May Reading

A wrap up of every book I read in May <3 Let me know what you like and don't like about the format of these for the future!

Make Me Famous by Maud Ventura

Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 4.25/5
Recommend if you: Have ever looked up how much a major cosmetic surgery would be just in case, if you had a shrine to a pop star of your choosing in the 80s-2000s, if you have expensive taste, had a weird competitive codependent relationship with a friend in high school
Wouldn’t recommend if you: don’t like unlikeable narrators, are going through a financial hardship, think reality TV is stupid
Review: The loooovely Gretchen Schmid sent this over to me early, and I was too stoked to start it. And for good reason. Maud Ventura does NOT disappoint. This story is that of Cleo, a world famous pop sensation and A-list celebrity who is taking a sabbatical on a remote island to disconnect from her hectic, fame-ruled life. This is where she reflects on the journey that brought her to stardom, and it hasn’t all been rosy. You quickly learn in your short time meeting Cleo that she is the modern French and beautiful version of Ellison’s American Psycho. Grade A, diagnosable, DSM-certified psychopath. I think that Ventura was able to guide readers to that inevitable conclusion without spelling it out clearly in a way that felt authentic. She had enough nuance to be understood in some twisted sense, though its clear that her psychic isolation from others is more extreme than most of us. It felt well-researched in that regard, and the inner dialogue of Cleo felt genuine. Her disregard for anything that doesn’t benefit her borders on maddening. I loved this book and couldn’t put it down, but I think part of the reason that I took it slowly was truly because she was pissing me off. But HEY! It’s the sign of great writing to make a visceral impact on your reader, right?! My only critique really is that I wanted to hear a little more from the “current Cleo” of the story, the one stuck on the island. Several times during the story, I forgot that that was a crucial part of the plot. I think the book still told a story that I really enjoyed, I just think that it was a missed opportunity to really make an impact with a few more scenes of her internal struggle with her past.
SPOILER ALERT:
I love that this seems to be Maud Ventura’s signature— the plot twist in the final lines of the book similar to what she did in the last few lines of My Husband. A bombshell that lands like a wink. I love endings like this, but they won’t jive for everyone. The Peeps were subtle enough of a nod without feeling clunky and out of place. Really enjoyed!

The Fall of Roe by Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerner
Genre: Non-Fiction, Politics
Rating: 5/5
Recommend if you: Know someone or are someone with a uterus
Wouldn’t recommend if you: Don’t know anyone with a uterus
Review: I am KICKING myself for waiting so long to start this one. This one was sent to me as an advanced reader copy almost two years ago, and I’m only NOW getting to it. It was soooo much information, because it is incredibly well-researched. It’s thorough without being entirely dry. It did exactly what I needed it to do as this genre of book and it executed it perfectly: I don’t want the author to guide me by the hand to the point, letting me know the whole way their opinions about the thing. I want you to lay me out the facts and figures— the research and the personal stories of people who have lived and experienced the thing. And then, once I’ve caught on to what you’re trying to communicate to me and have formed a well-established opinion, give me some more arguments. The work wasn’t entirely unbiased— of course, as its written by two people with uterus’ in the game— but it felt like an honest investment was made to give humanity to opposing sides in a way that didn’t justify their behavior, but did remind you that most people, in their twisted way, do THINK that they’re doing the right thing, that they’re good people. This book was jaw-dropping and heart wrenching in a way that made me remember with fresh eyes the importance of good journalism. Stories meant to be shared and meant to be heard, proof that something happened, and that it mattered. The fight of women’s bodily autonomy has SO much nuance, so many teeny-tiny details and inches towards progress, followed up by leaps and bounds backwards. I didn’t realize until this book just HOW MANY people’s entire lives are dictated by gestational periods, trying day in and day out to inconspicuously saw away at weeks and days of a woman’s right to her body until it dwindles down to 6 weeks. I think this book put the abortion argument into perspective for me, and I couldn’t recommend it enough!

