Book Nook Cafe discussion

Here is the Folder and thread to tell us what your monthly reads for May
2023 were.

Please provide:
~ A GoodReads link
~ A few sentences telling us how you felt about the book.
~ How would you rate the book

1.) Sunkissed by Kasie West
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was cute and summer-perfect. It was entertaining and a quick read.

2.) Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare
⭐⭐⭐⭐
The story telling was good, and I actually cared about the characters. I was quite surprised at some of the plot twists in this story. This book wasn't scary, but I do hate clowns even more now 😊

3.) Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds
⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was creative and caught my attention quickly. I do find travel loops to be difficult to read, though.

4.) The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
⭐⭐⭐
I absolutely loved the movie, and had high, high hopes for the book, but they weren't met.

5.) Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney
⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was such a fun read!

6.) The Stand-In by Lily Chu
⭐⭐⭐⭐
The romance in this book is so cute.

7.) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ignoring the racist "jokes" in this book, I enjoyed this book.

8.) Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
⭐⭐⭐⭐
The world and characters were fascinating.

9.) The Summer I Fell for My Best Friend
⭐⭐⭐⭐
I could relate to the characters, which I really enjoyed.

10.) Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
⭐⭐⭐⭐
This book wasn't perfect in my eyes, but I do feel like it lives up to its hype.

Then I read the first four books in the Hannah Swensen mystery series by Joanne Fluke. I rated the first one 3 stars, and then the rest were 4 stars. These were cute cozy mysteries.

What a lengthy list of completed books, Lilli. I am no fan of clowns, either. Very early in my online life i found and reveled in https://www.ihateclowns.com/ , feeling i had found my people! 😉

Congratulations on another amazing reading month.

Lilli Gilliam wrote: "1.) Sunkissed by Kasie West
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was cute and summer-perfect. It was entertaining and a quick read. "

Congratulations on such a nice reading month, Lilli. You sure did get a lot of reading in.

Spare by Prince Harry - 4 Stars
I enjoyed this one. I've been interested in the Royal family since living over there (starting in 1997). I was in England when Princess Diana was killed, so a lot of the early part of the story was really familiar to me.


Husbands and Other Sharp Objects by Marilyn Simon Rothstein - 3 Stars
Wanted a lighter read. This one was ok. The author tried to be funny, but just wasn't able to really pull off much humor.


I Will Find You by Harlan Coben - 4 Stars
I enjoy Coben's books. This one was good, but I did see the story unraveling before it was actual revealed in the book. I was kind of expecting more of a twist at the end, but that didn't happen. Still a good, read, though.

Here are mine, where three stars mean I find the book worthwhile, but not remarkable.


Lyme Light: A Memoir by Natalie H.G. London ⭐⭐⭐

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


The Pharaoh's Shadow by Anthony Sattin ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


Why We're Polarized by Ezra Klein ⭐⭐⭐


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart ⭐⭐⭐


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


Following Ezra: What One Father Learned About Gumby, Otters, Autism, and Love From His Extraordinary Son by Tom Fields-Meyer ⭐⭐⭐⭐


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

John wrote: "Here are mine, where three stars mean I find the book worthwhile, but not remarkable.
"

Excellent reviews, John. I enjoyed reading them.

I'm going to check out Following Ezra: What One Father Learned About Gumby, Otters, Autism, and Love From His Extraordinary Son
Love the cover !

Nice month, Kim. I keep meaning to read a Harlan Coban book. Do you have a favorite ?

Here are my May reads.


Trust by Hernan Diaz
Fiction
Rate 2/5 -Did not meet my expectations.
It took me almost two painful weeks to finish, Trust by Hernan Diaz. The book is split up into four parts, A novel, an unfinished autobiography, a memoir and a journal. Unreliable narrators abound.

It's the story of a big time stock operator leading up to and including the stock market crash in 1929. Finance, wealth, misogyny, lies and greed are the main focus. That all sounds very interesting. However, the way the author chose to tell the story in these four odd parts, I just found unnecessarily confusing and it didn't add to the story, IMO. Sorry Pulitzer board !

