What We Read - May 2022
Hello and welcome!
In today's post, I'm going to be sharing with you the books that I read in the month of May (or some I rather finished in May) as well as share with you some books that my toddler has really been loving. Last month I shared only chapter books that we read but this month, he just wasn't as into chapter books so we only got through one and have started reading a repeated chapter book from last month (click here to read about Dinosaur Trouble and other chapters books for toddlers). But he has found two new series of picture books that he is completely obsessed with, so I thought I would share those with you today ifq you are like me and have a dinosaur and animal-obsessed tiny human in your life.
Now, let's get into the books.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The first book I finished this month was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I know, how in the world have I lived this long without reading Little Women? Honestly, I have no idea. I've not read much classic literature and have set a goal for myself this year to read more pieces of classic literature. I started with Little Women, not for any particular reason other than I wanted to. I absolutely loved this book and the stories that filled the pages. I never would've guessed all the crazy things that would happen within the book but I guess that's why it is a classic.
If you aren't familiar with Little Women, it follows the lives of the March family, specifically the four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. The book is all about the four girls' growing up and it's just incredible. It's beautifully written and full of love and loss, excitement and uncertainty. Highly recommend reading this if you haven't already. I also want to mention that I read a physical copy of this book. I ordered the 150th-anniversary edition from Amazon and it is actually illustrated as well and SO lovely.
1950s Housewife: Marriage and Homemaking in the 1950s by Shelia Hardy
Another book I finished this month was a really interesting read by Shelia Hardy all about what life was like for the 1950s housewife in England. I have pretty much always been very intrigued by the 1950s and in recent years I've specifically been interested in what it was like for housewives at the time since becoming a housewife myself. This book was perfect for this. It covered everything from pre-marriage to marriage with kids. It even covered the layout of homes and how they changed over the time period and what new appliances were making their appearances during this era. I found it to be very interesting and written very well that wasn't too much like a textbook. I read this on my Kindle and it was the first book I've finished completely on my Kindle. I have to say, I'm really loving the Kindle!
Redemption by Karen Kingsbury with Gary Smalley
The next book I read this month was my first ever Karen Kingsbury novel. I've heard my mom talk about Karen Kingsbury over the years and my sister has recently really got into her work as well. But I have to be completely honest. I had heard Karen Kingsbury referred to as "Nicholas Sparks but Christian" which made it a total no. I do not like strictly romance novels. For my personal preference one of the last stories I want to read is one where she's a widow and he's a single dad of twins, they bump into each other at a coffee shop after she's just come from the doctor with life-changing news and will they take a chance on love again? The answer is yes and probably they will take a chance on it in a cottage on the beach where they always wear oversized knit cardigans and look out at the ocean like every new day is a chance for their whole world to implode. I basically just wrote a New York Times Best Seller. It's just not my cup of tea. I want something with a little more meat to it if that makes sense. I know there are some hardcore romance lovers out there, I just so happen to not be one of them. So because of this, I've avoided Karen Kingsbury for years but I finally decided to try one of her novels. Let me start with this, she is most certainly not the Christian Nicholas Sparks. She is way better in my opinion.
My sister literally lent me an entire series which I'm very grateful for. There are 6 books and they follow the Baxter Family. All the children in the family are adults and this first book follows a period of time for daughter, Kari, and what happens as she finds her husband having an affair. It's all... crazy. I don't know how else to describe it. These books are filled with practical Christian examples as well. To me, that just adds to it and helps me think more critically in my own walk of faith. Overall just a super great book and I'm very excited to read the rest of the series. I read a physical copy of this book. I've decided that since there are so many books in this series and there are so many books I want to read, I will be reading a different book in between each of the Redemption series books. Just to mix it up and make the series last that bit longer. It's good to have variety.
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
This leads me right into my next book which is the first physical book I read after I finished the first book of Redemption before I started the second book. The Paris Apartment is really a classic mystery "whodunit" novel. It follows Jess, a girl on a mission to escape her rather crappy life and go stay with her brother in Paris. The only problem is when she shows up at his apartment at the agreed-upon time, her brother is nowhere to be found. The apartment building is old and full of wild neighbors with even wilder pasts.
I have to say overall I give this book 3.75 out of 5 stars. The storyline was really interesting. But I do feel as though it had quite a long and drawn-out build-up for the incredible ending. Other than being a bit slow to get to the juicy stuff, I think this was a great story. I really enjoyed it and it shed some light on some really important societal issues which I think was a great tie in so two thumbs up to Lucy Foley for that. I will also say this had a bit more language and some descriptive scenes that I don't usually prefer. But it was not bad at all. Overall, great story. I, again, read this as a physical book.
Next, I would like to get into some books that my almost 3-year-old read and enjoyed this month.
Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
The only chapter book we got through this month was from Kate DiCamillo's spin-off series of the Mercy Watson books. This series is called Tales of Deckawoo Drive. Basically what this series does is each book focuses on a different person that has made an appearance in the original Mercy Watson books. This month we read about my personal favorite character, Eugenia Lincoln.
It was a really cute and fun story about Eugenia Lincoln mysteriously receiving an accordion in the mail. It was very funny and was full of the typical Mercy Watson humor. I really liked this book but my son didn't like it as much as he liked the other Mercy Watson books. I think part of it was that Mercy Watson wasn't the main character, which is his favorite most likely because she's a pig. Another part I think was that the illustrations were not in color like they were in our other books. I think that was a big thumbs down from my toddler. We have a paperback copy but the hardcovers may have colored illustrations, I'm not sure. But the story is overall really fun so I would still recommend it! This book is for 1st to 4th-grade reading levels.
Dinosaur Rescue, Dinosaur Pirates, Dinosaur Dig, and Dinosaur Rocket all by Penny Dale
A new series of books that my son has actually found at our local library has completely captivated him. He has really gotten into dinosaurs lately and at our library, we found some real dinosaur treasure. This series of books is perfect if you have a dinosaur-loving child. In each story, the dinosaurs have a job. I like this because then we are learning about different jobs and things rather than just reading about dinosaurs. The illustrations are beautiful, the stories are simple and fun with repetition that my son loves. The ones I have listed here are the ones offered by our library but there are actually three more books to go along in this series. A 10/10 from mom and toddler! These are classified to be for ages 2 to 5.
The Click, Clack, Moo series by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
Another series my toddler has discovered at our local library is the Click, Clack, Moo series by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin. I honestly have no idea how many of these books there are but they are absolutely adorable. They are all about Farmer Brown and his mischievous animals, specifically led by a naughty duck. These are very simple but very funny stories. They have lots of fun sounds and I find them to be very interactive. I highly recommend these books for your little ones. They are captivating and so much fun. I think both my son and I's favorite is Dooby Dooby Moo. These are classified to be for ages 3 to 5.
Overall, these are the books that I read in the month of May as well as some suggestions from my toddler of books that he really loved. To get technical, I read two full books this month and finished two other books, which I would say are still pretty good, considering my little time to sit down and read.
I hope you enjoyed this post and found some inspiration for your TBR list.
Until next time.
*Book images were taken from Amazon
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