Occasionally, I go through a phase where I don’t read very much. May was one of those phases for me. I read a few books at the beginning of the month, experienced a long lull where I hardly read at all, and then read a couple more books at the end. I’m hoping for better things in June.
36. How She Knows What She Knows About Yo-Yos
by Mary Ann Taylor-Hall (4/5). After reading At The Breakers, I checked this short story collection out from the library. I generally enjoyed it and have often thought about the stories since finishing them.
37. The White Tiger
by Aravind Adiga (5/5). The novel I’m working on is epistolary, and I briefly went on the hunt for other epistolary works. This hunt led me to The White Tiger, which won the Booker Prize–and deservedly so. It was a quick read and solidly entertaining (if disturbing at times). Eye-opening, too. You should read it!
38. Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood
by Maria Tatar (3.5/5). I’m waving my nerd flag, here…Maria Tatar is one of my very favorite scholars. This is a short, good but not perfect book about the importance of children’s literature.
39. The Annotated Brothers Grimm
annotated by Maria Tatar (5/5). I love fairy tales, and Grimm’s has always been my favorite. For Christmas last year Jason bought me this beautiful volume, containing some of my very favorite Grimm’s tales—complete with Maria Tatar’s enlightening annotations.
40. Quiet
by Susan Cain (4/5). You can find Jason’s review of this book here. I didn’t love it like he did, mostly because I already knew a lot of the things Cain discussed. I did, however, find her information about introverted children very interesting.
41. The City in Which I Love You
by Li-Young Lee (4.5/5). Li-Young Lee is one of my favorite poets and I loved this sensual collection. One of the poems, about listening to his wife read to his son, is especially moving. The title poem is a bit much, though. He actually writes, “A sword stands between my hips” or something of that ilk.
42. Lord of the Flies
by William Golding (5/5). I first read this book for the first time almost a decade ago, bought it, and never picked it up again. I decided to re-read it on a whim, and I was struck by how, well, morbid it is. Not just in the literal sense, but in an emotional sense as well. I found it even more disturbing now that I have children.
If you want a much lighter YA epistolary novel, you should check out the Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty (first one is Sloppy Firsts). Written in a series of diary entries, letters, and emails, it’s basically a first-hand account of what it was like to be a teenager in the early 2000s. There’s been lots of praise for the first two books in the series and for good reason.