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
Non Fiction
Rate 3 minus / 5 Just okay.
Audio Book
Narrator: Ray Porter
This audio book was free from the Audible Plus catalogue.
The book is sort of a meditation on running, triathlons and writing. I wouldn't say it's a memoir, nor is it a "how to" book. I think it can be seen as a general approach to life. It's not easy but you have to keep on keeping on. It's not profound, still I enjoyed listening to it.

I'm not a runner, but I am a daily 4-5 mile walker. I found the narrator, Ray Porter, to have a very soothing voice and the story was easy to follow, so it fit well with my walks.

The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict
Historical Fiction
Rate 4/5

Thank you, Simon, for bringing this title to my attention.

I really enjoyed this book on the Mitford sisters. I had heard the name but knew nothing of their wild story. The Mitford's were an upper class English family. They were also related to Winston Churchill. There were six girls and one boy. This book mainly focuses on Diane, Unity and Nancy during the 1930's and 1940's.

I found the format at the start with all the nicknames and characters a bit confusing so I took one star off my rating. Including photos would also have helped. But don't let that stop you from reading this fascinating book.

Nancy and Unity get caught up in Fascism and Hitler's Nazi regime. Nancy became an author.

How Diane and Unity could go so far astray is puzzling.
It seems they both only could find their own self worth through these two loathsome men, Hitler and Mosely who was the leader of the British Union of Fascists.

The novel is historical fiction but stays very close to the facts.

I made good use of the internet and YouTube while reading the novel. YouTube has some fascinating interviews and documentaries on the sisters.

~*Kim*~ wrote: "
Spare by Prince Harry - 4 Stars
I enjoyed this one. I've been interested in the Royal family since living over there (starting in 1997). I was in England when Princess Di..."

Kim, you read a variety of genres there. We’ve been watching Harlan Coben mysteries on Netflix lately. They’ve been a mixed bag, i must say.

John wrote: "Here are mine, where three stars mean I find the book worthwhile, but not remarkable.


Lyme Light: A Memoir by Natalie H.G. London ⭐⭐⭐

https://www.goodreads.com/r..."

John, i enjoyed your reviews but the Stewart was very funny & fitting for the genre.

Still, my fav is the Sattin book. Thanks for sharing about each of them.

Alias Reader wrote: "Here are my May reads.


Trust by Hernan Diaz
Fiction
Rate 2/5 -Did not meet my expectations.
It took me almost two painful weeks to finis..."

It’s a pity Trust let you down, Alias. The other two were decent, at least. Glad you shared about them.

Alias Reader wrote: "Here are my May reads.


Trust by Hernan Diaz
Fiction
Rate 2/5 -Did not meet my expectations.
It took me almost two painful weeks to finis..."

Great that you explained why some books were underwhelming. Ray Porter is a solid narrator.

Alias Reader wrote: "Nice month, Kim. I keep meaning to read a Harlan Coban book. Do you have a favorite ?"

I would say Hold Tight is my favorite so far, followed by Run Away. I've read 5 of his.

madrano wrote: "Kim, you read a variety of genres there. We’ve been watching Harlan Coben mysteries on Netflix lately. They’ve been a mixed bag, i must say."

Yea, I read a lot of different genres and like to mix it up as I go. I really can't read the same genre back to back. I know, I'm weird. LOL!

That's cool about the Netflix movies. I didn't know anything had by him had been made into a movie. I got rid of Netflix, though. With them raising prices and then the difficulty it would have been with us traveling and their new set of log in restrictions, I just figured it wasn't worth the money.

~*Kim*~ wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "Nice month, Kim. I keep meaning to read a Harlan Coban book. Do you have a favorite ?"

I would say Hold Tight is my favorite so far, followed by Run Away. I've read 5 of his..."

Thanks. I'm going to write those titles in my TBR notebook.

~*Kim*~ wrote: "That's cool about the Netflix movies. I didn't know anything had by him had been made into a movie. I got rid of Netflix, though. With them raising prices and then the difficulty it would have been with us traveling..."

I agree. As a sci-fi fan, they don’t offer enough options for me, as well. 😊

May was another good month of reading for me. It began with the Tropical Issue—Dorothy Dunnett. It is one Of a series featuring Johnson Johnson but in this novel, it “stars” Rita, a very short Scottish woman, who is a make up artist, hired by a network journalist/interviewer. There’s much humor in this one, but it’s also quite the thriller, with lives endangered and pasts revealed. I enjoyed it, and at some point in my life, i hope to resume the series.

