Book Review: May 2019

May was kind of a slow reading month for me - I started a couple of books that I wanted to read but couldn't motivate myself to really get into, so I ended up re-reading an old series I love {which I don't count toward my monthly total}, so here are the 5 books I read in May!

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid - I am 7 for 7 on LOVING Taylor Jenkin Reid's books. She is amazing! This book is written interview-style like the biography of a rock band from the 70s. Immediately it felt so real, and I was sucked into the story. TJR is such a gifted author - even with this style of book, I was invested in the characters and could tell their personalities - like 'of course Bob would say that, he's such a joker' haha. I devoured it and was sad it was over! 

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson - This was our May book club selection and was a 'famous' blogger's life story. Jenny grew up poor in a small town in West Texas with a wacky taxidermist father, mother and sister. She describes growing up poor, all the crazy things her dad did {that honestly were pretty horrible}, meeting her husband, battling anxiety/depression/OCD, struggles getting pregnant. There were times I was laughing out loud and thinking 'there's no way this really happened' and then Jenny would have a picture in the book to prove it was real! At the same time, about 25% of the way in, it felt kind of tedious. I wasn't laughing very often, and her writing style got a little annoying to me. It picked back up toward the end, so overall, I'd say I enjoyed it, but the rest of the girls in book club just thought it was hilarious and loved it. I wouldn't go that far - I liked it but didn't love it, but I was definitely in the minority on that feeling.

99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne - Guys. I was warned numerous times via other bloggers reviews that this book was terrible compared to The Hating Game. I wouldn't say I hated it, but it was pretty disappointing - I think my expectations being lowered are why I didn't hate it. It's about a girl, Darcy, who has been in love with her twin's best friend, Tom, and now Tom is the contractor leading the renovation on the house she inherited from her grandmother. Sounds cute, right? Too bad Darcy was NOT likeable at all. She was rude, full of self-hatred, surly...why would you write a main character like that? Her interactions with her brother were awkward - he was pretty awful too - like possessive of Tom and treated Darcy like a baby? I wanted to rush through it, but then at the same time, there was no understanding behind Tom and Darcy's connection. There's little more than a sentence explaining the background of why Tom cares for her. And we definitely needed more of that side. I would say the last 10-20% was good but such a letdown from The Hating Game.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates - Wow. WOW. Wow. This was such an enlightening book. Written as a series of essays from a black father to his son about growing up living in the shadow of The Dream. I took so many screen shots while reading this of things I never thought about. I'm trying to educate myself more about racism and not being blind by my largely white world, and this was SO GOOD. 

The Whistler by John Grisham - I mean John Grisham just knows how to write a story! I don't think I've ever disliked one of this books, but I stopped reading them for a long time and have read 3 in the last year. This story is about a judicial review board who investigates allegations of corruption by judges and uncovers the largest corruption in American history. Caught my attention from the very beginning and never let up. I honestly wish it had another chapter or 2 - that's how great it was!

A largely good month of reading - still can't figure out why I was so meh toward the second half of the month. TODAY IS HAMILTON!!!!!!!!!!!!