All of the books I read in May

A new monthly write-up

Piglet by Lottie Hazel 

We know the protagonist only by her childhood nickname, Piglet. Engaged to her well to do and (apparently) adoring fiancé Kit, the countdown to their wedding should be blissful. Instead: he confesses a betrayal and things begin to fray. I thought this was so, so wonderful. I went into it without a clue of what to expect- only that others had enjoyed it and the cover looked delicious. So much to say on class, food, hunger, shame, control. Also has excellent descriptions of food and the process of making it, eating it, thinking about it etc. that I didn’t find dull of repetitive at all. 

Just For Today by Nell Hudson 

The story begins on New Year’s Eve- a group of friends celebrate in their usual way- drugs, booze, ill-advised sex etc. Our protagonist is Joni, a nanny renting a room and living mainly for her mates, her complicated best friend Dylan, her hopes for love. It really captures the intensity of friendship in your 20s- + the leap-and-hope-you-land kind of living that only reveals itself as risky long after the fact. Found it great on grief, self-destruction, the weird formlessness of that first full decade of adulthood. Loved this!

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano 

Far and away the best book I read in May. The best book I’ve read this year, to be honest. William Waters very almost grows up with whole and happy parents. After tragedy strikes, the house goes quiet. A lonely boy who plays basketball to keep him out of the house, he takes a sports scholarship at a college in Chicago and meets Julia Padavano- and her family. To say I was moved… I WAS MOVED. But not just moved. I was invested, I was interested, I was fascinated by the characters that felt as fully real as characters can be. Everyone is imperfect and frustrating and gorgeous. You’ve got to read it.

The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop

A married thirty-something takes a holiday with her tepid husband to a Greek island that is far more than just somewhere she travelled as a teenage backpacker. An illicit affair, a shadowy boss in a big house, an island soaked in secrecy, a group of vulnerable girls, a missing man that she may or may not still be ion love with after 16 years. As a reader you can see fairly quickly where it’s taking you, but it was done well and so I wasn’t mad about it! This was a solid holiday read. 

The Pursuit of Happiness by Stacey Duguid

This is such a candid, vulnerable memoir about someone who arrives at midlife and dismantles the suffocating but outwardly stable life that she’s built. It’s great on sex, ADHD, marriage, infidelity, drugs, pregnancy, motherhood, work. I read recently on Stacey’s Instagram that she has some regrets about writing the book- it was a huge amount of work and dredging up of her own pain for very little reward, which I think is a huge shame and sadly not uncommon. It’s insane how much of the publicity for a new book falls to its author and how easily a book that should have easily found its audience can be left to flounder. ANYWAY: I think you should read it. 

Pretend I’m Dead by Jen Beagin

Mona is a 24 year old house cleaner who, while handing out clean needles at the exchange, falls in love with a recipient who she called Mr. Disgusting. This was a re-read- I raced through it the first time and did again. One of the greatest books I’ve read this decade. I adore adore adore. It’s so funny, so strange, so dark, so utterly charming and readable. 

Vacuum in the Dark by Jen Beagin 

The sequel to Pretend I’m Dead, because it would have been a terrible rudeness to re-read one without re-reading the other. Everything I said above is also true for this book. Adore. Adore. Adore. Mona is now 26, still living where she moved after the thing that happened happened, still figuring out her life and her place in the world. This time she’s in love with a man she calls Dark, the husband of one of her clients. Excellent, divine, love. Unbelievably funny and good.

Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum 

Someone is found face down (in a dead way) off a boardwalk on Fire Island, where the usual rich New Yorkers are summering. We meet the suspects/ our potential victim- a clutch of terrible, desperate, unhappy people of different socioeconomic backgrounds. This was good for holiday! I wouldn’t rave about it- the characters are fairly shallowly written, the action is a little predictable- and while this definitely doesn’t keep it from being a very fun page-turner, it hasn’t stayed with me. Basically: I didn’t really care who had died or who had done it but I had a nice enough time finding out.  

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell 

Set over the course of a school year in the late 80s, E & P is about the strange new girl who needs somewhere to sit on the school bus and the spare seat next to the boy who really just wants to keep his head down and read. A lovely, dramatic, earnest romance. A classic of the genre. Really wish I had read this as a teen or someone a little closer to my teens- I don’t think I would have put it down. For fans of this sort of thing who might not have read this previously, enjoy!

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer 

After reading The Interestings, my first Wolitzer, I decided that I would read all the Wolitzers. This was a good and solid Wolitzer and I liked it a lot. It’s 2006 and college student Greer Kadetsky has a Bad Encounter with a frat boy. After meeting Faith Frank (famed second-wave feminist icon) at a campus talk not long after, she finds herself on a new path. Really moving on teen love, grief, ambition + excellent and precise writing on the prickly spaces of womanhood, career feminism, betrayal between friends. Loved it!

The Wife by Meg Wolitzer 

This is my least favourite Wolitzer so far, but still a very good Wolitzer. She’s just great, what can I say! Joseph Cattleman and his wife Joan are flying to Helsinki so he can receive a prestigious literary award after many years of novel-writing. On the flight, she knows she will leave him. I liked it a lot. Witty, heartbreaking, funny- the usual. Was a little bit off-putting to have the cover art be of Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce (the book was made into a film in 2017) but can hardly hold that against ol’ Meg. Other covers are available.