The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America's Great Migration—Isabel Wilkerson with a recounting of what is known as the great migration of people of African American descent, moving from the Jim Crow South to northern and western cities. The book well covers the entire history, but also tells the stories of three different people—a doctor from Louisiana, who moved to California, a homemaker, who moved to the Detroit area with her husband, and laborer, who moved to New York/New Jersey, each about 10 years apart. In other readings of mine, about African-American history, this book is usually cited as a reference in the bibliography. So i’m glad i finally read it.

An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege—Heidi Ardizzone is a biography of Bella de Costa Greene, principal librarian of JP Morgan’s library. She won the position due to her vast knowledge of illuminated manuscripts, particularly from the Medieval Age, despite the fact she had no university degree. The revelation of the book is that Bella was African-American, her father being the first black to earn a degree from Harvard. Separated from his family, his wife and children began “passing” as white. There is much supposition by the author, most of which seems likely, based, as they are, on letters of the time. Interesting story about a fascinating life.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate-Jacqueline Kelly tells the story of 11-year-old Callie, who forms a solid connection to science & her grandfather, while her mom wants to prepare her for a future life in homemaking. Set in west Texas at the end of the 19th century, the author shares Callie’s joy of nature, pains of her mother’s work to teach her only daughter for the sole future she can imagine, and facts about life during those years. This is the first of a YA series, which sees Callie’s growth toward adulthood.

The Drift—C.J. Tudor tells three stories about young adults in a dystopian future, each of whom are in harrowing circumstances. Hannah’s bus has overturned in a snowstorm on its way to a training; Meg’s trials are the scariest to me, as she and her fellow passengers are stranded on a suspended cable car (with no one having a memory of how they got aboard), high above the ground; and Carter, who is in a stranded chalet. The writing engaged me, as did the circumstances. And the way Tudor pulled the stories together impressed.

Resurrection Bay—Emma Viskic is about a deaf Australian private investigator whose close friend he found murdered. It was informative to see how hearing-challenged Caleb Zellick handled the case, particularly when his limited hearing aid didn’t work. Auxiliary characters drew me in, even though i didn’t care for the story itself. I will read more in this series, particularly as PattyMac told us it’s a 5-series limited one.

At America's Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943—Erika Lee. This is a fairly comprehensive look at Chinese immigration, the first of a couple of books Lee has written on the topic. While there is some personal history related, the bulk of the book is about the discriminative treatment given immigrants from China and other Asian nations. She makes the point that the procedures used and legal processes employed to discriminate began most of what we now see & know for subsequent minorities. It is a good presentation, although in the eBook edition i used, most of the dozen or so charts used were unreadable, due to transferring from paper, i presume.

The Chosen—Chaim Potok is a coming-of-age story, set in Brooklyn, primarily during WWII. Two Jewish boys of different sects meet through a baseball accident and learn from one another, becoming friends. Potok explains aspects of the faith well, so i understood the significance of events. The more philosophical angles were thoughtfully presented, particularly for someone like me, who doesn’t like reading philosophy. One surprise for me was the fact that not all members of the faith believed Israel should be created, the difference having to do with the Messiah.

Martha Washington: An American Life—Patricia Brady. This was a satisfying look at the wife of George with good insight on her early years and first marriage. Brady succeeded in sharing more about how the vibrant Martha lifted Revolutionary spirits during each winter’s camps, as well as during the Presidency.

Undaunted: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back—Jackie Speier. Now-Representative’s account of her life, particularly her survival on the Guyana airport runway, where she was shot and suffered for around 24 hours before medical aid arrived. Covering her faith, her love life and legislative work, she presents a well organized memoir.

The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman—Margot Mifflin. In 1850, while traveling across the US in a covered wagon, intent on resettling in California, the Oatman family is massacred with 7-year-old Mary Ann and 14-year-old Olive take into captivity for one year with the Yavapais. That tribe traded them to the Mohave, who treated them as members of their group for the next four years. Sadly, Mary Ann died during a period of famine but Olive survived and was even tattooed on her arms and chin in a maturity ceremony. The book tells Olive’s history well but also facts and fiction about the two tribes. She died when in her 60s, having married a man who loved her despite the blue chin tattoo, seeing the strong and delightful person she became.

