A Quiet Reading Month | May 2022 Wrap-Up
The chaos in my life continues but this time a little quieter. May came and went, I was just as stressed as before and just when I think I have my shit together, everything falls apart again. My reading was incredibly sporadic, I kept picking books up only to abandon them after a chapter or two. Luckily, the books that I did manage to read were great! So let’s get into my May 2022 Wrap-Up!
The Books I Read in May
I’m just a simple girl, dreaming of a consistent reading routine…but am unable to create one, apparently. But this year, I have at least been blessed with great books! Seriously, 2022 has given me so many fun and phenomenal books, someone in the universe clearly loves me.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler – Casey McQuiston
I Kissed Shara Wheeler is one of my favourite YA releases of the year.
As a lover of mysteries and angry queer girls, this book was perfect for me. I adored the unlikely friendships, the mystery of it all, and the complex exploration of queerness and faith. There are so many aspects to this story that it’s hard to put into words.
I listened to the audiobook version, which is read by the incredible Natalie Naudus! She has quickly become one of my most favourite narrators and I’m always super excited when I see she’s narrating an upcoming release.
You can find my full review here!
Long Story Short – Serena Kaylor
Long Story Short was a delightful Ya romcom with Shakespearean flair.
As a theatre nerd, this book was utterly delightful. It’s sweet and funny and has perfect summer vibes. Maths genius Bea is sent to a Shakespeare summer camp by her parents to prove she can be a regular teenager and attend Oxford in the fall. If she doesn’t complete tasks they set for her, they won’t allow her to attend.
This book has a little enemies to lovers romance, Shakespeare quote battles and all the nerdy goodness. If you’re looking for something with wonderful characters and summer vibes, this one might be for you!
You can find my full review here!
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Nettle and Bone – T. Kingfisher
Nettle and Bone is one of the most hilarious fantasy books I’ve read in a while. I was surprised by the amount of humor in it because the main character Marra is out to kill the prince who has been abusing and killing her sisters for decades. Despite its darker plotline, there are many light moments, especially when it comes to a chicken possessed by a demon.
In general, the characters are exactly my kind of weird and whimsical and I loved the writing style! I did have some issues with the pacing and some timeline jumps but overall this was a fantastic read. I feel like if you enjoyed Little Thieves, you might enjoy this as well!
You can find my full review here!
Goal Check-In
In this part of my May 2022 Wrap-Up, I look back at my 2022 goals and reflect on how it’s going!
There’s Work to Do
We are pretty much halfway through 2022 and my goals are looking mighty uncompleted. In my April Wrap-Up, I talked about changing and abandoning goals and why that’s okay. So my goals aren’t even the same as they were when I set them! However, I still haven’t made as much progress as I hoped.
In particular, my specific reading goals are all unfinished! In fact, I haven’t really made any progress towards them. I wanted to read 5 translated books, 3 German books, 5 books by disabled authors with disability rep and read one of my death books every month. And looking at my (very barebones) tracking,,,I haven’t really managed any of those goals. So I have some work to do!
I’ve learned that by my nature of being a massive mood reader, sometimes specific goals like this are a little hard for me. So my plan on tackling them: devote time and attention and give myself a big range of books to choose from! My TBR certainly holds enough books to fit all those categories for me to easily find books I want to read. I just have to keep checking in.
Hitting a Reading Goal
I read 50 books so far this year! That’s way beyond my base goal of 33 and I’m very happy with how much I’ve been reading this year. Granted, 30 of those books were from my 30 books in 31 days challenge, but it’s still nice to see such a big number. My reading isn’t as consistent as I would like it to be but in exchange I’ve had an incredible time with the books I chose. 2022 might be my best reading year yet!
Personal Update
Let’s talk about my life outside of books, shall we?
I finally finished that dreaded paper I’ve been talking about for months and months! It is done, sent off and I am not going to think about it ever again. It’s arguably the worst piece of academic work I have ever written but I am just so proud of myself for writing it.
To celebrate, I spent a wonderful weekend with friends that was also a birthday celebration for one of them! We cooked good food, played D&D (my character almost died and it was very stressful) and played Mario Party. Overall, this weekend was a much-needed break from my regular life that I desperately needed.
