What I Read in May [2023]

Some of the books were easier reads for me so I finished quite a few books this month. Three of the books were for kids and one has a lot of photos. The other book was for the Governerds book club. It probably wouldn’t be one that I would have picked up to read on my own. It had a very interesting storyline. I enjoyed it and am glad to listen in on the discussions with the book club.

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” – Margaret Fuller

I frequently have friends ask me what I’m reading or what I recommend, so hopefully, these posts are helpful in giving you some ideas. If there’s a certain topic you’re looking for, let me know and I’ll see if I can direct you to a book. 🙂

*Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Being a life-long learner and bookwormish means I read some pretty random things sometimes. I mean, if I run out of stuff, I read the backs of cereal boxes or car magazines. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter if it is stuff I agree with or not. I really think we can learn something from everything.

📚 *Awesome Asian Americans

There were a few Asian Americans in the book I knew about before reading it. I learned a lot about other Asian Americans I have never heard of. Their stories are ones of courage and overcoming obstacles. Many times, each of the people in this book were told that they wouldn’t be able to succeed. With some perseverance, they were able to do some pretty amazing things.

📚 *Homegoing

I’m reading this book with the Governerds book club. It is a story of two African half-sisters who didn’t, and would never, know each other. Their upbringings created two very different paths for each one and the chapters tell the stories of their descendants. Every other chapter is about the descendent of the one sister. Then the next chapter is about the descendent of the other sister. It was somewhat hard to keep track of the people even with the family tree in the book. You get to learn just enough about each person and then the next chapter moves onto the next person. There are some fairly graphic mature scenes that brings authenticity to the stories but can be hard to read. It is a page-turner. And it motivates you to want to learn more about the history in the time periods of each person’s story.

📚 *Nuestra América

Another book with a few people I have heard about and many I have not heard about before. There are so many interesting and sometimes hard stories and I’m glad to know a little more about each one. I think it helps us to appreciate others and be gracious of shortcoming.

📚 *First Phone

I’m checking out what resources are out there for helping kids learn to navigate a much different world than I grew up in. This is a good book that is written for kids with a note for the parents in the back. It has a Sample Contract if you want to have some general rules that you would like for your child to follow when they get their first phone.

If you don’t do work in the online space (like I have for the past decade and a half), there may be quite a few things you can learn about what your kids need to know before you hand them a device where they can access all kinds of things as well as be accessed by strangers. There is also some ways to protect ourselves from anything that may harm us or our devices, and that’s good to know too.

📚 *Images of America: Castro Valley

I check the “new books” shelves at the Friends of the Library each week. I found this book one day. Someone was giving it away in the Buy Nothing group once but I wasn’t selected to receive the book. I saw it sold at Walgreens one time, but I was able to get a copy last month. This town has a very interesting history and stories. It was surprisingly how many streets were named after people who did business in this town.

📚 *Books for Young Readers

You can read more about these books in the blog post on our family blog – Books for Young Readers.

There you have it, this is what I read in May 2023. If I end up not continuing with these posts on the blog, you can always find them on my social media accounts. Follow along on my FB page and/or IG account.

My 2023 Book Lists

Check out *my Bookshop lists to support local bookstores or my Goodreads list to see some reviews.

What are you currently reading? Do you set reading goals or have a book list?

*Note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a tiny percentage if you make a purchase through my link at no extra cost to you. Read my disclosure policy here.