American Bulk: Essays on Excess by Emily Mester

Genre: Non-fiction, Essays, Social Commentary
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Recommend if you: Grew up in the Midwest and therefore got really into Chappel Roan last summer, enjoyed Extreme Couponers on TLC, Have craved Arby’s in the last 5-8 days, went on your first diet before middle school
Wouldn’t recommend if you: Have a great relationship with your dad
Review: I didn’t expect American Bulk to make such an impact on me, but it is currently in a top spot for some of my favorite books of the year! There is something about Emily Mester’s writing that scratches an itch in my brain. This collection focuses on different aspects of consumption, consumerism, and ownership. I think she was tasteful in her representation of her family’s wealth, and she acknowledged the unspoken without feeling the need to defend herself.

Knife by Salman Rushdie

Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir
Rating: 2.5 Stars
Recommend if you: Have heard of Salman Rushdie
Wouldn’t Recommend if you: Have not heard of Salman Rushdie
Review: To be completely fair, this was user error on my end. I didn’t know Salman Rushdie from Adam, but I was seeing the cover everywhere and thought it might be a good time to give it a try when my Libby hold for it was ready. I think in print might be a better way to enjoy this book, for starters. I enjoyed hearing from the author, but I think that I would have appreciated his writing more on the page than I did simply listening. I also didn’t have much context to the author, so I wasn’t entirely connected to the details that he was sharing. If I were reading a story that shared the attempted murder of someone I’m familiar with, whose controversy I have knowledge about, or whose work I’ve previously had a reference for, I would have had some skin in the game. That’s why I feel bad giving it a not-stellar rating, especially as a memoir. It wasn’t a bad book at all— in fact, i could see a world where I would enjoy Rushdie’s writing. But I don’t think Knife was a great place to start!

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Genre: Nonfiction, Essays, Social Commentary
Rating: 5
Recommend if you: Like to take books slowly to savor them, enjoy history and social justice, prefer to go off script, regularly go down rabbit holes that interest you until 2am
Wouldn’t recommend if you: are looking for a palette cleanser, are feeling burnt out by the news, are starting to think about going to grad school
Review: I tried to start off this one on audiobook, and though Ta-Nehisi Coates narrates in his own voice, I think the book is way more impactful via print. The latter half I did fully in print, and I’m glad that I did so that I could keep my annotations, of which there are many. I don’t know that I can do his words justice in trying to synthesize them here. This story is told is three different parts— in Africa, South Carolina, and occupied Palestine. This could be considered a collection of three essays, which I think is where Coates’ writing is at its best. He’s poignant, concise, yet utterly profound. He doesn’t get so caught up in the lyrical prose that you lose the impact of his words. Coates is navigating oppression in new, revelatory ways that speak to some of society’s largest talking points of the 21st century.

