May was a solid, if not stand-out reading month. Lots of books I liked or liked a lot, but none that clearly stood out above the rest. And, no 5 star reads. So, while I do have a favorite book of the month, it was a bit of a toss-up for that title.
I spent the first few weeks of the month getting my 2018 Summer Reading List together and I’m so excited about all the books that made it on! And, just to explode your TBR a bit further, I shared My Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2018 last week. These books are coming out later this summer that I (mostly) haven’t read yet (compared to my Summer Reading List, where I’ve read every book on it).
I read 8 books this month…and I fit audiobooks back into my life! I finally finished the new Tiger Woods biography, which is over 15 hours long…about 3 times the length of my normal audiobooks. And, I listened to one more (The Mockingbird Next Door).
Winners
- FAVORITE BOOK OF THE MONTH: How to Walk Away by Katherine Center (my review)
- The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll
- The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamayira
- The Mockingbird Next Door by Marja Mills (Audiobook)
- Tiger Woods by Jeff Benedict (Audiobook)
- Tin Man by Sarah Winman
- We Are Gathered by Jamie Weisman
Losers
DNF’s
- Florida by Lauren Groff
Best-Selling Book (via my affiliate links)
Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties by Camille Pagan – my #1 “Fun” pick from my 2018 Summer Reading List
Announcements
- The 2018 Summer Reading List is here! Get out your TBR lists…
- Personalized Book Recommendations and the Superstars Facebook Group are now available to anyone who supports Sarah’s Book Shelves on Patreon!
May Quality and Recommendation Sources
Reading Quality
May 2018
- % Successful Books Attempted (includes DNF’s) = 78% (way above my 43% success rate from 2017)
- % Successful Books Finished (does not include DNFs) = 88%
2018 Year-to-Date (through May)
- % Successful Books Attempted (includes DNF’s) = 57% (above my 43% success rate from 2017)
- % Successful Books Finished (does not include DNFs) = 85%
Successful Recommendation Sources
- Read It Forward’s Favorite Books of the Month (How to Walk Away, The Favorite Sister, Tin Man)
- Library Reads Best of the Month lists (The Girl Who Smiled Beads, The Favorite Sister, Tin Man)
- Catherine at The Gilmore Guide to Books (The Favorite Sister, Tin Man)
- Book of the Month (The Girl Who Smiled Beads, How to Walk Away)
- Annie Jones from From the Front Porch podcast (The Mockingbird Next Door)
- Nicole Bonia from The Readerly Podcast (The Girl Who Smiled Beads)
- Susie at Novel Visits (Tin Man)
- Tara at Running N Reading (The Favorite Sister)
- Renee at It’s Book Talk (How to Walk Away)
- Jan Belisle, Blog Reader (How to Walk Away)
- Bill Simmons, The Ringer Podcast Network (Tiger Woods)
- Rebecca Schinsky, All the Books Podcast (We Are Gathered)
- Liberty Hardy, All the Books Podcast (Tin Man)
- Amy at Read a Latte (Tin Man)
- Bookpage (Tin Man)
If you’re interested in tracking these types of stats, my “Rock Your Reading” Tracker does all the heavy lifting for you! Enter your book details and it automatically compiles everything into Summary Charts in real time! Go here for more details.
June Releases I’m Excited About
Us Against You by Fredrick Backman (June 5)
Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton (June 5) – Already read & really liked!
Visible Empire by Hannah Pittard (June 5) – Already read & really liked!
We Are Gathered by Jamie Weisman (June 5)
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza (June 12)
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (June 19)
Most Popular Posts
Posts Actually Published in May
2018 Summer Reading List
April and May 2018 Books to Read (and Skip)
Book of the Month May 2018 Selections: What Book Should You Choose?
Overall Posts
The same as above…and that NEVER happens!
Favorite Posts by Fellow Bloggers
- Ann at Books on the Table talks celebrity book endorsements and shares some quotes from industry insiders that are sure to spark discussion in her post titled Reese Recommends It, You Read It.
- I rarely read feel-good books, but I often get recommendation requests for feel-good books! So, I’m glad to have Off the Shelf‘s list of 13 Feel Good Novels You’re Going to Love to refer to.
- Reading in Winter talks spoiler alerts and when they’re necessary (particularly related to comparing books)…and I have strong feelings about this!
- Rikki and Michaela at The Ardent Biblio shared the Books That Gave Them the Best Hangovers.
- Two of my favorite things together. Slow clap for Book Riot for their If the Men from The Bachelorette Were Books post! Let’s all hope this becomes a staple of every Bachelor franchise season!
- It’s Summer Reading List time! Here are some of my favorites…Novel Visits, Modern Mrs. Darcy, Bookbub, The New York Post
How was your reading month?
Clearly, I”m in the minority about The Favorite Sister. I just couldn’t get into it. I didn’t like The Luckiest Girl Alive either, so maybe it’s her writing style? Or that I don’t watch reality TV? I have Camille Pagan’s book in my iPad–it was a Kindle Daily Deal, so I’m glad to hear you liked it!
As always, I enjoy your book reviews!
I’m betting it’s b/c you don’t watch reality TV b/c I DNF’d Luckiest Girl Alive!
I’m glad you liked Tin Man. I really liked that one, too. Happy June!
Thanks for the shout outs, Sarah. I’m surprised to see you only had one DNF, but a little relieved to see that Florida didn’t work for you either. Here’s to all those new summer releases being awesome! (I seem to remember that last summer many of us hit a slump. Please, no to this year.)
Oh Lord…don’t remind me! That was a bad one! It took months and Heart’s Invisible Furies to get me out of it!
Sarah, thanks for mentioning my post! Hope June is a great reading month for you.
You’re welcome and you too!