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May is dawning very gray and rainy here in New England. Perfect reading weather! What is keeping your mind busy this month?

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, Vol. 8 by Waco Ioka

I just finished The Lighthouse duet by Carol Berg (Flesh and Spirit & Breath and Bone) - so good. I dropped into a 13-year old discussion post about this series because I just had to gush!

Now I am on to Not Seeing Is A Flower by Erhu Kome. This novella made the short list for the 2022 Nommo Awards, which recognize works of speculative fiction by Africans.

I usually read one physical book and listen to another one a the same time. So, the audiobook I've got queued up is Weyward by Emilia Hart. Witchy, feminist, magical, historical fiction, anyone?

My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's Manga, Vol. 4 by Matsuri Akai

Cloak of Masks by Jonathan Moeller

I had a lot of half-read books going into May so I've already finished:
The Echo Wife - compact sci-fi with a solid "what if?" plot,
Tress of the Emerald Sea - a fun cosmere story that reads like a grownup's Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians,
She Who Became the Sun - impressive fantasy debut that's light on magic and big on history and character,
Half Sick of Shadows - a retelling of the story of Elaine, Lady of Shallot, that I ended up loving for its focus on choice and agency, and
Music Theory 101 - a reference for helping my violin lessons.

Otherwise, I'm making my way through The Unkindest Tide and The Lost Metal, while my book club is about to start Leviathan Wakes. In non-fiction, I'm slowly working through The Thyroid Solution (Third Edition) and The Women with Silver Wings, which is so far a fantastic history of the WASPs.

Reading books with 600+ pages definitely slows me down! So far I’ve read Tetrarch: A Tale Of The Three Worlds by Ian Irvine, 7/10, and a quick Leaphorn & Chee mystery by Tony Hillerman called Sacred Clowns, 8/10.

Next I’m diving into another 600+ page tome, Shadowplay by Tad Williams for another group discussion here at ŷ������, and then I will start Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks for this group’s SF BotM discussion. I may put a quick read between those two so I don’t feel like every book is a door stopper!

I keep track of how many pages I read as well as how many books.

Mary wrote: "I keep track of how many pages I read as well as how many books."

That’s a good idea! I might have to incorporate that in my tracking next year.

Practical Exercise by George Phillies

Finished Foundation.
As good as I remember it

Started Furious Gulf

I just realized we're two weeks into May and I haven't shared my reads for the month yet. Right at the end of April I read The Bear and the Serpent by Adrian Tchaikovsky to continue the Echoes of the Fall trilogy that we started a while ago.

Next was some nonfiction, Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality, which I found fascinating. The animal world is way more queer than I knew! It would be a great read for Pride month in June if anyone is looking for a themed read :)

A few days ago I finished The Year of the Flood for the group series read, and am looking forward to discussing it with you all.

Now I'm on Network Effect for my Murderbot fix.

Babylon Black by Kit Sun Cheah

Network Effect is the first full-length Murderbot novel and I'm pleased to report that I found it just as much fun as the novellas! Murderbot just gets more and more lovable, and in this one we get reunited with ART and some of Murderbot's favorite humans.

I am now starting The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix for another group. So far so good! I also just started reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to my 8-year-old. It is SO much fun to introduce my kiddos to my own childhood favorites :)

Shel wrote: "I also just started reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to my 8-year-old"

The The Chronicles of Narnia are a family tradition for me as well! My parents read them to me, I read them to my littles (when they were still little), and my now-16yo daughter still returns to the audiobooks for a comfort listen. The magic of the wardrobe will always stay with me, and all those amazing creatures, and the stories of loyalty, friendship, and adventure, where children were heroes!

I've heard so many amazing things about All Systems Red and the Murderbot series. It's been on my TBR forever!

Currently making my way through Leviathan Wakes. My days have been long lately so I've had a harder time sitting down with it in the evenings, but I am enjoying it so far - just a little tough to get into it when I only read a few pages at a time. I need to prioritize my evening reading!

Also reading Radical Candor for personal development - an approach to management that emphasizes "caring deeply and challenging directly." Lots of silicon valley name-dropping, but I'm finding it really accessible and helpful.

Recently finished Immortality: A Love Story, the second in a duology, and while I enjoyed it, I liked the prequel Anatomy far more. Gothic, historical fantasy-fiction with a hint of the paranormal and a fantastic, strong female MC.

Also just finished Amanda Gorman's book of poetry, Call Us What We Carry, and loved it. My review is here.

Graphic novels featured heavily for me in May as well: Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons #2, Saga, and After the Rain by Nnedi Okorafor.

Cupcake Girls: Part 5 of The Vixen War Bride Series by Thomas Doscher

Which, despite the title, is military SF

I finished Shadowplay by Tad Williams, 8/10. Williams revels in detail and it can almost bog down the story, which is why I gave this book an 8 instead of a 9. The story itself continues to be complex and layered, with surprises galore. I found myself caring about many of the characters, cheering their victories and holding my breath through their setbacks and dangers. They have their flaws and weaknesses but strengths and depths as well. I must admit still being unable to warm up to Barrick—such a whiny fellow—although he does keep going despite his woe and despair. A fellow reader commented, ”Our characters [are] still all over the world and bad things are happening.�� That pretty well sums it up.

Then a very quick SF book called Flyer by Gail Kimberly, 5/10. A simple fable, quite predictable.

Last night I finished Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks, 10/10. Comments in our BotM topic thread for this book.

Halfway through The Fallen Man by Tony Hillerman, and then I’ll tackle The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood for our series read.

By a Silver Thread by Rachel Aaron

The Fallen Manby Tony Hillerman, 6.5/10. Joe Leaphorn, now retired, is drawn into a case that he had previously investigated while part of the Navajo Tribal Police. Jim Chee, now acting Lieutenant, is also involved in this case. What I liked: Hillerman’s descriptions of the landscapes, weather, and people of the Four Corners region are so evocative. Leaphorn and Chee, so different from each other, are great characters, and their supporting cast is fleshed out enough to make them real. Officer Bernadette Manuelito is a great addition. So why only 3 stars? Possible spoilers��. (view spoiler)[Leaphorn’s maybe-romantic interest from the previous book is not mentioned. And Janet Pete, Chee’s fiancé, is turning out to be another Mary Landon, only yuckier (hanging out with the man she said misled and mistreated her? Really?). But the main reason is that, even after rereading it several times, I still don’t quite understand the sequence of events that led to Hal Breedlove’s death and who, if anyone besides Eldon Demott, was involved. (hide spoiler)]

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, 10/10. Comments in our Series discussion topic thread.

Starting June with a return to the Shadowmarch series by Tad Williams—book 3 is called Shadowrise.