May was a mixed reading month but there were too many DNFs. Of the six novels I managed to finish two were meh. Then there was a disappointing short story collection and an online story I liked. But I started the month with a great book (Gospodinov) and finished with a great book (see Image at the top of this post) so all is not lost.
I continue with my "books with the word 'last' in the title personal, accidental challenge (see my February 2025 post). It has turned out to be a rewarding challenge. I've found some really good books with it. It's also contributed to the DNF and Duds piles since it's a mostly blind selection. Maybe I should compile a list rating them but that sounds like work!
The list is shorter than usual because other things got in the way of my reading: house repairs, WNBA, and better weather & health so I'm getting out and about more.
Also I spent more time reading reviews in a effort to improve my book selection.
Fiction:
Death and the Gardener by Gospodinov, Georgi; translated from the Bulgarian by Rodel, Angela
Excellent!
The Kindness of Strangers by Garman, Emma
British mystery set in a 1950s boarding house. Enjoyed!
Looking for Tank Man by Jin, Ha
Chinese grad student (at Columbia) researches the Tienanmen Square massacre. Meh
The Wondrous Life and Loves of Nella Carter by Nwosu, Brionni
Too much insta-love. Meh
Last Letter from Istanbul Foley, Lucy
Istanbul during the Allied Occupation following WW1. Really liked this one.
Last Night in Brooklyn by Gonzalez, Xochitl
Last Night in Brooklyn by Gonzalez, Xochitl
I liked this but not as much as I liked Anita de Monte Laughs Last by the same author.
Stories: The Collected Short Fiction by Garner, Helen; Foreword by Escoffery, Jonathan
I started out really liking these but the more I read the less I liked them. By the time I got to the last four or five I was skimming and skipping,
Contents: Foreword -- A happy story -- Postcards from Surfers -- The dark, the light -- In Paris -- Little Helen's Sunday afternoon -- La chance exite -- The life of art -- All those bloody young Catholics -- A thousand miles from the ocean -- Did he pay? -- Civilisation and its discontents -- My hard heart -- The psychological effect of wearing stripes -- What we say.
Incident at San Juan Bautista by Ray Nayler
I need too read more by Naylor.
Nonfiction:
Big Fan: Two Friends, 82,490 Miles, and the Wild, Wonderful Sports We Love by Schur, Michael and Posnanski, Joe
Wow! This kinda makes me a fan of fandom.
Kutchinsky's Egg: A Family's Story of Obsession, Love, and Loss by Kutchinsky, Serena
Cookbook Week shows why cookbooks still have shelf life by Peluso, Oliva
No comments:
Post a Comment