May Reading

At first glance, it looks like I didn’t read much this month, only four books (and one of those I’m not going to write about here, but on my other blog because it’s a fitness-related book).  The thing is, one of those books, the fitness one, took approximately forever to wade through, so it feels like a real accomplishment.

 

I read one other nonfiction book, Live Nude Girl, by Kathleen Rooney.  It’s a memoir about her experience as an artist model.  At first, I found the writing very self-conscious and possibly overly literary, but the later parts of the book grew on me.  The process of modeling makes the model both subject and object at the same time, which is a rich place to explore lots of topics in art, feminism, cognition, etc.  I read it as research (no, I’m not becoming an art model; just writing about one), but it was generally interesting, too.

 

One of my kids gave me Jordan Ifueko’s book, Raybearer, for my birthday.  It is a tense and gripping YA novel set in a fantasy world based loosely in West African culture.  We need more books like this.  The characters are engaging, imperfect humans who have lots to overcome and it’s a great ride.  Two thumbs up.

 

My other kid gave me Kondo and Kezumi Visit Giant Island for Mother’s Day.  It is a book about exploration, friendship, and dealing with feelings, which could have been boring and preachy, but instead was fun and moving.  The illustrations are clever and funny, complementing the text.

 

Spring Total:  31 books

2021 Total to Date:  31 books

 

On to summer reading!