Favourite book of May?

It's a difficult choice this month but I'll say Ask the Dust by John Fante.

I've had a couple of really excellent books this month:

Broken Skin - Stuart MacBride - 9/10
No Humans Involved - Kelley Armstrong - 9/10

I have also read many excellent books this month. I will have to choose Suite Francaise as my favorite with The March by E.L. Doctorow as a close second.

I feel like this was a slow month for me, but that might just be because most of the books I read were rereads. Or maybe because there were four books that I started but couldn't finish.

I will finish Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane before the month is out, and that is my favorite for the month. The top new book is Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, though I liked Inkspell (the other new book I read) too.

Hands down, it was The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.

I think it will turn out to be The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

I only completed one other book this month, and it was one I did not particularly like. :-)

Caesar, Life of a Colossus by Adrian Goldsworthy, a biography of Julius Caesar, was the best book I read in May. Surprising, because I consider myself more of a lover of novels than non-fiction.

(Edited to try to add touchstones. This time they worked! Yay!)

The time travelers wife, just loved it. Very different and less predictable than most of the stuff I read.

Loved all 3 of Shanna Swendson's Enchanted books!

I'd say A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

I've had a fantastic reading month. Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay was definitely the best thing I read; I loved it so much that I instantly expanded my Ultimate Favourites list from three titles to four.

Otherwise, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, House of Dreams by Pauline Gedge, and His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik all ranked quite highly. I'd give Mistborn 4.5 stars and the others 4.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B by Sandra Gulland were my favorites for the month. If I finish it this month, I suspect The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins will join them.

The Children of Men by P.D. James was probably my favorite. I loved the movie, and I loved the book, although they were fairly different. Both were interesting, intelligent and effective.

The Push Man and Other Stories-Yoshihiro Tatsumi

It is a little odd, but Tatsumi is a master story teller.

For it's life-changing, paradigm shifting ideas,
The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker.

And an enjoyable rich read as well.

Because somehow it's just a fascinating read: Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

Because I had fun reading it: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.

#16 Willow316 - Thunderstruck was my favorite this month too. I really enjoy Erik Larson's work. I've read The Devil in the White City and enjoyed it as well. I need to see if he's written anything else.

Ooh, I just finished another one: Under the Skin by Michel Faber and it was very good.

The Secret Life of Bees was definitely my top for May. I absolutely adored it, truly wonderful.

I really, really enjoyed Lover Revealed by J.R. Ward which was a surprise because I didn't expect to like it so much. Definitely my fave book of May!

The Visitor by Sheri S Tepper, a post-apocalyptic novel I couldn't put down. My first time reading from this author and I'll definitely be trying more.

No contest, Stir-Fry by Emma Donoghue. It was set in Dublin and written by a native Dubliner, and the dialogue was fantastic.

I re-read a couple of old favorites, The Eyre Affair and The Telling, and tried a handful of new books from the library, of which the best was Elmore Leonard's Mr. Paradise.

The award definitely goes to The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell!! ;)

#22 Sandragon ~ Ooooh, reading Tepper for the first time! I do envy you that pleasure. :)

Having read and enjoyed pretty much everything she's written, I'm really looking forward to her latest, The Margarets. My favorites of hers (so far) were The Gate to Women's Country and Grass.

Storeetllr,

It's nice to find another person who enjoys Tepper :o) I've seen such mixed reviews of her work.

I have Shadow's End from the library to read in the next few weeks, but I'm also looking forward to others such as Grass and The Gate to Women's Country. Actually, I'm glad you mentioned these as your favorites, because the person who introduced me to Tepper said The Visitor is the best and her favorite, and I was worried I'd only have down to go from there!

Sandragon ~ Yeah, Tepper can be a bit uneven, but I usually enjoy her stuff, even the few I've forgotten as soon as I finished. I never really hesitate to pick up a new one by her because there's always something interesting in them. :)

My favorite(s) would have to be the two Mercedes Lackey books I reread: Brightly Burning and Take a Thief. I was having a bad week when I read them to cheer myself up.

