At first I thought my reading for May was terrible. This is an actual conversation I had two days ago.

Me: “Ohmygosh, I have barely read any books this month. I have literally barely been reading at all.”

Sister: “Really?”

Me: *flips through book log* “Okay I have actually read more than 2 ½ books a week this month.”

So maybe it’s not so bad. I wish I could say I read fewer books this month because they were in some way more difficult or challenging or lengthy than the YA I’ve been gulping down for the last three months, but they really haven’t. All I can say is that school is out and I have watched more than my fair share of Netflix, and also spent much more time with friends throughout the month of May than I have in a very long time. I may have socialized more in May than I did January-April. I don’t regret it a single bit, but my little introverted self is going to need some time to recover…

It’s honestly really hard to choose a Top Pick for this month – I’m keeping track of all the books I read this year in a notebook, with author, title, brief summary and my initial thoughts, complete with a rating from one to five. I realized this month that this system is definitely flawed, as my thoughts immediately after finishing a book greatly impact the rating, and then I think about the book for awhile, go back and say “What? Only a 3? But it’s so good!” or “I gave that a 3.5? It certainly wasn’t as good as” … you get the picture.

For instance, my first thought for Top Pick was Becoming Maria; Sonia Manzano’s memoir of her childhood in the Bronx, leading up to her audition for the life-changing role of Maria on Sesame Street. It has made me think so much, about poverty, education, opportunity, racism, reading, domestic violence, family dynamics, and more. It’s a hard book to read. The more time I have to reflect on it, the more crushing her childhood reality becomes. Look back at the rating – 3.5, even with the simple-but-popular thriller The Girl on the Train, and a full half-point behind Mindy Kaling’s Why Not Me? Which I presumably gave a better score because I thought it was really funny. But honestly, I’d recommend all three of the books listed above, depending on the reader and what genre (s)he likes. I also feel compelled to mention Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott – which I got from the library but now plan to purchase – and If You Come Softly, which may be the last Woodson title I read for awhile. And there you have it – practically half of the 11 books I read this month…which isn’t actually that much fewer than some other months, and is two more than in January!

I’d like to say that this has inspired me to come up with a more well-rounded rating system, with a more accurate algorithm for deciding (and remembering) how good a book is, but it hasn’t.

I mean, I’m sure you’ll find this shocking, but: reading isn’t a numbers game. No matter how many books I read, or how good I thought they were, there will always be more books that I want to read, and people who disagree with me on quality. It keeps things interesting, and keeps me reading. I’ll be back in June. :)

Y’all, April is the cruelest month. Eliot said it, not me, so don’t shoot the messenger. The month started out super awesome, with me traveling to USM for the Kaigler Children’s Book Festival, but real talk: I kind of don’t know what I’m doing at this point in the semester/year. According to my log, I read 16 books this month, but since I quit reading on April 25, that means I read 4-point-something books a week, and since one of those weeks I was in Mississippi, I wasn’t really reading. And I’m not magic. But they’re written down for April so I’m going with it. Mostly, I’m just glad to be done reading for my YA book log! It is officially turned in and finished and I am happy to report that I survived the reading of 46 Young Adult novels.

Top Pick(s): Well, this month I went kind of Jacqueline Woodson crazy. She was the Southern Miss Medallion winner, and since I loved Brown Girl Dreaming so much (Feb? March?), I felt the need to prepare to be a festival ambassador by reading as many of her other books as possible. So: Behind You; Locomotion; Peace, Locomotion; Feathers; After Tupac and D Foster; and Beneath a Meth Moon. They are all 100% worth your time. If I had to choose just one though, it would be Feathers. Absolute Fave.

Y’all I love every single word this woman says and writes.

Despite Jacqueline's limited time frame for being at the festival, we were still able to get a picture!

Surprising Books: I was pleasantly surprised by Holly Gold Sloan’s Counting by 7s, and surprisingly disappointed by Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. I felt like a sham librarian not having read any Gaiman, and while it was good, I didn’t think it lived up to the hype.

I did try to diversify my reading in terms of genre this month, hitting up some poetry (Enchanted Air), mystery/suspense (The Boy in the Burning House), and even some short stories (Athletic Shorts). I also read an absolutely terrible book called I Know What You Did Last Summer, which upset The Chocolate War as worst book I have read this year. If you want a poorly updated story about generic, WASP Americana with flat characters, pointless conversations, a predictable plot and characterizations of women based solely on their looks, then this book is for you! For anyone who swears at audiobooks that try to build suspense by having a character locked in a bathroom, unable do anything because she’s surrounded only by “flimsy feminine products,” (because men’s shampoo is definitely sturdier than women’s…), then this book may hinder your ability to drive in traffic.

I will say that my opinion has swayed slightly from absolute hatred to general dislike but tolerance of books for Young Adults, though I have realized that I am a general fan of middle-grade fiction, with an intense drop-off for older YA lit. Most of the books I enjoyed were geared towards slightly younger audiences. And I am definitely ready to dive back into my personal reading list – which is already about 15-20 books long for summer! We’ll see how much progress I make next month…