This month I read:

• Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera [audiobook] – I loved this fast-paced, mixed media story! Listening the audiobook was great since each chapter began with an episode of the podcast that plays a key role throughout the story. Ben, the podcaster, travels to Texas to investigate the unsolved murder of Savvy. Savvy’s best friend, Lucy, was the most likely suspect since she was found covered in Savvy’s blood. However, Lucy has always said she cannot remmeber anything from the night in question. When Lucy returns to her home town, she is confronted with the past and the present, through the podcast. This was a fun ride!
• All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby – I loved Cosby’s book Razorblade Tears last year and heard good things about this as well. We meet Titus, who is the first Black Sheriff in a small town in southeastern Virginia. When a public shooting happens, Titus and his force must get to the bottom of a lot more than they realized, from deep racism to religious fanaticism to family and love and past tragedies. This was dark and twisty and a well written crime story.
• The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts by Mary Claire Haver – I found Dr. Haver on Instagram and have enjoyed her posts for awhile now and knew I wanted to read her new book as soon as it came out I wish I had read this in my 30’s, to be more knowledageable and prepared. Not only does she go into the history of menopause treatment (or lack there of) and the reasons why so few doctors know anything about this (no training), she also goes into great detail about so many symptoms that most of us have no idea are connected to perimenopause. Dr. Haver also gives you advice about treatment options, nutrition, exercise, how to find and talk to doctors, and how to help ourselves. I literally called my doctor this week for a prescription for menopause hormone therapy, something I had been debating for the last year. Everyone woman under the age of 60 should read this.
• Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll – This was the pick for our May book club and I started it without having a clue what it was about! This is a fictionalized version of a serial killer murders in a sorority house (i.e. Ted Bundy). In this story, the author never names the killer, only refers to him as “The Defendant”. Instead, she uplifts the stories of the victims and the survivors as we cross timelines and narrators to learn the back story and what happened. I enjoyed Pamela and Ruth as narrators and Tina as an important side character.
• The Rip by Holly Craig [audiobook] – I got this audiobook free as part of my Audible subscription. It is a thriller, but not one of my favorites. We meet two families on their beach vacation in Australia, where each of the wives take turns narrating the story. Most of the book is Penny and Eloise critiquing the looks, parenting, and general behavior of each other with judgment. When one of their children goes missing during a party, no one sees a thing. Then the story flashes back to tell us more about each of these displicable women’s backstories, and moves forward to the conclusion. There were no big twists and all of the characters were so unlikeable. This was a good distraction from some stress, but not a story I would highly recommend.
• Cantoras by Carolina DeRobertis – I saw this book and author recommended on a post in Currently Reading where readers were looking for more South American authors. I’m always trying to expand the windows I read through, and don’t believe I’ve ever read a book based in Uruguay, by an author with Uruguay heritage. This is a beautiful, sweeping saga of 5 women in Uruguay fro the 1970’s to present day. In the 70’s and 80’s in Uruguay it was both illegal and fatally dangerous to be a lesbian. So “cantoras” as they were known privately, had to risk their lives in pursuit of love and relationships. We meet Flaca, Romina, Malena, Paz and La Venus at the beginning of the coup and polical unrest that tortured this nation for years. The women discover a hidden beach, Cabo Polonio, and buy a ramshackle place to call their home away from home. It is only here that they can be themselves, build friendship and home and love, in short visits from Montevideo and their closeted lives. We see them through relationships, trauma (past and present), political unrest, and so much more. This was a beautiful story about love in all forms, and the price some people pay for the love they deserve.
• Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. – My cousin JJ loaned me this book knowing that I am visiting the Galapagos Islands this summer. I had never read Vonnegut before, but I enjoyed his unique writing style. In this dystopian novel the narrator is coming to us from 1 million years in the future, but is flashing back to the present (which is 1986) to retell the story of a worldwide apocalypse that wiped out everyone except a small group who ended up on a cruise to the Galapagos Islands. The story takes place mostly on the mainland before the cruise is set to sail, as the travelers come from around the world to Ecuador. There were some details about the interesting animals I can’t wait to see on the islands. Vonnegut’s style was very jumpy – one paragraph we were deep in 1986 and the next the narrator was flashing forward 100 years with a quick detail before going back to 1986. I enjoyed this and my cousin and I discussed other Vonnegut books I should read and one that we will buddy read together!
• Berry Pickers byAmanda Peters – I saw this book cover all over Instagram when it came out and I know I heard a podcast recommend it, but I can’t remember which one. This a beautiful told, sad tale of a Mi’kmaq girl who goes missing from the blueberry fields in Maine where her large family travels to each year for work.We get alternating narrations from one of her brothers, Joe, who feels guilty for being the last person to see his sister Ruthie before she disappeared, and from Norma, a girl who is an only child being raised by fearful parents. Through their stories, we learn about two very different childhoods, the pain that family can sometimes cause, and also the love. This was beautiful, sad, sweet, and rich in indigenous culture. I loved it!

Favorite Books

Fiction: Cantoras, Berry Pickers

Nonfiction: The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Fact