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I have no idea how I managed to devour six books last month, given how crazy the month of May always is, but Josh made sure I spent plenty of time resting and I had a huge stack of books at the ready. We’re headed to the beach very soon and I’m hoping to read even more books in June than I did in May. My stack is a little atypical of my normal summer reading, but I have several that I’m really excited to tackle. I’m sure there will be at least one bookstore run during our two week stay, so if there is something amazing you’ve read in the last few weeks, please let me know in the comments!
15. EXPECTING BETTER by Emily Oster
★★★★★ | Self-Help + Pregnancy
Pregnancy—unquestionably one of the most profound, meaningful experiences of adulthood—can reduce otherwise intelligent women to, well, babies. Pregnant women are told to avoid cold cuts, sushi, alcohol, and coffee without ever being told why these are forbidden. Rules for prenatal testing are similarly unexplained. Moms-to-be desperately want a resource that empowers them to make their own right choices. When award-winning economist Emily Oster was a mom-to-be herself, she evaluated the data behind the accepted rules of pregnancy, and discovered that most are often misguided and some are just flat-out wrong. Debunking myths and explaining everything from the real effects of caffeine to the surprising dangers of gardening, Expecting Bettering is the book for every pregnant woman who wants to enjoy a healthy and relaxed pregnancy—and the occasional glass of wine.
I remember when I was first pregnant with Ella, wanted to read every pregnancy related book I could get my hands on, because I knew nothing. Josh still kids me about how I would read something and immediately say, “Oh yeah, that’s exactly what I’m feeling.” It got to be a running joke that he didn’t want me to read anything else about having babies because I was projecting all of the symptoms. My opinion on that differs slightly — I’ll let him judge and comment the next time he’s “with child,” but I completely understand where he’s coming from. With Sophie, I mostly read memoir style books and less self-help and was remarkably more relaxed. I didn’t really intend to read any pregnancy books this time around, but I was browsing a pregnancy board on Reddit one night and several people were talking about how great this one is. It gives great statistical information about all of the things your OB warns about and allows you to make informed decisions on your own. It didn’t really cause me to change my mind about anything, but it did make me much more confident in a few of the decisions I had already made. I downloaded this one for the Kindle app, which made it easy to jump around using chapter marks. I skipped over the first few chapters (about getting pregnant and the first few weeks), since they weren’t relevant to me — I love how you can use this one more as a resource guide than having to read it straight through. It is more technical in nature, so if you’re looking for an easy read, this might not be for you!
16. THAT KIND OF MOTHER by Rumaan Alam
★★★★☆ | Contemporary Fiction (audiobook)
Like many first-time mothers, Rebecca Stone finds herself both deeply in love with her newborn son and deeply overwhelmed. Struggling to juggle the demands of motherhood with her own aspirations and feeling utterly alone in the process, she reaches out to the only person at the hospital who offers her any real help—Priscilla Johnson—and begs her to come home with them as her son’s nanny. Priscilla’s presence quickly does as much to shake up Rebecca’s perception of the world as it does to stabilize her life. Rebecca is white, and Priscilla is black, and through their relationship, Rebecca finds herself confronting, for the first time, the blind spots of her own privilege. She feels profoundly connected to the woman who essentially taught her what it means to be a mother. When Priscilla dies unexpectedly in childbirth, Rebecca steps forward to adopt the baby. But she is unprepared for what it means to be a white mother with a black son. As she soon learns, navigating motherhood for her is a matter of learning how to raise two children whom she loves with equal ferocity, but whom the world is determined to treat differently. Written with the warmth and psychological acuity that defined his debut, Rumaan Alam has crafted a remarkable novel about the lives we choose, and the lives that are chosen for us.
I saw this book mentioned by three Instagrammers within days of each other and since I was looking for something new to read, I quickly added it to my Audible queue. I’m well documented on loving complicated family stories and this one lives up to all of the hype. There were a few slow chapters for me right in the middle of the book, but almost as soon as I noticed the change of pace, there was a new story arch that immediately caught my attention. This is my favorite kind of book — sweet, complicated, character driven, timely. I definitely recommend adding it to your TBR list for June!
17. THE PERFECT MOTHER by Aimee Molloy
★★★☆☆ | Thriller
They call themselves the May Mothers—a group of new moms whose babies were born in the same month. Twice a week, they get together in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for some much-needed adult time. When the women go out for drinks at the hip neighborhood bar,they are looking for a fun break from their daily routine. But on this hot Fourth of July night, something goes terrifyingly wrong: one of the babies is taken from his crib. Winnie, a single mom, was reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with a babysitter, but her fellow May Mothers insisted everything would be fine. Now he is missing. What follows is a heart-pounding race to find Midas, during which secrets are exposed, marriages are tested, and friendships are destroyed. Thirteen days. An unexpected twist.
This was the latest thriller to arrive on my doorstep, thanks to Book of the Month Club. Part of me wanted to save it for the beach (because thrillers are my favorite summertime indulgence), but I picked it up over the weekend and couldn’t put it down! I loved that this one centered around infants and new mothers — give me all the relevant reading right now — and there were just enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. There are an abundance of characters and the story is told from their alternating perspectives — a tool that is probably overused, but I’m still a huge fan. I loved that this one wasn’t far-fetched, but still kept me guessing until the very end.