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 4
Recommend if you: Rot in your bed more often than most, if you’re afraid of late stage capitalism, if you feel like COVID really impacted you
Wouldn’t recommend if you: are an essential worker, are in a dark place (that’s actually pretty serious but true lol)
Review: I have a lot of feelings about this one. Ultimately, I’m glad that we picked it for our May book club pick. As soon as I finished it, I immediately knew exactly why so many people were polarized in their reviews. I wasn’t hook-line-and-sinker in the beginning if I’m honest. It was starting to feel a little redundant, and the dictionary format/black hole wasn’t entirely landing for me. But the second half is where I think Etter’s writing starts to shine. The tension that built up towards the end kept me intrigued. There’s some sort of modern domestic horror element to it— which I guess is just a longer way of calling it late-stage capitalism at its finest. In this one, our MC is Cassie, who has just received a promotion at an elite tech agency in Silicon Valley called Voyager. But Cassie is there in early 2020, right before the pandemic, and though she’s making a comfortable six figures, she’s deeply, deeply unhappy. Those in the booming tech industry around her appear to be content in their privileged, corporate, soul-sucking lives. And Cassie is 34, lost, adrift, and concerned that she may be pregnant. This book spoke to loneliness, about the life that you get when you never ask for what you want, about the way that loss and pain are universal despite our beliefs that enough of some external, material thing out in the ether will keep us safe from rejection, harm, and pain. I think that the latter half of Ripe was the strongest part of the book, and I did especially love those last few scenes. My “favorite” was the scene with her mother, and I wished that we could have gotten more into her relationship with her mother in earlier chapters. I think it sums up how Cassie became the person that she is.
SPOILERS: As for the ending— AGAIN, MAJOR SPOILER—
I wasn’t expecting the ending. It wasn’t until the last two pages where I realized we didn’t have enough time to resolve our story any other way. Ultimately, I see why Etter chose that ending for our character given the purpose of the story. To create a little prison in a pretty package, you need your MC to escape from it.
Now were there other escape routes? Could she have gone home to be with her dad, the only person who seems to get her in any sense? Could she have started over in a new city? Made new friends? Found a guy she cared about?
Sure.
I think Cassie had reasons why she couldn’t do all of those things. And I think that in the early 2020, wildfire haze set in San Francisco amidst wild poverty and exponential wealth, there was a specific kind of doom that sucked the hope out of many of us. And I think that this was a story ultimately about that hopelessness. And for that reason, I didn’t hate the ending. I mean— I did, of course, but I get creatively the purpose behind it. Or i don’t and I’m a pretentious asshole! Who’s to say?!

The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap by Stephanie Coontz

Genre: Nonfiction, Sociology and Culture
Rating: 5/5
Recommend if you: Are debating parenthood, are prepping for a dinner with conservative family
Wouldn’t recommend if you: aren’t into long books, because this one is a bit of a mammoth

Review: Make no mistake, I am rating this book a 5 stars even after taking two months to finish it. I started it on audio, and then I ended up getting the physical copy to read in tandem because it’s a book that almost requires annotating. There is SO much information in this one. It was originally published in 1993, so it’s wild how much of it still applied as if no time has passed at all. This wasn’t boring, but it was a LOT of information that took a while to synthesize. For that reason, I don’t know that it’s one that I would love on audiobook only. But that’s also just how I know works for me!
There were several times during this book that I audibly said “WHAT?!” This is the kind of book that made me LOVE macro social work, because seeing human culture and societal shift from a sociological level can be soooo enlightening.

I Heard Her Call My Name by Lucy Sante
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.5
Would Recommend if you: are trying to add more trans experience into your reading list, have a habit of maladaptive daydreaming, were a theater kid, or are an only child
Wouldn’t recommend if you: are looking for an opinion piece of trans issues or politics (this just isn’t really THAT), are homophobic I guess???
Review: A memoir written by the writer Lucy Sante, a trans woman navigating her transition on the page. Like I said above, I think you’ll enjoy this one if you’re looking for a memoir of a woman’s experience, not for a commentator’s view on trans-ness. Some of the more negative reviews seemed to be looking for more “comment” on a political moment, where as this book almost reads like literary fiction in the sense that you’re along for the character development. I appreciated how much Lucy delved into her romantic relationships and how her views and feelings about those relationships changed over the years of her transition. This is always one of those things that I could imagine are really complex and hard to explain to other people who haven’t been through it. I don’t know that I felt like it needed to be edited or if I was missing connections doing the audiobook, but it did start to do this one thing that’s a pet peeve of mine. I dont’ know if ANYONE else will know what I mean, but one thing I always watch for in memoirs is when an author starts to excuse themselves to what is clearly a specific party. The author never SAYS it, but they’re explaining why they did a thing in a place where no moral implications or expressions are needed because there is obviously SOMEONE they want to explain themselves to. It usually makes some kind of reference towards something that readers don’t have context for. (A culprit of this off of the top of my head is Anna Marie Tendler in Men Have Called her Crazy). This only happened towards the end of the book, and it wasn’t nearly as obvious as it can be with some authors. All in all, this one was pretty good!

