In Review posts are a chance for me to catch my breath, note that I am actually making progress towards my reading goals, and give each month’s blog posts a little extra love.

This month I officially finished moving into my new home in Minneapolis, thus ending my Extremely Tiring Housing Saga of the past three months. I love it here and I’m so happy my wife and I decided to take the plunge, but let me tell you, I hope we never have to move again. When you have chronic illness, moving is even more punishing than it normally is, and I’ve been sick as a dog for the past two weeks as a result. I just might die in this condo rather than pack up and move again. Let’s see what the next 50-70 years brings, shall we?

But for now, let’s focus on the past 31 days. Here’s my May 2019 in review! In short, not as much reading and blogging as I would have liked, but still a heck of a lot more than I expected from such a hectic month.

I read 3 books this month:

• The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (Goodreads)
• Incendiary Girls by Kodi Scheer (Goodreads)
• Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson (Goodreads)

cover description: a white Arabian horse against a stark black background.

I reviewed 3 books this month:

• The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (★★★★☆, 5.6)
• Incendiary Girls by Kodi Scheer (★☆☆☆☆, 5.12)
• Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson (★★★★★, 5.14)
  • note: this review deviates from my normal format because of Monday’s Not Coming’s highly triggering content

I borrowed, bought, and received 12 books this month:

• An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole (Friday Bookbag, 5.3)
• See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt (Friday Bookbag, 5.3)
• MEM by Bethany C. Morrow (Friday Bookbag, 5.3)
• The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (Friday Bookbag, 5.3)
• How to Love a Jamaican: Stories by Alexia Arthurs (Friday Bookbag, 5.3)
• No One Can Pronounce My Name by Rakesh Satyal (Friday Bookbag, 5.3)

cover description: a Black woman wearing a white Civil War era dress stands in a doorway and looks back over her shoulder with an anxious expression.

cover description: A pigeon’s head seems to melt into a blue blob of dripping paint on a cream-colored background.

• A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Friday Bookbag, 5.10)
• I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo (Friday Bookbag, 5.10)
• Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee (Friday Bookbag, 5.10)

Cover Description: The cover is made up of horizontal stripes with different images, including a forest, a book, waves, and what looks like the face of a child or a doll.

cover description: A Korean American teen girl is smiling. To her right, a teen boy stands mostly out of the frame. The image is black and white with pink and yellow accents.

cover description: The lower half of a woman’s face is visible. She looks serious. The rest of the cover is made up of multicolored silhouettes of butterflies.

• Knock Wood by Jennifer Militello (Holiday Weekend Bookbag, 5.27)
• The Farm by Joanna Ramos (Holiday Weekend Bookbag, 5.27)
• The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton (Holiday Weekend Bookbag, 5.27)

cover description: There are three stylized silhouettes of pregnant bellies in pastel colors layered on top of each other.

cover description: a Black girl in a fancy dress and makeup with flowers in her hair looks over her shoulder fiercely.

cover description: the outline of a scraggly tree is burnt into a woodgrain background.

I wrote these things this month:

• “10 things moving will make you realize about your books (a story in 10 gifs)” (5.1)
• “What are your favorite things to read that aren’t books?” (5.17)

Other content I loved this month:

• “The Fallout 76 cannibals who eat other players for food and fun” by Patricia Hernandez (Polygon)
• Danai Gurira’s flawless Met Gala outfit, inspired by Oscar Wilde
• “Rewriting the Past Won’t Make Disney More Progressive” by Aisha Harris (New York Times)
• Always Be My Maybe on Netflix, a rom com starring Ali Wong and Randall Park that’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen all year

And most of all, this video of elementary school kids losing their marbles to a surprise performance of “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X:

why is this video of a sea of elementary school kids going HAM to old town road literally the funniest video i’ve ever seen in my whole life pic.twitter.com/iXItFq50QG

— ari ❿ (@wasteIandbaby) May 30, 2019

I have read 15 books so far in 2019!