Best May Reads, hope to read in June

What was your best May read? What reads to you hope to accomplish in June?

I've spent the last 5 months reading the complete series The Saxon Stories, renamed The Last Kingdom about half way through, by Bernard Cornwell. Believe it or not, I'm not into blood and violence! I don't know what captivated me to read about the Danes (Vikings). This series was a very good read. I most enjoyed the story of Alfred the Great and his attempt to unite what is now England. Now I need to purchase Netflix and watch the TV series!

I've read a short book that's been on my shelf for a long time, Theology Brewed in an African Pot by Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, a Nigerian Jesuit priest. It's an excellent reflection on inculturation and the encounter between Christianity and African traditional religion and culture.

Bernard Cornwell is an excellent author, both for his historical fiction (including the Arthurian legends, Agincourt, and the Napoleonic wars) and for his non-fiction books (eg Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles, which is one of the clearest and easiest to read accounts of that famous battle that I have ever seen).

I enjoyed The Last Kingdom. My great grandmother was from York, and I turned up with Danish DNA. Guess I shouldn't have been surprised after reading Cornwell ...

In May, I really liked The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, a Victorian true crime story that details the crime story as well as the rise of modern police detectives (Mr Whicher) and the police detective story (Wilkie Collins).

Now reading The Diary of a Bookseller, nonfiction. Irritable Scotsman runs a second-hand book store in Wigtown. It's pleasant and humorous. Some serious criticism of Amazon and its effects on publishing. There's a cat and the usual small-town eccentrics.

I'm also currently reading a detective story, Ruth Rendell's From Doon with Death, which I believe is the first of her long-running Chief Inspector Wexford series.

>4 nohrt4me2: Having been a bookseller myself, I had to put Bythell’s book on hold and listen to a sample. Disappointed they didn’t choose a narrator with even a smidge of Scottish accent. But liked that he referenced the TV series Black Books.

>6 2wonderY: I think Shaun Bythell's family comes from the north of Ireland, which is just a short ferry ride away from Wigtown, and he lived in England while going to school. Customers occasionally comment that he doesn't "sound like you're from here." I'd be interested to hear what he sounds like!

>4 nohrt4me2: I am listening to The Scottish Bookshop Mysteries by Paige Shelton on You Tube. I am on book #4.

The best and virtually my only read in May was The Mirror & the Light. I don't know how Hilary Mantel made this book so fascinating to me when I knew how it ended. Almost 800 pages and it never lagged. Remarkable!

Next up are a bunch of short books on the TBR pile that have made me feel guilty for neglecting them for so long.

>9 vwinsloe: I have The Greenlanders on tap to start tomorrow. Though not quite as hefty as Mantel's, I expect that will be the only book I get through in June!

>10 nohrt4me2:. I love Jane Smiley. That looks interesting! Let us know.