Hi bookworms, how are you? We’ve made it to May, which is usually the beginning of our spring planting season here. It’s getting so green, yay.
A few days ago, I said goodbye to California and my relatives and returned home. Not easy to say goodbye after a good trip but here I am. It was a bit of a whirlwind as I managed to visit a few places while there including the beach, the desert, and the big city of L.A. Most importantly, was my grandniece’s first birthday party … where like 10 other babies came over to celebrate, lol. My grandniece is nearly walking now and she’s on the move! There’s no stopping her. On one of my evenings, I captured this picture of the sunset.
Meanwhile after visiting my hometown inland, I later made the long trek to the L.A. Public Library to renew my non-resident library card. It’s a great thing to have with so much digital book content (!) but not sure why they require renewing in person each year. Have they not heard of online renewal? Whatever the case, I managed to get the coveted card and bid adieu to downtown. While in the area I had to navigate such busy freeways as the 10, the 101, the 110, and the 405. Was I on the 60? I probably was. But not sure we need to be driving much with the gas prices as high as they are.
And now let’s see what’s releasing this month. May is a big month for books, and such notable authors with novels out include: Matt Haig, Ruth Sepetys, Michael Connelly, Sarah Damoff, Katherine Center, Kathryn Stockett, and Martha Wells among others. I’m looking at these and a few others below that have caught my eye.
First off is Elizabeth Strout’s new novel The Things We Never Say about a married high school teacher who confronts despair and loneliness and later charts a new course when his son confides a secret to him. It sounds wistful and poignant and features a new character in Artie Dam, aged 57, who’s outside of Strout’s previous book series. Apparently Strout’s done with her beloved characters: Lucy Barton, the Burgess Boys, and Olive Kitteridge … but wait, not fully! In her new book: Artie picks up the novel Olive Kitteridge, which affects him in ways … so alas, Strout dovetails yet again. Yay.
Next is the new novel by previous Booker winner Douglas Stuart titled John of John (due out May 5) that follows a closeted gay young man who returns from college to his Scottish childhood home on Hebrides island to an insular community of sheep farmers and weavers and a fraying family and father with expectations.
It sounds like another winner from Douglas Stuart, who for whatever reason, I haven’t read yet. His other two novels were said to be very bleak, but this one perhaps is a bit less so. According to Kirkus Reviews in this: “Stuart again taps profound human truth” with his gift for creating vibrant characters and settings. So what are we waiting for?
Also I’m looking at Eve J. Chung’s new novel The Young Will Remember (due out May 5) about a Chinese American journalist who becomes trapped behind enemy lines during the Korean War and must try to survive from an older North Korean woman who takes her in and thinks she’s her long-lost daughter.
Marjan Kamali calls it: “a searing portrait of war’s moral failures” and “a revealing exploration of women during the Korean war.” I meant to read Eve Chung’s compelling debut Daughters of Shandong when it came out in 2024 and so now I have both to read. Apparently Eve Chung is a Taiwanese American human rights lawyer who lives with her family in New York … and writes in her spare time?
On the screen this month there’s a number of movies to peruse … but if you’re looking for a TV series perhaps The Other Bennett Sister on BritBox will engage you starting May 6. In movies, Devil Wears Prada 2 (due out May 1) is likely to be big and it’s been advertised a lot. You recall the original movie from 2006 and now 20 years later here are the same actors in the sequel.
I don’t think it’ll be as good as the first, but still I am curious to see where it goes. Its plot is that two decades after Andy Sachs (Ann Hathaway) left Runway magazine she’s laid off from her newsroom job and returns to work for Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep) at Runway once again. Stanley Tucci is back as Priestley’s right hand man, and Emily Blunt as an executive at Dior. Even such actors as Lucy Liu and Kenneth Branagh appear in spouse roles and Lady Gaga drops in as herself. I hope #2 Prada will be fun and have some laughs.
Also Remarkably Bright Creatures based on the 2022 bestselling novel by Shelby Van Pelt will be coming out as a movie on Netflix on May 8. (The novel sold over 2 million copies!) Actress Sally Field plays Tova, the elderly caretaker at an aquarium in the Northwest who sets off to help a young man (played by Lewis Pullman) find his father. You might recall from the novel that Tova makes a connection with the octopus — Marcellus — at the aquarium and he plays an endearing role.
The movie might be a little saccharine in places, but it’s likely worth a swirl. How often do we get to see Sally Field anymore? The film was shot in Vancouver, Canada … standing in for the fictional Sowell Bay in Washington state, which is in the book.
Next is the spy-ish movie Jack Ryan: Ghost War on Prime May 20. This is a continuation of the TV series of Jack Ryan with John Krasinski. In it he reunites with his old CIA operatives to fight an enemy that apparently has their number.
Also two movies out on May 26 look promising. Brendan Fraser plays President Eisenhower in the movie Pressure as he risks everything to launch D-Day — the most dangerous seaborne invasion in history. It’s adapted from a stage play about the tense 72 hours leading up to Ike’s decision to go ahead with the plan. Also the movie Tuner staring Leo Woodall looks a bit twisty about a talented piano tuner who learns he has the aptitude to crack safes, which turns his life upside down. The British actor sure seems to have gained a fanbase since his days on The White Lotus, eh?
And lastly in music for May, there’s new albums releasing by such artists as the Black Keys, Kacey Musgraves, Jack Johnson, Ryan Bingham, Tori Amos, Paul McCartney, and Willie Nelson among others. Wow that’s quite a line-up. I need to investigate some of these. I like the bluesy rock of the Black Keys. And Peaches! is the duo’s 14th studio album (out May 1). You can listen to the single Where there’s Smoke, There’s Fire here.
That’s all for now. What about you — which new releases are you looking forward to? Happy May.
