May Reading Recap

Thirteen books in total! Here are some of my favorites.

Blood Orange – Yaffa

A powerful and heartbreaking collection of poetry written by a queer, trans, autistic, and Palestinian author, Mx. Yaffa. I encourage anyone and everyone to read this. After I finished the collection I just stared off into space.

You Exist Too Much – Zaina Arafat

Another book by a Palestinian author, this time a novel about a woman who has a Love Addiction. At times humorous, other times heartbreaking. You really feel for the unnamed character and her strained relationship with her mother. Again, I highly recommend it.

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea – Rebecca Thorne

A cute little cozy fantasy! Personally I liked this a bit more than Legends and Lattes; I especially liked the fact that the two main characters already had an established relationship and romance, which you don’t see as much in romances. 

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care – Ashley Herring Blake

Recommended to me by my friend Bonnie! It was cute! Spicier than I thought it would be, but hey, I’m not complaining! 

Ace – Angela Chen

Nonfiction! A very great read on asexuality, and also how we view relationships as a society. Highly recommend!

Our Hideous Progeny – C. E. McGill

I got this book because it was a Frankienstien retelling (or…sequel?) and sapphic. I will say the sapphic part is hinted at, but it’s still a great read. 

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store – James McBride

The only reason I read this book is because it was the last book on my Grandma’s coffee table. When my family went to visit her home to go over her assets, I saw it and assumed it was the last book she was reading before she passed. She didn’t finish it. I did. I think she would have liked it.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built – Becky Chambers

I needed a quick, cozy read to finish out May, and this was nice! I need to read more novellas. And I’ll probably read the sequel too! I love libraries.

Cantoras – Caro de Robertis

One of my TOP reads of May! Such a beautiful, beautiful novel about five lesbians living in the time of the Uruguayan dictatorship. READ IT! This is the second library audiobook I’ve borrowed that I plan on buying a copy! (The first was Penance!) Also I LOVE when authors narrate their own books.

Meeting Millie – Clare Ashton

The DNF of this month. It was…cute, but one of the main characters REALLY annoyed me. Not only her, but also the other main character’s friend, was, like, really shitty? So, yeah, just didn’t finish it. 

When We Were Magic – Sarah Gailey

I read Gailey’s novella Upright Women Wanted, and I enjoyed it a lot! And in May I read her YA novel When We Were Magic, and…I’m indifferent to it. On one hand, it felt like the second or even final book in a trilogy. Which is nice, we don’t have to spend the first few opening pages with introductions, and explanations on the group’s magic system, but in this situation it would be really nice. While I love the beginning of the accidental murder, hitting the ground running, I personally also need a bit of…maybe normalcy? Speaking of the magic system, there were some aspects that were really really cool, but there were some parts that confused me. On the other, I loved the dynamic of the friends, loved how Gailey wrote them so that you could tell they’ve been friends forever and have this special bond. And I know I talk about endings a lot, but, like the book as a whole, I am indifferent towards. These girls worked so hard to bring this boy back to life, and it just…didn’t work. It all felt like for nothing, but it also kinda makes sense, in a way; it’s like life in general. Read it yourself and tell me what you think! I would love a sequel where they try to get the things back that they lost.

Jawbone – Mónica Ojeda

Okay, I did not know this was a horror book, and that’s on me, since I picked it up because I read it was sapphic and that was it. Don’t get me wrong, it had great writing and the variety of styles shown throughout was very well done, horror just isn’t my thing! A lot of the descriptions were just…gross. Very well described, but gross. And the ending…oof. I don’t know about you, but I do prefer a happy/hopeful/optimistic ending, which I know isn’t always a guarantee regardless of genre. But the ending…oooof. However, I loved the niche pop culture references, like the creepypastas (even though I never read any as a kid, I definitely knew what they were). Would I recommend this book? Sure, if you like horror! Would I read it again? Absolutely not.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams

Not much to say about this one! A nice short audiobook  that was also read by the author! Makes me want to watch the BBC series again.