18. MANIAC MAGEE by Jerry Spinelli
★★★★☆ | Middle Grade Fiction
Jeffrey Lionel “Maniac” Magee might have lived a normal life if a freak accident hadn’t made him an orphan. After living with his unhappy and uptight aunt and uncle for eight years, he decides to run–and not just run away, but run. This is where the myth of Maniac Magee begins, as he changes the lives of a racially divided small town with his amazing and legendary feats.
This was on Ella’s summer reading list and since one of my reading goals was to read more middle grade/YA fiction, I decided to hurry through it before I handed it over. I was able to read it in a single afternoon (one of my favorite things about children’s literature!) and she finished it up the very next day. Maniac Magee was originally published in 1990, so I can’t believe I never read it when I was Ella’s age. It deals with so many topics relevant to today’s climate — orphan/foster care, race relations, and alcoholism to name a few — as well as dealing with difficult friendships, the loss of family, and the death of a close friend. This was a great conversation starter and I’m looking forward to seeing how Ella’s essay and other projects surrounding this text turn out. If you haven’t already read this one, I highly recommend it!
19. THEN SHE WAS GONE by Lisa Jewell
★★★★☆ | Thriller
Ellie Mack was the perfect daughter. She was fifteen, the youngest of three. She was beloved by her parents, friends, and teachers. She and her boyfriend made a teenaged golden couple. She was days away from an idyllic post-exams summer vacation, with her whole life ahead of her. And then she was gone. Now, her mother Laurel Mack is trying to put her life back together. It’s been ten years since her daughter disappeared, seven years since her marriage ended, and only months since the last clue in Ellie’s case was unearthed. So when she meets an unexpectedly charming man in a café, no one is more surprised than Laurel at how quickly their flirtation develops into something deeper. Before she knows it, she’s meeting Floyd’s daughters—and his youngest, Poppy, takes Laurel’s breath away. Because looking at Poppy is like looking at Ellie. And now, the unanswered questions she’s tried so hard to put to rest begin to haunt Laurel anew. Where did Ellie go? Did she really run away from home, as the police have long suspected, or was there a more sinister reason for her disappearance? Who is Floyd, really? And why does his daughter remind Laurel so viscerally of her own missing girl?
I tried reading another novel from Jewell a few years ago and it was relocated to my “abandoned” pile. I’m not sure what made this one so much different, but it was one of my favorite recent reads in the thriller category. I’ll admit to suspecting the main plot point pretty early in the book, but that didn’t take away from anything that happened after that realization. You will love Ellie’s family and feel a huge kinship with her mom, as she attempts to piece together what happened. On the flip side, the villain(s) are perfectly creepy and so well developed — your mouth will be open the entire time!
20. THE ROYAL WE by Heather Cocks + Jessica Morgan
★★★★☆ | Chick Lit (audiobook)
American Bex Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister Lacey was always the romantic, the one who daydreamed of being a princess. But it’s adventure-seeking Bex who goes to Oxford and meets dreamy Nick across the hall – and Bex who finds herself accidentally in love with the heir to the British throne. Nick is wonderful, but he comes with unimaginable baggage: a complicated family, hysterical tabloids tracking his every move, and a public that expected its future king to marry a Brit. On the eve of the most talked-about wedding of the century, Bex looks back on how much she’s had to give up for true love… and exactly whose heart she may yet have to break.
Confession: I might not be as royally obsessed as most, but I did enjoy the Royal Wedding with my girls and consumed so many news stories in the days after. I had seen this book on Instagram a few summers ago and, at the time, it didn’t really appeal to me. In the void left behind after Meghan’s big day, however, I decided to burn an Audible credit on this one and I’m so glad I did! It’s cute, funny, and perfectly light-hearted — the perfect summer indulgence.
BOOKS I ABANDONED IN MAY
LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders
February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body. From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul.
This one falls into the same category as Underground Railroad for me — it gets all the praise on the internet, but I could not get into it. I downloaded the audio version of this book, when I knew I would be in the car for several hours, thinking if I could get far enough into the story that there would be enough to captivate me. One of the highest praises I hear is that the characters are read by actors and other newsworthy people, but the sheer number of people reading made it even more difficult for me to follow along. Maybe this is one of those that you should read in hard-copy first and then enjoy how amazing it sounds after you already know what’s going on, but this was a total fail for me.
You know I didn’t set any numerical reading goals for this year, but I still plan to track my numbers, much like I did in 2017.
Total number of books in May: six
Number of fiction books in May: five
Number of nonfiction books in May: one
Number of audiobooks in May: two
Total number of books this year: twenty
Favorite book of 2018: An American Marriage
Currently reading/listening to: Glow Kids
Rachel and I are so excited for you to join us this month, for the fifth edition of the Book by Book Link Party! The first week of each month, we’ll share our reading recap from the previous month, along with a linky widget where you can share your own post(s). The widget will be open for the entire month, so feel free to add as many posts as you’d like until the next round begins. Share your reviews, reading roundup posts, gift guides for readers, or anything else book related. Share with your friends and tag us on Instagram — let’s grow another link up together this year.
Want bonus points for reading something outside of your comfort zone? Here is a list of Collaboreads-style reading prompts, just for you!
