Beetitudes

This was a slow reading month for me – every time I start a new show, I get sucked in and choose to watch it over reading. That happened this month, when I started Young Sheldon! I’m in season 5 now, with only seven seasons total, so I’m almost finished. Then I have to decide whether to forego television for a while to stay dedicated to reading, or to forego reading for the summer and dedicate myself to the series’ I want to watch!

In the summertime, my youngest son is at his dad’s and only home every other weekend, so I have more free time. I like to be disconnected, so losing myself in a show is fun! I’m also only 12 books away from my goal for the year, and am 15 books ahead of schedule. So I have plenty of time for a bit of a reading break.

So…here are the books I read in May!

First up was The Women, by Kristin Hannah. As always with her books, she knocked it out of the park! It didn’t make it into my top three Hannah books, but it was well done and I would definitely recommend it. There was one story line involving a lying, cheating man that I didn’t feel added anything to the story and could have been left out. But otherwise I found it very revealing about a woman’s experience both in war, and in an oppressive world to return to after. I always enjoy the history lesson and perspective that comes with Hannah’s historical fiction novels.

Next up was Beneath a Scarlet Sky, by Mark Sullivan. This book is also an historical fiction, and it grabbed me and pulled me in from cover to cover. Both of these books were long, but I flew right through them. This book was about WWII and the Nazi occupation, and more importantly the resistance, in Italy. This was my first WWII historical fiction that took place in Italy, and I learned some new things about that period in history. I strongly recommend this book if you enjoy either historical fiction (my favorite genre), or WWII.

Finally, I downloaded the audio book version of a classic, and understand why it was a classic: The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton. This one is frequently assigned reading in schools, but it was not one I was ever assigned. This is another win for me, and another classic I’d recommend. I’ve been hearing references to Pony Boy my entire life – I’m happy to now fully understand them!

That is it for me, friends! I’m currently reading the last book in the Lilac Girls series by Martha Hall Kelly – Sunflower Sisters. I started it after finishing Beneath a Scarlet Sky, but that was also when I started Young Sheldon, so I’m still sitting at page 66 with full intention to jump back in once I finish my TV series. I’ll be back at the end of June to share my thoughts on this one, as well as other reads for the month.

Happy Reading!

Love,
Loren