What I Read in May (and a little bit of April...)

I wrote my April reading recap before the month ended, you know because it was World Book Day. It was just right there, had to do it. So today I'm talking about everything I read after that post and in May. I mentioned that I discovered the library app for ebooks and I have essentially turned into a real life version of Belle, with my nose literally always in a book. It's too easy, I have them right there in front of me! I'm also linking up for Show Us Your Books this month! I haven't figured out a catchy way to give my rankings, so I guess I'll just go with stars for now. Maybe baseballs? Is that cheesy? It feels cheesy.

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The Other Einstein: I honestly didn't even know Einstein was married before I read this book. I really identified with the main character and watched her as she kind of lost herself in her marriage. (Not that I've lost myself in a marriage, obviously, just a pretty substantial fear I have as an Aquarius.) This one kind of broke my heart and mended it again. I loved the undertone of strong female friendships in there, I give it all five stars. I would definitely recommend it.

The Little Paris Bookshop: This one has been in my "books you might like" suggestion forEVER. My mom even told me to read it. Y'all. It should have ended about 80 pages before it did. It was heartbreaking several times over and that was really uncalled for. Like, every time you think "okay, things are looking up" they stop looking up. I almost quit several times because it kept happening. I really did like the arch of the book barge and the writer that the main character ends up basically adopting. There was just too much to this book. It would have been 5 stars if it had ended sooner than it did. Overall, I give it 3 stars.

Poirot Investigates: I mentioned that I've decided I'm just going to read all of the Hercule Poirot stories, and aside from reading the Murder on the Orient Express out of order, I'm reading them all in order. This is the third of the Poirot novels, and it's a fun collection of Hastings being a sidekick. I really love Hastings's character in these series, and it's always fun to read his side of things. None of the stories takes more than 15-20 minutes to read, so it was a good one to read in the between times. I give it all five stars. (I'm really bad about giving everything five stars, this may be an issue..

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: This is the fourth book in the Poirot series. I learned from goodreads that it's the one from 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and after reading it, I can see why. If you're only going to try one Poirot novel, it should be this one. I don't think you'll be able to stick to just one Poirot novel after finishing it. I can usually figure out the twist, but I didn't see this one coming. Five stars!

The Big Four: ANOTHER Poirot novel! This one was a little different than the other ones I've read so far, a little more adventure and action compared to the focus on solving sneaky crimes. I tore through this one too, I think it took me two days. I decided after finishing this one to switch to another book that's not Poirot. I think I was getting in too deep with the mysteries. ANYWAYS. I give this one five stars too, because I have a problem.

Their Eyes Were Watching God: This one slowed me down a little, I have a hard time reading books written in any kind of accent that isn't mine. I really loved the story though, I also learned that this author's work disappeared for a couple of decades and was brought back to light by the author's biographer! I loved this story because it just felt so real. Sometimes stories have a happy ending and you're just like "yeah, that's not realistic" and some stories just seem like a genuine experience. This one is a genuine experience, and it'll break your heart a little bit. Five stars!

Burial Rites: I actually came across this one while seeing what everyone read on Show Us Your Books last month, and there was a wait list at the library, so I joined it. All of the holds I have are like 6 months out, so I was really surprised when I received the email that this one had been added to my shelf! The description of this book reminded me a little of Alias Grace, for some reason I really love the term murderess. It's right up there with a new word I learned since I've started reading the applications for variances, executrix. How fun is that? ANYWAYS. I liked this one, the story is told in two parts, and you really start to feel for the main characters. It was interesting to see them grow and I really did enjoy this one! I'd give it five stars too! (maybe this is why I haven't been nominated as a Yelp! Elite reviewer....)

The Paris Wife: This one broke my heart too. I knew about all of Hemingway's wives, like I learned about them and all of his women in a blurb. Maybe even a little in that Midnight in Paris movie. They were always an aside, but I learned so much about the relationship he and Hadley had and when I finished it, I was literally just ugly sobbing all over the place. I don't know if it's just because they were real people or what, but it's told so well that you're going to get invested in all of these folks' lives. I absolutely loved it.

Then She Was Gone: I picked this one up because Chelsea wrote in her review "All the things I want to say are spoilers" so I felt like I had to read it, if just to talk about it with her. I agree with her assessment, it's one I want to talk about but I can't tell you anything about it or it might spoil the ending. I loved that it was a quick, easy read, and that the whole story kind of builds and slowly untangles the story lines, I think it was very well written and if you're at all into mysteries, you should check it out. All the stars!

PHEW. That was a lot of books y'all. I'm slowly becoming a bit of a shut in, and I'm kind of okay with it? Anyways! I'm linking up for Show Us Your Books this week! So make sure to pop over there and see what everyone else is reading. Do you have anything I should add to my TBR stack? I'm about halfway through Little Fires Everywhere so I'll need a new book soon! What have you been reading?