A nice varied selection of books, deb. I've read Chosen and also The Warmth of other Suns and enjoyed both very much.

Congratulations on a wonderful reading month !

Wow ... just WOW! All that in one month? Those aren't exactly beach reads. Interesting about Martha Washington, as I grew up near Morristown National Historic Park, which gets overshadowed by Valley Forge.

Alias Reader wrote: "A nice varied selection of books, deb. I've read Chosen and also The Warmth of other Suns and enjoyed both very much.

Congratulations on a wonderful reading month !"

I also read the Martha Washington book and liked it a lot. So I read 3 that you selected this May.

I agree, John. Those are some heavy reads.

John wrote: "Wow ... just WOW! All that in one month? Those aren't exactly beach reads. Interesting about Martha Washington, as I grew up near Morristown National Historic Park, which gets overshadowed by Valle..."

John, for some reason i never realized that Martha spent most of those Revolutionary winters with the Army. Brady made clear the visits were at her husband’s strong requests.

We have yet to visit the Morristown site but have it on our list for NJ. We, did, however, visit Monmouth, which was fine.

John wrote: "Wow ... just WOW! All that in one month? Those aren't exactly beach reads. Interesting about Martha Washington, as I grew up near Morristown National Historic Park, which gets overshadowed by Valle..."

Your comment had me looking at my reading, John. How did i read all those in one month? I figured out part of it. Two whoppers i began in April but only finished after taking a break as we traveled.

All the novels read rather quickly, probably because they weren’t as mind-absorbing as the NF. And we haven’t been watching much tv while in Portland, which eats up a large portion of time because we binge on mystery series!

Good question, though. It helped me realize i haven’t challenged myself with this DL because i drew from my TBR, which is full of books listed for decades. Meanwhile, due to my interest in the topics, i’ve read other books of similar info. Hence there is now plenty of rehashing. Perhaps poor decision making on my part. Looking ahead, there are fewer of those.

When I read your last post, madrano, at first I saw things with a different eye -- it struck me that you were sort of incentivizing an attack on of your TBR list ("full of books listed for decades") by using your Determination List.

Here's a question, and I'll answer it for myself first -- do books that go on your TBR (I call that my "want-to-read" list) ever come OFF your TBR list without being read? For me, the answer is almost always "no". Yes, there have been a few that have lingered on the list for such a long time that I took a fresh look and said "hmmmm, maybe I haven't read this yet because I don't really want to" but mostly not. I wonder if that is the case for you?

James wrote: "When I read your last post, madrano, at first I saw things with a different eye -- it struck me that you were sort of incentivizing an attack on of your TBR list ("full of books listed for decades"..."

James, you read my post correctly. Upon reconsidering John’s post, i came to the realization that using my TBR for fulfilling my 2023 DL completion was a mixed bag. First of all, quite a number of TBR titles were placed there because, when added, they were the only (or best) books on the topic. After years on the list, this is no longer true. Additionally, some have not crossed over to the eBook stage, which may indicate better approaches have been uncovered on the topic.

As to your question, until this year i have not deleted books from my TBR. Instead, when others on that topic are published, usually i just added it to the list. This has been one of the revelations about this year’s DL.

Now, with this in mind, i am culling that mangy list. Quite a number of titles no longer are relevant, such as those on childrearing, so off they go! And i’m past my camping days, although i won’t delete those travelogues which include camping.

Later this year, when i’m on my desktop, i’ll also weed out those with very similar themes about topics i already have a good grasp on, such as overviews of the Civil War battles. And, i need to be honest with you, i feel i am no longer interested in reading books over 700 pages unless praise has been extraordinary.

At my age, i need to be more realistic. That’s all. *sigh*

I feel your 700+ page thing for sure - for me, it's almost like I have to weigh (no pun intended) the plus/minus and decide "is this relationship one I really want to get involved with at this point?"

I also have issues with big tomes. That can be a problem for me as I like non fiction and especially biographies. I find the authors put too much minutia in to keep me interested. I don't need to know exactly what they ate for lunch or what their third cousin once removed thought. I find myself wondering, where is is the editor or are they being paid by the word ! I certainly can appreciate all the hard work and research that goes into such books. However, one needs to know what is extraneous and what is important to the topic at hand.

