I was about to write how April has come and gone and while that's not wrong per se, it is a little late. I haven't slept well the last few days (travel! kids!) so bear with me. Anyway MAY. May has come and gone. I don't even know what I did this May. There was a lot of rain around these parts so it's fun to learn that if it rains long enough, water will just seep into the basement from various locations, and no, those locations are NOT where the water monitors are, silly.* We also learned that we have some carpenter bees who are annoyed we kicked them out of our garage and instead decided to give our deck a try. Except a woodpecker saw this and wanted to help us get rid of them. Now I have a post just FULL of holes. Thanks, nature. I'm sure the deck was way better than the 100s of trees you could have chosen.
Homeownership has lots of little joys.
Let's talk reading. I feel like I had some trouble finding a reading groove this month. A few starts and stops here but still managed about my usual so I guess, what do I know?
Total books read
4
The Eye of Zoltar by Jasper Fforde
I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley
* I also started All The Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Hartman but I think there was something about the timing but it wasn't the right book for me at the time so I just sent it back to the library. The hold line was too long so may as well let the next person have it.
The Eye of Zoltar by Jasper Fforde
Back to the UnUnited Kingdom and back with our hero Jennifer Strange. This time she and a motley crew (wizards! body-switched Princess! body guard! a rubber dragon! and more!) are on a Quest through the Cambrian Empire to find a mystical item, the Eye of Zoltar, which may or may not exist. It's a dangerous undertaking (50% fatality index) but The Mighty Shandar has tasked Jennifer with finding the item or he'll kill the last remaining dragons. A different feel than the other Kazam Chronicles books, but in a good way. The stakes are higher in each book, the losses greater and did I cry a few times? Yes, yes I did. This one felt a little less whimsical, a little less satirical than the others but the more I think about it the more I think I might like it the best out of this series so far? Or at least right up there with the first one.
Rating: 4.25 stars
I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong
Science! A look at the worlds we carry around inside us/on us/all around us in the form of our microbiome and how important these microscopic partners are. Some history in how science has come to understand the microbes around us (and all there is still to learn), all suited for a mass audience. Maybe not quite as funny as something by Bryson or Roach but in that realm. The book was very interesting though TBF, I did have some trouble zoning out from time to time (perhaps more of a risk when listening to an audiobook vs reading).
Rating: 4 stars
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
I was looking for a book I could really just fall into and wanted something proven. And what luck, there was an available copy of this at the library. Did it hold up on a re-read? Yes and then some. Loved it so much even knowing what was coming. Ove is a grumpy man who patrols his neighborhood looking for infractions (do people ask him to do this? no.) His wife recently passed away and he's been forced into retirement so, feeling he has nothing left to live for, he decides perhaps the best decision is to join his wife. Except he keeps getting interrupted by neighbors and pulled into helping them (What kind of person doesn't know how to back up a trailer properly??) that his own plans keep getting pushed off. Despite a depressing(ish) premise the book is funny and I still found myself laughing as much as crying (cos whew were there also tears).
Rating: 5 stars
Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley
OK first up, I could not say the title of this book without really stopping to think about it. Go too fast, and I either said "Jane and Dane" or "Jan and Dan". Those names are too similar to not rhyme, why are you doing this to me??
Anyway, the story itself. Jane and Dan are going through a bit of a rough patch in their almost 20 year marriage. Jane especially feels unmoored and unfulfilled in her life as a mother to 2 teens and a less-than-stellar writing career, and also Dan is probably cheating on her. Dan wins reservations (not dinner, just the reservation) to a fancy-pants restaurant and Jane decides this is probably the best time to ask for a divorce. Except dinner is interrupted by a terrorist group who takes everyone hostage in what seems like a scene from a movie. Or a scene from Jane's one-and-only books (that only sold a few hundred copies so how did these guys find out about it?). Can the couple make it out of this with their lives and maybe even marriage intact? There are thriller elements but with an undercutting of humor throughout and the chapters jump between Jane and Dan trying to figure out how to get out of this without dissolving into bickering.
Rating: 4 stars
Total pages read
1,474
Fiction
75%
Female authors
25%
BIPOC authors
25%
US authors
25%
Translation
25%
Reread
25%
Format
audiobook: 75%
ebook: 25%
Where'd I get the book
library: 75%
Kindle/Audible: 25%
Decades published
2010s: 75%
2020s: 25%
Resolution books
100%
The Eye of Zoltar is by a Welsh author
I Contain Multitudes is by a Malaysian author
A Man Called Ove is by a Swedish author and is a translation
*Because it's been mentioned to me multiple times, we do have a sump pump. A bone-dry sump pump because that is ALSO not a location where the leaks/seepage points are.
