What's In Your Box? - May 2021

What's In Your Box? - May 2021

• 29 April 2021

 

I have found so many of my favorite reads thanks to the monthly book subscription box Book of the Month. As an Enneagram 5, I spend a lot of time researching both the 5 main selections as well as the the new add-ons before I make any decisions. 

If you are interested in reading a detailed synopsis for any of these, I've linked to Goodreads.

What follows is my commentary surrounding my thought process and what I ultimately select. Hopefully you'll find it to be helpful!

May 2021 Main Selections:

How Lucky by Will Leitch:

From what I can see this title is receiving very mixed reviews in the bigger publications. Booklist gave it a starred review and Publishers Weekly advised readers to take a pass on picking this up. In the land of Bookstagram @stay.stitchy makes it sound as if How Lucky could have used some tighter editing, which, in my mind, makes the Stephen King blurb make much more sense. Over @the.caffeinated.reader Amanda, felt that the book lived up to the intriguing premise.

Some Suggested Flight Picks: 

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
• Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
• The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

I have not read any of those and such mixed reviews make me a teeny bit worried that I wouldn't completely enjoy this title. However, BOTM implies that this is a fast read that will make me laugh and Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Here is the reader recommending it. I really enjoyed Nothing to See Here, so that recommendation holds some weight for me.

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint:

Greek myth retelling with a feminist spin?! Yes, please. . . well, maybe. Both Booklist and Kirkus Reviews commented on how the writing feels very much like the debut it is. Kirkus went so far as to say there was far too much telling versus showing and that's a major pet peeve of mine.

In Bookstagram land, @coversandcollages says that this is a "fun and engaging story," but that it can be a little difficult to follow at times. @laura_reads_ found the descriptions in this title to be vivid and the character development to be "fleshed out." Then the vast majority of the rest of Bookstagram did that thing where they geek out over the cover, but don't actually read the book. I admit the UK edition has an incredibly gorgeous cover. I may just try to order that version.

Some Suggested Flight Picks:

• Circe by Madeline Miller
• The Book of V by Anna Solomon
• The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
• The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave:

Laura Dave is a repeat author for BOTM, however, I haven't read her previous featured title Eight Hundred Grapes. The Last Thing He Told Me sounds like a pretty solid page-turner based on the reviews by both Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. This one has also already been optioned for an adaptation on Apple TV, staring the woman I wanted to be when I grew up, Julia Roberts.

Michelle from @reading.with.my.goldens was pleasantly surprised by this title and it sounds like she had a hard time putting it down. As I have been tracking my reading a little more closely thanks to the Rock Your Reading Tracker created by SarahsBookshelves I have realized that I Michelle and I have some overlap in reading taste.

Some Suggested Flight Picks:

• The Widow by Fiona Barton
• The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda
• Something in The Water by Catherine Steadman
• In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

Imposter Syndrome by Kathy Wang:

I'm not finding a whole lot of reviews about this one, but what I can find leads me to believe that this is more than just a cooperate, spy thriller, that it is also a bit of a character deep dive. I am so intrigued by the premise of this, but am nervous about the lack of reviews.

Some Suggested Flight Picks:

• Followers by Megan Angelo
• American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson
• Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple

Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen:

This title received a stupendous review via Publishers Weekly and they're using all the words that draw me to a book such as: gripping, illuminating, haunting, and captivating. This title also spans three-decades, which I am a total sucker for!

@inbedwithbooksnola calls this book "touching and essential." @shelf.explanatory had a hard time putting this one down and it sounds like this was a book with memorable characters.

Some Suggested Flight Picks:

• The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen
• The Turner House by Angela Flournoy
• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

My May 2021 Book of the Month Box:

I think Things We Lost to the Water has my name all over it, but I'm also leaning towards one of the new add-ons, Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland. It sounds a lot like something we would see on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and I cannot even begin to tell you how much I adore that show.

What's in your BOTM box this month?