It’s nice to know others are wary of those Big Books, too. While i can somewhat justify NF which is lengthy, fiction tomes i cannot. In this day and age of series fiction, i’m surprised authors don’t turn to that more often. (Not that i tend to read those, either, i hasten to add.)

Here are my May reads:

The Devil’s Coming To Get Me: The Haunting of Malvern Manor by Richard Estep - 4 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Child by Angel N. Van Atta - 5 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Devil in the Darkness by Archie Roy - 3 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Murder in Mind by Cheryl Bradshaw - 4 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Inside The Devil's Nest by John Durgin - 5 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Estate Sale by Mia Dalia - 5 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Bygone Dagger by Joseph R. Lallo - 5 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Pine Lakes by Christopher Motz - 4 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

There is Nothing to Fear by David Kempf - 4 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer - 3 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Welcome to Nightmare Island by Devin Cabrera - 4 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jungle Rot by Brian G. Berry - 5 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Bigfoot Beach by Kristopher Rufty - 3 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling - 5 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Grendel's Labyrinth by Anthony M. Strong - dnf (no star rating)
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The House at the End of the Lane by Angel N. Van Atta - 5 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Not too bad this month - though I did have one dnf and one three star. Other than that a good month. :)

Great list, Marie. I agree about leaving some books unfinished and the Strong novel sounds deserving of abandonment!

Elsewhere we recently mentioned the Natalie Portman film made from the Vander Meer novel. Have you seen it? I sure am glad to learn the book was good because the movie disappointed me.

The Estep book sounds good. I like learning how paranormal investigations work.

I’m quite intrigued with Estate Sale. The idea of following items from such an event sounds fun. Thanks for that title, Marie.

Jungle Rot’s mix of sci-fi and horror are not for me but reading your comments on it were good. I like when you zero in on how a book pleases or disappoints you. Thanks for that.

How lucky that you really enjoy the Angel Van Atta series. I hope they continue to bring you hours of reading pleasure. As always, Marie, it’s great to read what you’ve been reading—thanks.

madrano wrote: "Great list, Marie. I agree about leaving some books unfinished and the Strong novel sounds deserving of abandonment!

Elsewhere we recently mentioned the Natalie Portman film made from the Vander M..."

Thank you, Deb! :)

No I haven't seen that film from the Vander Meer book but I have heard up and down reviews about it too. I have heard that the movie is better than the book and then some people say the book is better than the movie. It would be interesting to see how well it lives up to the book which would be the only reason I would want to watch it.

You might like that book Estate Sale - it is a very cool book - has a couple of timelines in it of where the people acquired certain items from the past and then how those items affected people after they acquired them from the estate sale. The book was unique as I had not read anything quite like that before. Almost had a gothic feel to it.

With the Estep book of the true haunting. If you like those kind of things - Discovery+ has tons of paranormal shows on there. Also that show Paranormal Lockdown that I mentioned in my review - actually has Estep as a guest once in awhile on their show as a paranormal consultant. So I have been watching that show more since I have been able to view his thoughts about the paranormal. :)

I must admit i liked the premise of Annihilation but the execution was slow and lacking, imo.

As one who has purchased items at Estate Sales, one of my personal pleasures is suggesting to myself the hows & whys of some items. It’s that which calls me to the novel, of course.

I read fewer paranormal books than i once did but still like hearing views on it. Thanks for the added info, Marie. I hope your June & July books are as enjoyable as most of May’s.

Marie wrote: "Here are my May reads:

The Devil’s Coming To Get Me: The Haunting of Malvern Manor by Richard Estep - 4 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/55..."


A very nice reading month indeed, Marie !

madrano wrote: "I must admit i liked the premise of Annihilation but the execution was slow and lacking, imo.

As one who has purchased items at Estate Sales, one of my personal pleasures is suggesting to myself t..."

You are welcome and thank you. :)

Alias Reader wrote: "Marie wrote: "Here are my May reads:

The Devil’s Coming To Get Me: The Haunting of Malvern Manor by Richard Estep - 4 stars.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/...

A very nice reading month indeed, Marie !"

Thank you so much, Alias! :)