But the Girl by Jessica Zhan Mei Yu
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 3
Would Recommend if you: are looking for slow with no plot, enjoy works of other Aussie/NZ authors, are a child of immigrants, are an overthinker
Wouldn’t recommend if you: Are looking for something more fast-paced, have been called ‘blunt’ or ‘an acquired taste’ in your life, have always wanted to settle down in your hometown.
Review: I wish I liked this one more, because in theory it does sound like something I would enjoy. I think that Jessica Zhan Mei Yu is an amazing writer, and there were lots of chunks of this that I was really enjoying. But outside of that, I was mostly just bored. I know that this is semi-autobiographical, and the nosiest parts of me want to know what is true to life and what is not to differentiate what I think was, creatively, a good call. I LOVE literary fiction, now don’t get me wrong. Some of my favorite books of all time are books where “nothing happens”. That’s why I feel strongly that nothing happens in this book. I think it technically falls as a soft DNF, because I skimmed much of the last quarter :/

If You Lose the Time War

Genre: Science Fiction:
Rating: DNF
Review: Okay, I’m not saying NEVER on this one. But what I AM saying is that I started to read this in Connor’s voice from Love on the Spectrum, and from then on I could NOT take it seriously. SORRY!!!!

Poor Things by Alasdair Gray

Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 3
Would Recommend if you: Loved the movie version
Would not recommend if you: have a math/science brain over an English/history brain, aren’t into an A24 movie
Review: Poor Things was my faaaavorite movie of 2023 when it was released, and I’ve rewatched it twice since. I figured I would adore the book because I was told it was equally weird. It started off strong, but it hit a lull for me by the middle. The weird, macabre-ness of it didn’t bother me at all, it was just more flowery (?) than I would have preferred personally. I don’t think it was bad at all, I just think it would appeal to a certain type of person in a certain type of reading mood.

Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna

Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 5
Would Recommend if: You loved Fleabag and Normal People, you love a late night heart-to-heart, have an avoidant attachment style
Would not recommend if: You’re an Enneagram 1 or 8, if you love Fast and Furious or John Wick, if you are uncomfortable about sex (lmao)
Review: I did this one on audiobook, and I really can’t wait to get it in print! This is lit fic at its finest— intricate stories with unique perspectives and voices. This tells the story of a cast of characters in London all navigating complicated relationships, secrets, and sexualities. Phil and Maggie are best friends. Maggie is pregnant with Ed’s baby, unaware that Phil is harboring a secret about Ed that could upend the balancing act of their lives. Around them are a series of subplots that felt incredibly real, vulnerable, and unique to one another.
I won’t get too much into the details (because most of them won’t make sense without context on the characters), but trust that if you’re in the mood for a stellar literary fiction with complicated, layered, and fully formed characters, this one was perfection!


The Unboxing of a Black Girl by Angela Shante

Genre: Poetry
Rating: None
Would Recommend if: you went through a Button Poetry phase, are into Young Adult Fiction, have a 40 minute drive coming up to play the audiobook
Would not recommend if: aren’t into poetry (that’s literally the main reason you wouldn’t be into it lol)
Review: I had a drive that was almost the exact length of this audiobook on 1.5x, so I figured it was worth a shot! I didn’t end up rating it, mostly because I remembered almost as soon as I started this how much it grates at me to hear poetry read in an audiobook hahaha. I think I would have enjoyed it in print though, because there were some concepts she talked about that really landed with me. This explores the boxes that we often try to put black women and girls into in an attempt to control them or understand them. Which kind of black woman will you be? The author feels like she, and all of the women in her life, have been asked this question, knowing full well that they will be sifted into boxes anyways no matter their answer. Interesting perspective and a unique way of exploring it!