Some Closing Words
And that’s my May 2022 Wrap-Up! While I didn’t read as much as I wanted, I worked hard on my uni work and I’m so happy to finally tick off an assignment that was stressing me a lot. I’m honestly still recovering from all that stress despite technically needing to start working on the next big thing: my dissertation. I have a bunch of incredible books on my TBR that I’ll hopefully read in June. So here’s to a wonderful month for us all!
⭐️ How was your May?
⭐️ Do you have any kind of reading routine??
I hope you have a lovely day,
If you like my work and would like to support me, you can buy me a coffee!
14 Comments
Leah's Books
Ooooh I loved Nettle and Bone, it was absolutely hilarious! And congratulations on reading so much past your original goal and getting your paper done – it feels good to get dreaded tasks out of the way and not have them hanging over your head. Here’s to an amazing June!
abookowlscorner
Congrats on finishing that paper! I’m sure it’s way better than you’re giving yourself credit for!! 💙 You really deserved to celebrate afterwards!
As for your goals – I relate so hard 🤣 I said I wanted to read 10 German books this year and so far, I’ve read three (one of which I despised, one of which I really didn’t like, and one that was pretty mediocre) 🙈 So that particular goal is also going horribly for me, as is reading stuff in French and Russian, which I also haven’t done… Whoops! 🤣 But I guess as long as we’re enjoying what we’re mood reading, it’s fine 😇😁
bookshelfsoliloquies
Thank you!! I still haven’t heard anything about the paper so maybe it was so terrible that the teacher has chosen to ignore me haha. I just never feel in the mood for a German book somehow, I think because I haven’t read much in German outside of academic texts in years my brain now doesn’t associate German with reading for fun. But I have hope for us both 😌
Lina
Ahh I need to get to Shara Wheeler and this made me rly excited for it!! I’m also very curious to see how that reading 3 german books goal progresses… I was trying to at least read a few german books per year, too, but so far….I’ve failed by either not reading any german books or disliking the ones I picked up…..
Wish you a great June!!
bookshelfsoliloquies
I have a few German books on my TBR (including the new Kai Meyer one, the cover looked cool haha) but who knows if I’ll actually read them. It’s been so long since I read anything in German, I sometimes genuinely forget I’m able to because it’s literally my native language lol. I hope you have a great June, too! ✨
Lia
omg hello?? I read Shara Wheeler and Nettle & Bone too!! LOVE both books. So glad you enjoyed reading them too! yay
bookshelfsoliloquies
They were both so good and I’m so glad I read them last month!!
Marie
Ah I’m SO happy you loved Shara Wheeler, it’s one of my most anticipated reads and you make it sound even more fantastic. I’m pumped! I also am eager to read Long Story Short, it sounds like such a good read.
Congratulations on smashing your reading goal, wow, you’ve read so much already that’s fantastic!! And yay for finishing that paper, as well. I hope June will be a lovely month! <3
bookshelfsoliloquies
Shara Wheeler surprised me a lot but I also went into it knowing fairly little and having no specific expectations. But it did so many things right for me and I loved it! I hope you’ll enjoy it as well whenever you read it! And thank you so much, I’m actually really proud of my reading this year. It’s not always as consistent as I’d like, but 2022 is definitely my best reading year yet in terms of awesome books!
gauri @ a book and chai
congrats on finishing your reading goal and your paper!! adding nettle and bone to my tbr haha, hope you have a good june <33
bookshelfsoliloquies
Thank you!! And yes, please tell me what you think of it when you get around to it!
Caro @ bookcheshirecat
It’s great that you were able to love so many books in May! I’m really excited for Long Story Short, as it sounds like the perfect summer read 🥰 I hope you manage to find a reading routine! Also congrats on finishing your paper 🥳
Your Tita Kate
I’ve been loooonging to read Nettle & Bone so I’m off to scope out your review 👁
bookshelfsoliloquies
I don’t think my review does it justice but it’s really like Little Thieves older whacky cousin taking you on a less harrowing adventure (still lots of trauma but less of a visceral gut punch than Little Thieves)! Greatly enjoyed the vibes so I feel like you might have a fun time with it too!