You might be wondering if the title is a mistake. It’s almost July and here I am writing about my May wrap-up. No mistakes here, just a tad bit delayed on my post schedule and a little overwhelmed with life. Just a little.
Anyway, I figured I’d still write a post about the month of May before I do my June wrap-up. So let’s get to it!
HIGHLIGHTS IN MAY
May was not my best reading month. I read a total of four books which is not really too bad. But most of them were mediocre. My highlight would probably be my one and only 5-star read this month which is The Silent Patient.
It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed reading a thriller this much. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It was suspenseful and creepy, and it kept me guessing until the reveal at the end. And if I’m being honest, I totally did not expect it! Highly recommended.
Some other highlights – this month probably had the best weather, contrary to what some people might say. I cleaned my balcony and spent a lot of time reading and writing outdoors and I loved it. At the beginning of the month, I also went to Trinity Bellwoods Park in Toronto to see the beautiful cherry blossoms.
book haul
If you’ve read my previous post on How To Get Cheap Books, then you know that I was able to score some pretty good books at my local thrift shop!
Below are the books that I added to my shelf in May:
- People We Meet On Vacation
- Beach Read
- Daisy Jones & The Six
- American Dirt
- Mrs. Everything
- The Silent Patient
Honestly I think this is my best thrift haul yet! I have thrifted so many more books in the past, but this particular haul had some pretty good gems.
WHAT I ACTUALLY READ THIS MONTH
First, let’s take a look at some statistics:
- Total number of books read: 4
- Total number of pages: 1169 pages
- Book formats: 4 physical
- Average rating: 3.5
Before The Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
SYNOPSIS: In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.
In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer’s, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.
But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold…
The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
SYNOPSIS: Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.
Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.
Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him….
Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng
SYNOPSIS: Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet. So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos.
A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.
The Guest List, by Lucy Foley
SYNOPSIS: On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.
And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?
check-in on my 2022 reading goals
As of the end of May, I have read 19 books out of my reading goal of 40 books. So far I think I am ahead of my goals. I’m hoping to keep the momentum but I know that the months ahead of me are going to be extremely busy. So we shall see!
The Boundless Reader 