Wow, can you believe we’re almost 1/2 through 2018?! This year is flying by and so are the books. This has been a bit of a crazy month for me, hence the lack of posting. But thing should be settling down in the next week, so hopefully, I’ll post more. But for now, let’s do a book check-in.

My May Stats:

• 9 books (34 for the year)
  • 1 ebook
  • 1 audiobook
  • 3 + 1 GARbingo books (one wasn’t on my bingo board but is on the GAR List of 100) for a total of 5 + 1 GARbingo books
  • 1 five-star read

And here are the books (in the order that I finished them):

• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
• Along Came A Spider by James Patterson
• Yes Please by Amy Poehler (audiobook)
• Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
• Magic Hunter by C.N. Crawford (ebook)
• The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Memory Zero by Keri Arthur
• Generation 18 by Keri Arthur

I managed to finish my first audiobook. Taking some advice from my fellow Littens, I listened to a non-fiction work, Yes Please by Amy Poehler and read by Amy Poehler. While I’m still not crazy about audiobooks (and I still get twitchy about counting an audiobook as “read”), I did finish it. I have mixed opinions about the book itself (see my review on Goodreads).

I read a total of 4 GAR books: The Sun Also Rises, Along Came A Spider, The Joy Luck Club, and The Color Purple. While the Joy Luck Club is on the GAR List of 100, I don’t have it on my #GARbingo board. That’s why I’m counting it as 3 + 1. This brings my #GARbingo board total to 5 +1.

My only 5-star read of the month was The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Somehow I made it this far in life never having read it. The Color Purple was (sadly) never assigned in any of my English or literature classes. But thanks to the GAR, it was on my #GARbingo TBR. Plus, I’m trying to get through some of the thinner GAR books before tackling the chunksters like Pillars of the Earth and Atlas Shrugged.

Although there were challenging parts to read (domestic violence, rape), the story of Celie was fascinating and powerful. I highly recommend anyone read The Color Purple. It sheds some light on an often confusing and sometimes dark period in our history. It is beautifully written and just incredible.

Overall a solid month of reading despite the fact that there were about 10-12 days where I didn’t have the time or was too exhausted to read at all. But I’m still right on track for my Goodreads 2018 challenge.

To see my reviews of these 9 books or any of the other books I’ve read, find me on Goodreads.

What books did you read in May? Any favorites? Leave your recommendations in the comments below.