May was a surprisingly low-key month, especially compared to April. This was very nearly the first month since I’ve started writing these that I hadn’t purchased a new book at all, but I couldn’t resist letting one squeak through.

The greenery exploded into growth around where I live this month, which was a bit of a wonder to behold. At the start of the month, weather was still a bit chilly, keeping things brown and drab. The second the warm weather suddenly hit, it was like night and day. I hope this summer doesn’t get too unbearably hot too often.

Enough rambling, on to the books!

New Books

An unsurprising purchase to say the least, the only book I acquired this month was Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett, the next Discworld novel that I need to read. I’m not quite sure when I’ll be getting to it, but I am sure it will be before the end of summer. I believe this one has the witches facing off against vampires, and I don’t really know much more than that, but I’m always up for a new outing with Granny, Nanny, and the rest.

Novel Discoveries

Goblin by Josh Malerman is a book I came across on BookTok, recommended to people who are already fans of fiction like Welcome to Night Vale and other stories of that ilk. What I can gather is it’s about a small town with paranormal happenings in it, which is hardly an uncommon trope these days, but it’s still one that grabs my attention.

Elektra by Jennifer Saint is yet another book that seems written in the same vein as Madeline Miller’s adaptations of Greek mythology; that’s how it looks to me anyway, I can’t really say for certain who influenced who. I’ve not read her novel Ariadne yet, which I’m more interested in, but learning this book exists now too makes me want to read it all the same.

Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana is yet another book from TikTok that caught my interest, telling the story of a woman who is obsessed with an imprisoned serial killer whom she has been in correspondence with. He tasks her with finding a key in his cabin in the woods and delivering it to “the river man.” I’m intrigued, though it sounds like this protagonist is throwing herself to the wolves rather knowingly.

Bina: A Novel in Warnings by Anakana Schofield is the story of a fed-up woman who is writing out her life story on discarded envelopes. I cannot recall too much about the specifics of the story itself, but the format really caught my interest, and I’m always curious about novels that seem dark and strange, which is the impression I got about it from the video I saw talking about it.

Closing Thoughts

With this month having been so close to having no new books, I wonder if it would’ve been worth it to still make one of these posts. I did have “novel discoveries” to talk about, so I suppose that would have been enough to put one of these up, but I guess I would just worry that it would have been lacking. Hopefully no time ever comes that I have no reason to write one of these, I enjoy these little updates every month.

Have you picked up or learned about any new books that you’re excited about? Let me know! Until next time, thank you for reading.