What I Read in May

May down, and five books with it. I'm at 32 books of my 75-book goal for the year.

Lately I've been a hard time figuring out what to read. I loved the four Julie Buxbaum books I read in April, & since then I've been floundering a bit, like... what could live up to them? And I want good mysteries, especially ones set at boarding schools, but I can't seem to find anything that feels right.

So here's what I've got, all pretty good but none quite fitting the bill of what I'm really craving. Any recs? Hit me up. Until then...

Unmasked by Paul Holes

Holes, an investigator turned true-crime podcaster, tells of the crimes he's helped solve & the way the job impacted his mental health, his relationship, his family dynamic & more. I recommend this insightful, compassion-driven read for any true crime reader as a reminder that the stories we listen to aren't just stories. They are real, traumatic experiences that happen to real people & that devastate the lives of victims, families, first responders, & law enforcement. ★★★★★

SLAY by Brittney Morris

Kiera is just your average teen... who secretly created SLAY, a video game beloved by 500k Black gamers. No one knows she's behind it, but when a boy is murdered in real life over an in-game dispute, the media calls SLAY racist. When a troll infiltrates & threatens to ruin the digital utopia Kiera has created, she knows she can't stay silent anymore. This book is entertaining & imaginative while also providing thoughtful, powerful social commentary about Black-only spaces & respectability politics. ★★★★★

The New Girl by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Lia is new in school, attending on a track scholarship, & it's a rocky start when she witnesses an unsettling interaction between a teacher & a student. Things continue to spiral: a teacher selling grades, teammates out to destroy her, an unexplained death, an anonymous email from a helpful stranger. Then Lia accidentally does something terrible that she can never take back. Entertaining, but like Sutanto's other YA book, too much going on & too little character development to be a true success. ★★★✰✰

Jews Don't Count by David Baddiel

The author is a British comedian known for his anti-antisemitism advocacy. In this short book, published in the U.S. in 2021, Baddiel argues that even to progressives who care deeply about racism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia, etc., one form of bigotry barely registers as mattering. In other words, Jews don't count. While I still don't necessarily agree that antisemitism is racism, Baddiel eloquently articulates the in-betweenness of antisemitism & how excluding it both harms progressivism & alienates progressive Jews. ★★★★✰

Speak by Tunde Oyeneyin

As soon as I heard that Tunde, a popular Peloton instructor was writing a book, I knew I wanted to listen to it on audiobook. She's the narrator, & she's great at it, telling her own story in her own voice. She writes of the deaths of her younger brother & both parents; of her childhood struggle with weight & adult love of fitness; of her career highlights & challenges, her goals & her doubts. For me, it was a reminder that even the most golden of people haven't always been. And that it's more important to be golden inside, too. ★★★★★

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