May Reads in Review (2010)

Last catch-up post on past months' reading and then I can return to reviewing.

May Reads in Review (links to reviews provided, if applicable):

59. A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass (YA) -Mia has felt like a freak since the day she was heckled for writing a math problem in a variety of colors, at school. She sees sounds, numbers and letters in color. When she finds out she has synesthesia, she tries to enhance the sensations and almost loses touch with the rest of the world. Then a sudden loss changes everything.

60. The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy (Gen Fic) - Simon's wonderful first book, republished by HarperPerennial with an extra story. Will also review this one, soon.

61. Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby (NF) - The third and, apparently, last collection of Hornby's columns about the books he's bought and read, orig. published in Believer magazine.

62. Non Campus Mentis, ed. by Anders Hendriksson (Humor) - The first of Hendriksson's books of hilarious mistakes (some probably deliberate) written by college students.

63. Life in Spite of Me by Kristen Anderson (NF/Memoir) - The memoir of a young woman who attempted suicide by lying down on train tracks and instead lost her legs but lived to tell her tale and become a Christian who works to prevent suicide.

64. The Prophecy by Dawn Mills (YA/Paranormal) - A classic tale of good versus evil, in which a group of 5 young people must protect the world from fallen angels.

65. Faustine by Emma Tennant (Gen Fic) - The Devil made her do it. An updated version of Faust, in which a young Australian seeks out her grandmother and finds, instead, the Devil and a woman who sold her soul for youth and beauty.

66. Spaceheadz by Jon Scieszka (CH) - Aliens have invaded a classroom and Michael K. must help them. Meanwhile a bumbling agent of the Anti-Alien Agency tries to stop them. The first in a new series.

67. If You Follow Me by Malena Watrous (Gen Fic) - After her father's suicide, Marina is lost. She travels to Japan to teach English with her lesbian lover but the relationship and the new life aren't quite what she anticipated.

68. A Hundred Feet Over Hell by Jim Hooper (NF/Vietnam) - The true story of the Catkillers, men who flew in slow, weaponless aircraft at low altitudes to mark targets. Vivid, first-person accounts make for a very exciting, emotional read.

69. Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev (YA/Fantasy) - The Theatre Illuminata is Bertie Shakespeare's only home. But, when she's told she must leave, she's determined to find a way to make a contribution so that she may remain in her home. Utterly magical tale with mischievous fairies, a dashing pirate and a dangerously seductive air spirit.

70. Appetite for Detention by Sloane Tanen (YA) - A very short book about life as a teenager, with minimal text and hilarious photos in which the teenagers are fluffy chicks.

71. Dead End Gene Pool by Wendy Burden (Memoir) - A Vanderbilt heiress shares what it was like to grow up surrounded by entitlement, luxury and dissipation.

72. F My Life, ed. by Vallete, Passaglia and Guedj (NF) - I've never seen the website, but this book is a collection of anecdotes about very bad experiences. Some were side-splitting, but the vast majority were just revolting.

73. Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff (Hist. Fic) - An elderly lady reflects on her brief affair with a traveling man while her husband was away at war.

74. Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert (NF/Science) - Brace yourself for the a terrifying look at climate change by a journalist who traveled the world to speak to scientists in a variety of fields. Each described different signs pointing to dramatic change in our time and the deadly changes yet to come, as well as the truth about what dramatic climate change has done to humans in the past.

75. Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler (YA) - Friendship and honesty are challenged when two best friends grieving a tragic loss go to California with the goal of meeting twenty boys.

76. The Secret Lives of Princesses by Lechermeier, illus. by Dautremer (CH) - A startlingly beautiful, quirky book about princesses for children. Plan to review this one very soon -- a book that little girls will want to read over and over and over and over.

77. The Making of a Duchess by Shana Galen (Hist. Rom) - An action-packed romance in which a governess is sent to a French Duke's home to find evidence that he's a spy.

78. Sunrise in the West by Edith Pargeter (Hist. Fic) - The first book in The Brothers of Gwynedd, full of intrigue and war, clever women and wily men in Welsh and English royalty, during the Middle Ages.

And, now, we shall return to everyday reviewing. Obviously, I still have plenty of reviews to get to. This week, I finished only one book -- just one!! Horrors. I've been wrapped up in The Passage by Justin Cronin and it's taking me forever, so I may do some quick little side reads, just to ease my mind. The Passage is an excellent reminder of why I dislike chunksters (I'm too slow!!!!); but, it's so gripping that I can't talk myself into not picking it up at night.

I'm also reading Emma by Jane Austen (brain break material) and still have not touched A Rumor of War in well over a week. Hopefully, I'll be able to dive right back into Rumor, when I'm ready. Emma and A Rumor of War have the advantage of lacking urgency, whereas The Passage is an ARC and needs to be finished as soon as possible. The release date is Tuesday and I've heard the library queues are already quite long in some places. I have a feeling it will sell very, very well. I'm finding I agree with the hype over The Passage.

What are you reading, today?