Best of the Bunch (May 2023)

Today I'm sharing the best book I read in May.

This was a better reading month than I'd had in a while! I only read 6 books this month, but I had three 5-star reads.

Snapdragon by Kat Leyh

Positive by Paige Rawl

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Two of these are rereads of favorites, so the third is my Best of the Bunch for this month!

This is a beautiful essay collection that has earned its stellar reputation. Kimmerer, who is both a scientist and an indigenous woman, shows how traditional ways of knowing are not at odds with science; the two actually complement and reinforce one another. I appreciate how, in one essay, she distinguishes between the scientific method and the scientific worldview; one uses the tools of science to collect evidence on what indigenous peoples have known for generations, while the other rejects the idea that there could be anything valuable there to study in the first place. Although she ably narrates the audiobook, I think I would have preferred this in print; each essay prompts the reader to pause and reflect, which is difficult when one essay leads immediately into another in your ears. This is a lengthy collection and thus an investment of time, but it's well worth it.

What is the best book you read this month? Let me know in comments, or write your own post and link up below!

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Let Your Life Speak, Sleep Smarter, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, and Thirteen Clues for Miss Marple
Five years ago I was reading: Castle of Wizardry and Disunity in Christ
Ten years ago I was reading: How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, Marcelo in the Real World, and At Home

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What I've Been Reading Lately (Quick Lit)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

It was another light reading month for me. I've been spending more time listening to line dance music than my current audiobook, and I've been busier than usual with the people in my life. I've also been reading some longer books that took some motivation to get through. Here are the four books I finished in the past month.

The Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey: This was a silly and quick read with my 8-year-old that motivated them to want to read with me in the evening. We have a hold on the next two books in the series!

The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee: It took me a while to get through this one — it's a bit longer and more meandering than it needs to be — but I enjoyed it. I don't know if I'd recommend this if you haven't read the first two, but if you have, definitely pick this one up!

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell: This got good right before the halfway point (as I was considering DNFing it), which is honestly way too far into a 500+ page book. The world-building was good and the romance was cute, but the book overall wasn't good enough to justify the time spent reading it.

Scythe by Neal Shusterman: I really liked the concept behind this and enjoyed seeing how philosophical dilemmas played out within the world. Unfortunately, it just took me a really long time to get through. The characters didn't come alive for me, and there was a completely unnecessary romance shoehorned in, and at times the plot moved so rapidly that it felt like explanations were being thrown at us just to paper over potential plot holes.

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: We Keep the Dead Close, Star-Crossed, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, and Paradise of the Blind
Five years ago I was reading: A Soldier of the Great War, Half the Sky, and Poirot's Early Cases
Ten years ago I was reading: The Hidden Brain, Does Jesus Really Love Me?, and The Homecoming of Samuel Lake

The First Ten Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

This week we're randomly selecting some books from our own shelves to talk about! Here are ten that I randomly pointed to with my eyes closed :)

1. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
This book was instrumental in changing my own choices about food, which earned it a place in my personal library.

2. The Belgariad Volume One by David Eddings
My middle school paperbacks of the original series were battered and taking up a lot of space, so I got the new combined volumes, and I actually like them better for how they represent the story arcs within the series.

3. Greenglass House by Kate Milford
A friend who shares my love of The Mysterious Benedict Society recommended this series to me, and I liked them enough to buy the first two books for my kids to read.

4. Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber
Bolz-Weber speaks to my heart as a conflicted still-Christian, and I love having her uneasy combination of misanthropy, cussing, and deep faith on my bookshelf.

5. Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories Volume II by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I read through these two volumes in high school, and while Conan Doyle can't come near my love for Christie, I still appreciate these classic mysteries.

6. Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee
This book is in the small category of representations of asexuality I actually liked, and it's also just an excellent, engaging YA story with an authentically diverse cast of characters.

7. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
This is actually my least favorite of Green's books, but I got the hardcovers of almost all of his books as they were released, so I have a good section of my bookshelf that's just John Green books. (Ironically, I don't have The Anthropocene Reviewed, which might be my favorite of his works, nor do I have his brother Hank Green's duology, which I liked better than any of John's books!)

8. The Whole Life Adoption Book by Jayne E. Schooler and Thomas C. Atwood
I think this is the only adoption book I chose to keep out of the slew of them I read for my two kids' adoptions. Whereas most books focus on the adoption process itself and/or dealing with kids healing from major trauma in the first few years after adoption, this was a comprehensive look at how adoption affects kids throughout their life (as the title implies), regardless of the type of adoption that brought them into your family.

9. The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin
This is another one I read and then saved for my kids' shelf. It's a cute chapter book based on the author's own experience in grade school. I tried it with my older one a few years ago and they weren't super keen on it, but I'm hanging onto it for now.

10. You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P! by Alex Gino
This is one of the few books on my bookshelf that I haven't read! I've loved several of Gino's other books and I was interested in the Deaf representation in this book after I started learning ASL, but I haven't yet picked it up.

Have you read any of these?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: The Time Machine, Atomic Habits, and Thy Queendom Come
Five years ago I was reading: Magician's Gambit and America's Public Schools
Ten years ago I was reading: American Gods and Basic Black