Tags
books, Daniel Kehlmann, In the Heart of the Sea, Maggie Nelson, monthly wrapup, Nathaniel Philbrick, reading, The Argonauts, Tyll
After a very busy April, May was a slower reading month for me, and one where I just followed my mood. As it turns out, that worked rather well, and I did even stick with my average 3.5 books per month.
I finished:
Nathaniel Philbrick – In the Heart of the Sea ★★★★★
A non-fiction book about the sinking of the whaleship Essex that I took on my recent trip to the UK and enjoyed immensely (yes, even despite the subject matter). The tragedy of the Essex also inspired Moby Dick, which I read earlier in the year and absolutely loved.
Maggie Nelson – The Argonauts ★★★★☆
Maggie Nelson’s autobiography about gender, motherhood, queerness, and her relationship with Harry Dodge, a fluidly-gendered artist, turned out to be a challenging and thought-provoking read for me. I would give this five stars if I was sure that I really understood the book in its entirety, but since I lack background knowledge about some of the matters Nelson touches upon (feminist theory and philosophy, in particular), I’m still a bit hesitant. This book definitely struck a chord with me, though, and I’m sure I’m gonna return to it eventually.
Daniel Kehlmann – Tyll ★★★★★
An unexpected German pick for the month, which means that I have kept up my goal of reading one German book per month in every month except March so far. Additionally, Tyll is a very clever book about truth, history, and narrativity that made me think and which I thus really loved.
Besides reading, I also wrote about book-buying and how TBRs can be both motivating and intimidating because my (planned) book-buying spree during my recent UK trip made me think about the matter more than I usually do. And I finally got back to reviewing books, even though I’m still very much behind.