May Reading 2023

May was another great reading month for me. That is mainly because I took two trips.

The first one was in early May to Branson, MO, with my husband and daughter. They had a work conference and I tagged along. That means I spent a lot of time just sitting at the hotel reading.

My second trip was to Oregon the week of Memorial Day. We visited my parents and spent a few days at the beach.

At the beach, my husband and I did a lot of reading with the Pacific Ocean as our view. We also visited a couple of beach bookstores, including Cannon Beach Book Company.

I ended up reading nine books in May. It was heavy on fiction books, but I always tend to read a lot of fiction on vacation.

May Reading

Click on the title of the book for the full review and more details about what I liked and didn’t like about each book.

Fiction

The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry. I loved this book! I think it is historical fiction at its best.

The Plot Twist by Bethany Turner. This was a quick and easy, clean romance read. It made for a good summer read.

The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray. This is what I would describe as a fan fiction type of book. It takes some of the characters from various Jane Austen novels and brings them together for a house party. This was a quick read that I enjoyed, but I have mixed thoughts overall on it.

For Those Who Are Lost by Julia Bryan Thomas. This would make a great book club book. I didn’t love one of the main characters in the book, but there is so much to discuss in this one.

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood. This was another fun vacation read. I know a lot of people read mystery books in the fall, but I tend to read them in the summer. I like them when I want easy reads that are not romance type of books.

The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher. This backlist book from the 1980s made for a great vacation read. The beach is the perfect setting for a book called The Shell Seekers. This is the third book by Rosamunde Pilcher that I have read. I am pretty sure that I will eventually read all her books. I love her writing.

Nonfiction

The Wage by David Grann. I enjoyed this book. It was not as narrative nonfiction as Killers of the Flower Moon, but it was still a great book.

A lot of people that love David Grann’s writing are comparing this book to his book Killers of the Flower Moon. I don’t think that is a fair comparison.

Yes, they are by the same author, but The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon are two totally different subjects. That makes them very different books with different types of writing. If you realize that going in I think you will enjoy this book more.

Waxing On by Ralph Macchio. If you grew up in the 1980s watching The Karate Kid movie I think you will enjoy this one. I listened to it on audio because Ralph Macchio narrates it. It was great on audio. I told my husband that he needs to listen to the audiobook of this one.

Christian Nonfiction

Seasons of Sorrow by Tim Challies. I am going to share more about this in a Sunday Reading post soon, but this was a five star read for me. It will be one of my favorite books of year, at least when it comes to Christian books. It is so well done.