It's May! Which has been a crazy month. Weather-wise in my neck of the woods I feel like we've had ALL the seasons, sometimes back-to-back (97 one day, 41 the next), though it seems to be ending on a nicer note. The way-less-small-by-the-day one (aka Matthew) had baseball this month which is adorable to watch, we had a quick long weekend up in Toronto which was a lot of fun, and just in general getting ready for the summer and vacations, which I am HERE for.
Reading was a bit slower this month. I had a harder time focusing on a book and really getting into something. Perhaps June will be more successful (though as I look at past reading trackers, no, probably not.)
To the stats? TO THE STATS!
Total books read
4
Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want To Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes by Jessica Pan
Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke
Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman
Sucker Punch: Essays by Scaachi Koul
Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want To Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes by Jessica Pan
Jessica was lonely. She was living in London with her husband but none of her friends lived nearby. And how do you make friends as an adult, especially if you are a shy introvert (shintrovert)? Pan decides, after hitting rock bottom during a gym weight loss contest, she needs to make changes in her life and that means saying yes more often, like an extrovert would. The book is a series of challenges she gives herself, with the help of various experts, so she can learn to talk to strangers, go beyond small talk to connect, make friends while traveling alone, even do stand-up comedy and host a dinner party. This book called to me from a very tiny bookstore shelf (The bookstore was tiny. The shelf was average size. Tall, even.) Pan's stories (each chapter functionally stands alone, though it is roughly chronological) are funny and sometimes cringe and yes, I feel like I saw (see?) a lot of myself in her worries both about loneliness as well as the things she had to push herself to overcome.
Rating: 4.3 stars
Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke
This book is a little difficult to explain. The entire story is told through Slack chats. Including those of main character Gerald, who somehow gets stuck inside Slack (his mind is anyway, his body is still at home). His bosses don't seem to mind his extended "work from home" time since his productivity is great. This isn't just Gerald's story though, and we get Slack chapters from several different co-workers who are dealing with a PR crisis (they are a PR firm after all) involving poisoned Pomeranians from a dog food client. The book is absurd satire and I did listen to this vs reading, which I don't know how much that affected things (there are multiple people who talk primarily in emojis which is interesting in an audiobook. not that it didn't work but would love to see those chapters). It's a little gimmicky but I enjoyed (even if there is one point near the end that is a bit...eeeeehhhh but it's spoilery so I won't say more here).
Rating: 3.8 stars
Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman
Three friends spend the summer after high school in Greece but after The Incident(TM), only two friends come home, their lives changed. Ten years later, the two surviving girls, Bess & Joni, come together again. The book is from the POV of Bess, who always felt like a bit of an outsider, even among their small friend group. The story jumps back and forth between present day, when the other friend Joni is wrapped up in a new potential crime and flashbacks to the past. There is some inspiration from Amanda Knox* (teen girls accused of a crime and their personal lives torn apart in the press), though not exactly the same. Bess and Joni are unlikable which would be fine if they were also interesting but unfortunately that wasn't always the case. I also had my own personal pet peeve where the character, in a 1st person story, is keeping stuff from the reader with no clear reason to do so (e.g., it's first person but it's via letters where they may have reason to hide details) except that the author is trying to build tension. There were times I did enjoy the story, mostly towards the end, and it's too bad more of the story didn't keep up that level
Rating: 3.2 stars
Sucker Punch: Essays by Scaachi Koul
I am a fan of the podcast Scamfluencers of which Koul is one of the hosts. I've also read an earlier book of hers, One Day We'll All Be Dead And None Of This Will Matter, that I remember liking well enough. So when on the pod she mentioned a new book about her divorce, I checked the library and low-and-behold, there was an audiobook version ready to be borrowed! This is a collection of personal essays about her divorce, yes, but also family, love, fighting and even reflecting on some of what she wrote in her previous book (where she talks about her happy with relationship with her soon to be husband and as we now know ex-husband) and what it means to live so much of your life in the public sphere of some kind. The essays build on each other though in general are stand-alone pieces, dealing with her divorce in varies degrees. The essays probably could have benefitted from being a bit further removed from the divorce but perhaps there will be a follow up collection. They are at times funny and raw and I liked listening to Koul read them on the audiobook. And I may go back and revisit her other book.
Rating: 3.7 stars
I also started Best Offer Wins which I think I would enjoy but it wasn't the right time for it so alas, perhaps I'll get back at the end of the library queue and try again in about 5 months when it becomes available again.
Total pages read
1,186
Fiction
50%
Female authors
75%
US authors
75%
BIPOC authors
50%
Book club pick
25%
Format
audiobook: 75%
paperback: 25%
Where'd I get the book
library: 75%
indie: 25%
Decade published
2010s: 25%
2020s: 75%
Resolution books
50%
Sorry I'm Late is by an Asian author
Sucker Punch is by an Asian-Canadian author
*Fun fact or like, probably not fun but anyway. I did a semester abroad in the same town (Perugia) that the Amanda Knox stuff happened. Except luckily I was there before it happened (though unfortunately a friend was there at the same time, partially on my reco for how GREAT it was, and her experience with the town was...a bit different from mine.)