Of the non-rereads, I would have to pick What Would the Founding Fathers Do?, by Richard Brookhiser. It was interesting to see what he found that might back up his interpretations of the Founding Fathers' beliefs, actions and possible reactions.

Definitely The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.

so sussabmax, you would recommend The Children of Men to fans of the movie? because I loved the film, thought it was a brilliant apocalyptic vision (helped more than a bit by Clive Owen, mmmmm..) but I have heard the book is not so great. Having read your thoughts, however, I might have to give it a try!

I've had a slow book month, have been busy AND having trouble settling on a book. Consequently have only read 2 for May, so my fave would easily be The Color Purple by Alice Walker. An epistolary novel that pulls you in right from Celie's first letter to God (she writes to "him" initially because her father warned her to tell no one but God that he has raped her..). Powerful stuff. I saw the film some years ago and this is definitely superior.

Sunshine by Robin McKinley almost made my vote for one of my top books for the year, but the last chapter or two just petered out.

So I'll go with Create Your Personal Sacred Text by Bobbi Parish, a delightful book on discovering and writing about spirituality throughout all the world religions and even the secular world.

#30 - I keep meaning to put that on my list and forgetting it. Thanks for the reminder. Maybe it will be my favorite read for June. :)

Definitely The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

My favorite book for May was When Madeline was young by Jane Hamilton. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, as I had somewhat written this author off some years ago as someone whose work I didn't like.

I would have to say The Road was my favorite for May but I also enjoyed All Over But the Shoutin' - I read two other books in May - The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax and Because It Is Bitter, and Because It is My Heart. Enjoyed the Mrs. Pollifax but wound up hating Because it is bitter. I hope June is a good month. It is definitely starting out that way.

#18 Dulcibelle, Erik Larson also wrote a book called Isaac's Storm. I havn't checked it out yet, but I have a mental note to do so.

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Willlow316, it's very well done. Larson really makes history (a subject I don't care for much otherwise) really come alive in Isaac's Storm. You'll really come away from reading it with a proper fear of hurricanes. I had this book on my mind prior to, during and after Katrina.

I think Larson's books are interesting and well-written, but that they suffer from a lack of period photography, which was definitely available at the time. He even describes some photos that he has seen of Galveston, for example, but does not include them.

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I understand what you are saying, amancine, but Larson's descriptions in the book and the very lack of pictures made reading the account of the flooding (especially that horrifying scene within his house) seem as if I were reading a vivid novel more than an actual account.

Sandragon, I am a big Tepper fan as well! I just re-read A Gate to Women's Country in March, and it was so wonderful, I was ready to read it again right away. I may do so soon, because I still can't get it out of my head. I have read The Visitor, but it's been awhile and I don't remember it. I will have to pick that up soon.

Smezweiner, I did love both the book and the movie The children of men. They are definitely different, and the book is much slower paced than the movie, in that it takes place over a much longer period of time. Some of the plot points are very different, too, but there was still a lot of the book in the movie. I thought the book was more subtly menacing than the movie, and it did explain some things I didn't quite understand in the movie (like why they were deporting so many old people). I can see why someone would be disappointed if they expect the book to be just like the movie, but if you don't limit yourself that way, it is an excellent book.

For sheer enjoyment I would say Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. A page turner. Sat in bed on a Saturday with mandarins and popcorn and kept reading until it was finished.

Favorite book for May was undoubtedly Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

1634: The Baltic War by Eric Flint - another soild 4 1/2 star book.

2 Months, 2 Science Fiction books. And yes, I'll stop before I dig up even older threads. :) Will note, though, that the two highest rated books so far, "winners" of Feb. and March are also science fiction books ("winner" of Jan. is a military thriller). Huh. Surprises me.

Time Travelers Wife, my second favorite for the year so far

#46 I really enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife too. Very enjoyable book and surprisingly easy to read at 500 pages.