.

Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the advanced reader copy. This title publishes June 6, 2023.