The Terror of Knowing

As a month, May has been a pleasant surprise. I settled (well am settling, it’s an ongoing process) into my new job and I’m starting to find my feet so that’s been lovely. Also, the benefits of now working full-time are that I have a longer lunch break that I used to – now I have a blissful hour and, let me tell you, after being used to quickly scoffing down a sandwich within 20 minutes, when you suddenly have 60 minutes, I don’t eat any slower, I just get to read more. That has been a revelation. Also, with my office being the only one on the ground floor of the building, I’m mostly on my own unless people pop by to check their pigeonholes or come to say hello. This means that I can listen to music, podcasts (yeah, so I now get podcasts), or audiobooks. When I realised at the latter half of the month that a good chunk of audiobook-listening could be done whilst I was inputting data, well, guys, I don’t want to jinx it but I think it may revolutionise my reading… ok, maybe that’s a bit far, but it will help me squeeze all that potential reading time out of every working day. Let’s see if I keep that up in the coming weeks and months though…

In May, I read a total of 6 books – 6 fiction and 0 non-fiction, amounting to 2670 pages in total, and, of these, 2 books were re-reads.

In terms of format: 4 were paperback, 1 was a hardback, and 1 was an audiobook.

And as for genre, very broadly speaking, 3 books were fantasy, 1 book was dystopian/sci-fi, 1 book was historical fiction, and 1 book was a classic.

Onto the books themselves…

A Feast for Crows – George R.R. Martin

Rating: 4.5/5 – review
Genre: fantasy
Pages: 778
Read: 19th April – 3rd May
Challenges fulfilled: Around the Year in 52 Books (Week 3)

American Gods – Neil Gaiman

Rating: 5/5 – review
Genre: fantasy; mythology
Pages: 640
Read: 4th – 10th May
Challenges fulfilled: Around the Year in 52 Books (Week 42); Mount TBR

A Room with a View- E.M. Forster

Rating: 3.5/5 – review
Genre: classic
Pages: 237
Read: 10th – 13th May
Challenges fulfilled: Around the Year in 52 Books (Week 37); Book Riot Read Harder (#7); Mount TBR

The Lonely Hearts Hotel – Heather O’Neill

Rating: 5/5
Genre: historical fiction
Pages: 400
Read: 13th – 14th May
Challenges fulfilled: Around the Year in 52 Books (Week 5)

Soulless – Gail Carriger

Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: fantasy; steampunk
Pages: 291
Read: 14th – 18th May
Challenges fulfilled: Around the Year in 52 Books (Week 31)

The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood [read by Joanna David]

Rating: 5/5
Genre: sci-fi; dystopian; speculative fiction
Pages: 324
Read: 26th – 27th May
Challenges fulfilled: Around the Year in 52 Books (Week 48); Book Riot Read Harder (#16)

May was a pretty good reading month, all in all. I ended up finishing two proverbial tomes in the form of A Feast for Crows and American Gods, I did a much-needed re-read of The Handmaid’s Tale so I can watch the TV show, and I might have found a new classic author that I enjoy! I’ve also rediscovered the joy of re-reading a book you know via audiobook – Joanna David’s reading of The Handmaid’s Tale proved to be really gripping and the book sped by thanks to her engaging narration style. It has enough bite to it, too, that you can really believe her performance as the rebellious side to Offred rears its head. I would definitely recommend trying this one on audiobook if you haven’t read it before, or if you have read it before, read it again via audio.

Looking forward into next month, I’m currently reading a few things but I am extremely unlikely to finish any of them before I go to sleep tonight so they will roll over into June. They are: Howard’s End by E.M. Forster, Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier, Changeless by Gail Carriger, and Rotherweird by Andrew Caldecott. I also have a stack of eARCs that I really ought to get through this month too so something tells me June needs to be a busy reading month – here’s to hoping!

So that was my month but how did your May reading go?
What was your favourite book you read this month?
Please do share in the comments below and let’s chat books!

Goodreads | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram | Bloglovin’