May Preview

Hi all, we’re into May now, yay. How’s your spring going? Mid-May is our planting season for our vegetable patch and the annuals around the house — also our spring yard cleanup and mowing begins. It’s a busy time around here, but first I’ll be returning to SoCal later in the week for a short trip to attend a Celebration of Life for my Dad that his work colleagues are giving and to meet my new grandniece born on Earth Day April 22. She has arrived into our lives at a much needed time and I can’t wait to meet her.

Yesterday was my first bike ride of the season and it was nice to be out and about. It’s oddly already reaching 80 degrees now after snowing last week. Crazy but true. Apparently it seems we’re going straight from winter into summer without much spring. My summer golf league here will start this Wednesday and I need to get out on the practice range, so I can hit the ball consistently. This is my second season in the league and I’m still a newbie. I played some golf earlier in my life then have re-picked it back up decades later. It’s a pretty fun sport when you’re with a group of others.

Unfortunately the news continues to be dismal with announced cuts now to NPR, PBS, libraries, museums, theaters, education, and people’s jobs. It’s horrible! So much for the arts, sigh. And the economy is shrinking with grocery and other prices staying high. It’s hard not to doom scroll one’s days away. I’m staying informed but also trying to find escape in the outdoors and reading. Here is my book recap (below) for March and April. I think I only finished three in March and six in April.

What do think about this group of reads? There’s some heavier ones mixed with a couple lighter reads. I think Enter Ghost and The Scrapbook (coming in June) were my favorites. And I’ll be reviewing Wild Dark Shore next time.

And now let’s chat about new books releasing in May. There’s new novels by such well-known authors as: Fredrik Backman, Ocean Vuong, Kevin Wilson, Brendan Slocumb, Michael Connelly, Stephen King, and Isabel Allende among others. While those look enticing, my head has sort of glommed onto a few others — maybe because of the news and what I can tolerate these days.

First off, Virginia Evans’ novel The Correspondent (April 29, okay it’s a late April book!) is said be a “charming debut … that takes the form of letters and emails exchanged by a divorced and retired woman with her friends, family, foes, and literary idols.” She’s lived a full life as a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcée, and distinguished lawyer, but when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes she must send the letter she’s been unwilling to send before. This novel has very high ratings on Goodreads and includes a strong older female protagonist who’s apparently a lovable curmudgeon. I’m usually not a big reader of epistolary novels but with all the high praise about it, I must give it a go.

Next up is another clever debut novel titled The Names (out May 6). This one is by Florence Knapp that spans thirty-five years and follows three alternate storylines of a British family’s lives, which includes mother Cora, her daughter Maia, 9, her new born son, and her controlling husband Gordon. In each of the three timelines, Cora assigns the baby a different name, and the lives of the family members unfold quite differently. Apparently, the three storylines turn in surprising ways and explore the effects of domestic abuse, the ties of family, and the possibilities of healing. I’m not usually an alternate plot kind of reader, but this novel is said to be one of the most anticipated novels of the year and so I don’t plan to miss it. Will it live up to its positive hype? It seems to contain some trigger warnings of abuse and mental health, so I’ll put that out there but I’m hoping it’s a beautiful read too.

And lastly in books for this month are two nonfiction titles that I can’t quite ignore. Ron Chernow’s 1,200 page tome about the life of Mark Twain (1835-1910) comes out May 13, which looks to be a whopper of a biography. Twain seemed to have had his hand in so many facets of 19th-century life; he was everywhere, and was quite the personality and the quintessential American author.

Apparently the book explores many of his contradictions. Granted it’s a bit intimidating as I haven’t read a book this long in quite a while. The novel Gone With the Wind might have been my longest. What about you?

The other nonfiction book is Last Secret Agent: My Life as a Spy Behind Nazi Lines by Pippa Latour with Jude Dobson. Latour, who died in 2023 at age 102, was the last surviving undercover British female agent of the (SOE) in World War II, who parachuted into Normandy and worked as a radio operator in occupied France. She called in German troop deployments and relayed info for Resistance efforts.

Apparently Latour didn’t reveal her wartime story till late in life when her kids found out about it from the internet, but it’s said to be a remarkable account — one filled with inspiration and true courage.

On the screen this month, there’s two films with particularly strong real-life female hero protagonists. The film Words of War (out May 2) is getting much coverage and is based on the true story of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and her brave crusade, fighting for an independent voice in Putin’s Russia. Tragically she was gunned down in 2006, but her story lives on in this portrayal of her by British actress Maxine Peake.

Also the movie Lily (out May 9), starring Patricia Clarkson, looks good based on the life of Lilly Ledbetter, who was a tire factory supervisor who fought for equal pay for women. Both films’ storylines appear to be strong along with their performances.

In TV series this month, there’s Murderbot (on AppleTV+ starting May 16), based on the popular book series by Martha Wells, about a security android (played by Alexander Skarsgård) who struggles to hide his free thoughts while balancing dangerous missions. I have not read these novels yet, but others have loved them.

Also Season 2 of Nine Perfect Strangers (starring Nicole Kidman) about a group of rich city folk who visit a health resort where they’re promised transformation begins on May 21 on Hulu. Its premise seems quite a bit like The White Lotus’s eh? Both shows are pretty cukie, but they make for pretty good escapes when you need one. Though if you’re looking for something a bit calmer, try the four-part series Miss Austen on PBS starting May 4, that explores why Cassandra, Jane’s sister, burned most of Jane’s personal letters after her death. Hmm. That’s one way to tick off fans.

Lastly in music releases this month, there’s new albums by Arcade Fire, Counting Crows, Maren Morris, Thom Yorke, Suzanne Vega, The Head and the Heart, and Anderson East among others. I’ll pick Anderson East’s new album Worthy coming out May 30. He has a great voice. For a listen, here’s his new single “Say I Love You.”

Whoosh that’s all for now. What about you — which releases are looking forward to this month? Happy May.