Somehow I always imagine reading on the beach to be a great idea and I always have great plans to read on the sand when we go there. Between wind and rain and children quite willing to douse themselves (irrespective of their swimmings skills) in the chilly waves, it doesn’t really work in Oregon. Luckily the state of spring weather in Oregon leaves us indoors a lot so reading from a well-windowed room while listening to the weather tends to get the job done. I managed to read enough to get by. Such trials and hardship. ;)

Here’s what I read in May – at the coast and otherwise!

Fiction:

1. The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray – excellent. a complicated family story that deals with mental health, incarcerated parents, and siblings as adults. Interesting and a worthwhile weekend read.
2. The True Queen by Zen Cho – 3 stars. This book was so weird. It was similar to Sorcerer to the Crown, but it felt rushed, the main characters were hard to root for, and it was much darker in tone and the type of magic employed.
3. The Lola Quartet by Emily St John Mandel – 4 stars – a book with some heavy topics, but with lots of social dilemmas and questionable decisions to push the pace and keep you turning the page. A mystery surrounding the last year of high-school, a mysterious child, the tanking field of journalism, and the high-notes and low-notes of all main-character’s relationships.
4. A Study in Charlotte (Charlotte Holmes, #1) by Brittany Cavallaro – 5 stars. A distant-granddaughter of Sherlock Holmes and a grandson of John Watson meet at boarding school where mystery, drama, and family history set the tone for a story worth inhaling. Also – It’s a series of four, so fill up your library holds for a weekend (or four) of reading.
5. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer – 3 stars. Another story of friendships beginning in highschool and the way they’ve morphed into adulthood. I was bored for a little while, but I kept reading and despite the lies and questionable decisions, appreciated how it all wrapped up.
6. The Upside of Falling Down by Rebekah Crane – 4 stars. I loved how this one developed. Clementine is the only survivor of a plane crash and has forgotten everything about her life and herself and why she was in Ireland in the first place. This reminded me of the movie Leap Day.
7. Out of my Mind by Sharon M. Draper – 5 stars. A glimpse into the life of a girl living with cerebral palsy: having a photographic memory but not being able to speak, communicating through a communication board, participating in school in a variety of ways despite the school’s substandard treatment of students with disabilities. Interesting way to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and a great story besides. Not sure how accurate or well-represented this book is, but it was interesting and worth reading.
8. Skyward by Brandon Sanderson – 5 stars. Delightful. I inhaled this sci-fi story about a girl on a strange planet trying to find out the details of her story while always fighting for her dream to fly. This girl is almost certainly an Eight. I loved it.

Non-Fiction:

1. Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships by Dr. Sue Johnson – 5 stars. sensible, scientific, and hopeful marriage book based on the theories of adult attachment. Really useful.
2. Dear Mother: Poems on the Hot Mess of Motherhood by Bunmi Laditan – 5 stars. so funny, real, and perfectly in touch with the many feelings of motherhood. Loved it. And if you need a last minute present for a mother, get thee to the book store.
3. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness by Michelle Alexander – 5 stars. an unsurprising, but at the same time shocking (because of just how deep the problem goes) look at the racial injustice of the u.s courts, law enforcement, the war on drugs, and prison system. Devastating information.
4. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson – – 4 stars. Surprisingly accessible resource. I wished for more on spacetime (the reason I picked the book up!), but I’m glad such a book exists. YouTube, here I come.
5. God Alone is Enough: A Spirited Journey with Teresa of Avila by Claudia Mair Burney – 3 stars. A fun introduction to the writing, history, and spritual life of Teresa of Avila full of entertaining commentary and the Burney’s own experiences with Teresa’s spiritual practices. Interesting, and different; just not my style.
6. Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon – 5 stars. Hilarious and inspiring kick in the pants for creatives to just share your work.
7. Surprised by Paradox: The Promise of “And” in an Either/Or World by Jen Pollock Michel – 4 stars. Insightful, helpful, hopeful and wise, but more formal, dense and slow (though only 210ish pages long) than I usually read.

I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy’s QuickLit. Go check it out :)

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Good news! There is still time to sign up for my monthly email. Sign up here to be entered to win a copy of the book This Outside Life by Laurie Kehler. I’ll be choosing a random winner on Friday and sending out the email on Saturday! Next month I’ll be giving away a copy of Glorious Weakness by Alia Joy. So stay tuned :) I love sharing the bookish love.

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(Disclaimer: Post contains Amazon affiliate links and thanks to IVPress for the review copy of Surprised by Paradox!)

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