May 2026 Random Kit: Dance Like No One is Watching

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MAY RANDOM KIT

May is a traditional month for Dancing Around he Maypole and so I have chosen the theme of Dance for our May Random Kit. The books that qualify will be books with the word “Dance, Dancing or Danced” in the title, a dancer is pictured on the cover, the story includes dancing or the book is non-fiction about a dancer or dancing.

Be it square dancing, hip hop or ballet enjoy your read about dancing. I am not going to list any titles as I am sure you all either have a book or can find a book to your liking. Don’t forget to let us know what you will be reading and later, how you found the book.

The Wiki, if you use it, is here: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2026_RandomKIT

I have a few books that I am hoping to get to: Last Dance on the Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird, How to Dance With A Duke by Manda Collins, The Case of the Dancing Sandwiches by Fredric Brown and The Last Dance by Mark Billingham.

I may re-read an old favourite: A Bullet in the Ballet by Caryl Brahms and S. J. Simon

>1 DeltaQueen50: Umm, shouldn't the title be for May (and Random)?

>4 Robertgreaves: Our Challenge admin can help!

>4 Robertgreaves: OMG Yes! I will ask Christina if she can fix this. Since my stroke, I am not very good at typing - nor spelling it looks like!

What a great topic! I love the actual connection to the month of May.

I have two choices and will decide spontaneously on which one to read:

Save The Last Dance For Me by Cora Lee, a regency romance
Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell, a contemporary romance

I've had Josephine Baker's Last Dance by Sherry Jones on my TBR for a couple of years so this seems like a great time to read it. I feel like I just got it. Where does the time go?

>2 DeltaQueen50: I’ll be reading The Last Dance also! Even though I have no business starting another series.

I could also recommend A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman. It was a 5-star read for me. It's geared toward middle schoolers and is written in long form poem which I originally thought was "odd", but it really worked with the dance theme. It had that lyrically quality.

I'm going to plan on Shadow Dance by Jessica Palmer, which has been sitting on my TBR stack for far too long!

>7 MissBrangwen: I have Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell on my Kindle and may try to squeeze it in.

>8 dudes22: I have read Josephine Baker's Last Dance and remember enjoying it. I learned a lot about the woman that I hadn't known previously.

>9 lsh63: I know - another series! And I haven't finished his Tom Thorne one yet.

I'm planning to read Brave New Ballet, a picture book about Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo written by Robyn McGrath, with illustrations by Alexander Mostov. It makes me happy that we've reached a point where icons of the LGBTQ+ community are no longer considered inappropriate subjects for kids to learn about. (Well, at least not considered inappropriate by everyone.)

I don't have anything on my shelf, but my 8 year old granddaughter will certainly have something!

I have Little Movements on a Suspended Hold at my library. So many books...so little time!! I will unsuspend and read it in May. It is a novel about a dancer/choreographer in small town Vermont.

>7 MissBrangwen: I am not a big romance fan, but I enjoyed Slow Dance

Thanks to Christina who fixed my messy opening!

I plan to read Save Me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald.

>10 dudes22: I also would recommend A Time To Dance, quite beautiful.

>1 DeltaQueen50: You TIOLI Challenge over in the 75ers group makes so much sense now, Judy!

There are a few from my tbr I'll try to get to. Most likely is Dance With the Devil by Megan Derr. The other is What the Eye Hears: A History of Tap Dancing. It's a long book - 820 pages - but at least I'll get it started.

It just occurred to me that I might reread Rumer Godden's Thursday's Children. I haven't read it in years, but I remember it as a kinder Billy Elliot, without the Politics - still plenty of gender politics, though.

>20 Dejah_Thoris: Some good choices, Dejah. I am just happy that this topic will help to shrink by TBR!

I'm planning to read The Turnout by Megan Abbott.

>22 VivienneR: I've been thinking about that one as well. I don't think I can get to it as a second dance read this month, but you've reminded me to move it up the list again! Thank you.

>23 beebeereads: Of the hundreds of TBR books, Abbott's was the only one related to dance. It was a BB some time ago, so it is about time I read it.

>24 VivienneR: I'll be interested in your comments when you finish.

Hooray! Hooray! It's the first of May! And I have completed my first book for May's RandomKit with Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell.

I finished Brave New Ballet, written by Robyn McGrath and illustrated by Alexander Mostov.

I read The Work of Art by Mimi Matthews. It is not unlikely that a dance will occur in a Regency romance. One takes place early in this book and it is also true that a young woman, lately coming to London to live with an uncle and his family, attends the dance with cousins receiving everyone's attention.

I ended up reading a children’s book Dancing with Daddy about three little girls who go to a father and daughter dance. The emphasis is on the child with a disability.

COMPLETED A Bullet in the Ballet by Caryl Brahms and S. J. Simons.

My review:

I read Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell, too. I really enjoyed it and I'm glad this prompt led me to finally reading something by this author.

I read Heartbreak Tango by Manuel Puig. No actual tangos in the story, but each chapter opened with a tango related quote.

I just finished Skyerne, a book about the friendship between two young women in contemporary Copenhagen. They dance several times throughout the book, and dancing is used as a metaphor for life as well.

I asked by granddaughter for a book about dancing, and she gave me:
Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle. Quite a nice picture book about a girl and a flamingo who learn to dance together.

Cinder House by Freya Marske is a Cinderella retelling that naturally includes the balls, plus some other dance themes that to tell of would be spoilers.

I have completed my read of Last Dance on the Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird. This was an interesting historical fiction story about Dance Marathons in 1930's America.

My third book for this month's RandomCat was The Case of the Dancing Sandwiches by Fredric Bown. I really enjoyed this one, a combination of humor and a hard-boiled mystery.

June is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/384314

My final "Dancing" book for the month and it was a good one! The Last Dance by Mark Billingham features a ballroom dancing detective and it was very good. I am looking forward to continuing on with this series.

I read The Deadly Dance by M.C. Beaton

I read Waltz into Darkness by Cornell Woolrich. "Waltz" is in the title, the cover features a dancing couple, and the metaphor of the waltz is a through-line throughout the novel.

I finished Little Movements. The focus of the story is ballet choreography. My review is forthcoming.

Thanks to everyone who "Danced through May" with me.

I read The Coffin Dancer by Jeffrey Deaver for this