May 2019 Bookish Wrap Up

Happy End of May!

What a weird month it’s been. I don’t know about you, but it’s definitely been a weird one for me. I thought we would get a lot of reading done, but that’s a bust. I thought we would get a lot of writing done, but that feels busted too. It’s not like I sit at home doing nothing all day. Stuff gets done, but sometimes it feels like you’re always playing catch up. Is that the case for any of you?

In May, I read 10 books in total. 7 of those books are for myself and 3 were for work. As I started this month, I wanted to focus on books written by Asian American authors to celebrate Asian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month. While I knew I couldn’t dedicate my entire month to reading only Asian authors, I wanted the majority of my month to reflect that. I think I did a good job with 4/7 books I read being from Asian authors (which is more than 50% so I’m going to just be happy with that).

While I can’t talk about the books I read for work, I do know that two of them were by Asian authors as well. I want to note that, but not mention the specific titles because I can’t talk about them lol. Oh, the wonders of being a book reviewer.

My favorites of the month were most definitely With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo and Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim. Both of these books are inspired by food sharing recipes and heritage passed down by generations of cooks. They both share main characters with a passion for cooking and want to pursue it in some way.

However, you’ll get a different story from both. Elizabeth Acevedo’s book deals with a teenage mom theme, which I’ve never seen in stories before. I was so curious as to why more YA authors don’t explore this theme, but I hope With the Fire on High inspires other writers to dive into the topic. For Roselle Lim’s book, it’s more about loss and grief. I’ve read plenty of books regarding this topic, but this one seems to use it in a positive light to celebrate life instead of death.

Finally, I read Miracle Creek by Angie Kim because folks on the Internet was hyping this book up and I wanted to see what all the shouting was about. While I wasn’t completely enthralled by this read, I did find it interesting and kept my attention the entire novel. It’s definitely a great book for those who love a good courtroom drama and the secrets really keep themselves that way until the very end, which I love.

What did you read this month?