My Month is Booked: May 2024

Hi everyone! In the spirit of trying to blog at least somewhat more consistently (I’ve taken so many month+ long breaks over the course of the pandemic…), I’m taking over Lauren’s My Month Is Booked linkup! (Thank you for hosting it as long as you did + and for letting me keep the name!)

My plan is to open it up on the first Monday of each month and I’ll leave it open for the week so everyone will have time to link up!

(As a bookshop.org affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases if you click the link (at no cost to you).)

I’ve been listening to a wholeee lot of audiobooks lately due to all the driving/commuting!

The Downstairs Girl, by Stacey Lee – This was a fun read about a 17-year-old Chinese-American girl living in Atlanta who works as a lady’s maid for the spoiled daughter of a wealthy white family and moonlights as Miss Sweetie for an anonymous advice column by night. There are lots of heartwarming + bittersweet bits to it + I liked the historical/cultural elements of the story about a little-known slice of Asian-American history (Chinese living in the South in the 1890s) + how she managed to touch on feminism, racism, class, and identity.

Stone Blind, by Natalie Haynes – This is Medusa’s story from a different perspective — much of the novel goes through the other Greek gods’ petty feuds and how Medusa gets swept into the unfortunate mess. There are poignant and humorous moments throughout — the author made it comically easy to hate Perseus here. If you’ve ever felt it was unfair that Medusa was the one punished for Poseidon’s actions, this is a good one to read!

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloan – (Thank you for the re-recommendation, Rachel!) This gave me major Ready Player One vibes, so if you enjoyed that book, you’ll likely love this one too. (It’s set in ~2012-ish SF Bay Area rather than far into the future.) The main character gets a job working the night shift in a 24-hour bookstore. He soon discovers (upon meeting many eccentric “members” of the club) that it has a lot more to it than meets the eye + ends up on a cross-country .

Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies, by Tara Schuster – I wasn’t aware that Tara Schuster had worked for The Daily Show or helped launch Key & Peele until I read this book, but…major props! This was a good listen + included a lot of great tips on how to create simple daily rituals to help improve your life, kick self-limiting thoughts to the curb, making time for yourself, believing that you are worth it, living a life you choose, + creating a life you love. It’s convinced me to get back to journaling, which I used to do very, very regularly (since 2000!) but I fell off the wagon during medical school and never truly picked it back up again (unless you count blogging + bullet journaling…)

The Women, by Kristin Hannah – I keep reading books about wars and being surprised by how sad they make me. (What was I expecting?!) But although haunting and heartbreaking, I loved this book + would also add this to one of my favorite reads of the year. The Women follows the life of a 21 year old nursing student who joins the Army Nurse Corps when her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam. It takes us through the time she spends in Vietnam,  but also the time afterward amidst the protests and division throughout America and its attempt to forget Vietnam and in so doing, the lives affected and lost within the war. Will definitely be reading more from this author in the future!

Got any book reviews from this month? Link em’ up below and make sure you visit others in the linkup too for reading inspiration! :]

• What did you read this month?
• Got anything on your list for this upcoming month? I’m reading The Dressmaker’s Secret for the book club I co-run and my latest audiobook = The Brightest Star since there’s an author talk at a local library coming up this month for that!