May wrap-up

All the things I read and loved in May.

May 31, 2025

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I spend a lot of time on Substack critiquing things, so I thought I would change it up at least once a month and send out a monthly newsletter that celebrates all the things I read this month and books I discovered that I want to read. So, welcome to the monthly wrap-up!

This month has been one of the hardest months of my life due to loss, grief, stress, etc., so thank you for being a community of shining light I could always escape to. While I probably should have read more books set in fictional worlds, I ended up reading a lot of non-fiction and honestly the distraction of learning is what got me through. Literacy is power and I think through that power comes healing.

By the numbers

Shout-out to The StoryGraph for always providing me with the stats I need every month and every year. If you haven’t already started to track your books on Storygraph, what are you doing?

Some reflecitons on my reading stats this month:

I’m back to my trend of finishing books in 6 days. Honestly, it blows my mind as to how I’m so consistent with that.
I always try to read a 50/50 split of fiction and non-fiction. Last month, I read a little more fiction than non-fiction and this month I certainly made up for that. Reading a shit ton of non-fiction is always the best time.
Last month, I read an embarrasingly low amount of books from countries outside the U.S. This month, I intentionally prioritized books focused on other countries because….
DO YOU SEE THAT AVERAGE RATING? Damn. I think it has partly to do with the fact that I read a lot of non-fiction, I read more diversely, and I didn’t include my rating of my self-help book in the stats. I think I’ll continue to do that because it always brings the average rating down, which I don’t think is very fair.

Favorite fiction book: “The Jasad Crown” by Sara Hashem

Synopsis: In the thrilling conclusion to the Egyptian-inspired Scorched Throne duology, a fugitive queen may be the key to restoring her lost kingdom of Jasad, but it could cost her everything and everyone she loves. (I’m not going to give you more of a synopsis than that because this is the final book in a duology and I don’t want to spoil anything).

Review: I need more people to read this duology, esepcially if you’re fans of the Poppy War trilogy (for it’s brutal depiction of war) and the Daevabad Trilogy (for its world building and grey characters).

This was absolutely incredible and an instance where the second (and final) book in a series is even better than the first. While the first book was more adventure-focused, this book was focused on war.

The political intrigue and strategy in this book was a delight to read. It was horrifically gruesome and I loved that it didn’t shy away from the horrors of war. Honestly, I need Hashem to write in the horror genre next because she did it so well in this book.

The characters and all of their arcs were so well done. We were able to read from multiple perspectives in this book, which can always be a risk, but it was pulled off perfectly.

And the romance? My god. May be one of the top romances I’ve ever read in a fantasy. This book was a MASTERCLASS in yearning and I seriously could not get enough of it. It is a slow, slow burn, but it was so believable and I was so invested.

I will say that the pacing in the last 5% of the book could have been better and I’m not totally sold on the ending, but that didn’t really take away from the rest of this experience.

Anyways, read this series. This book doesn’t come out until July so you have time to get caught up and binge the whole thing.

Favorite non-fiction book: “Endgame” by David Rohde

Synopsis: In 1993, the UN Security Council officially made Srebrenica the world's first UN-protected civilian safe area and stripped the town's Muslim defenders of their tanks and artillery. Two years later, Srebrenica fell after UN commanders turned down repeated requests for NATO air strikes to halt attacking Bosnian Serbs. As many as 7,000 Muslim men perished in mass executions or ambushes along a harrowing forty-mile flight one survivor called “The Marathon of Death.”In The Betrayal and Fall of Srebrenica, Europe's Worst Massacre Since World War II, Pulitzer Prize–winning author David Rohde follows the experiences of seven central characters—three Muslims in Srebrenica, two Dutch peacekeepers charged with defending the surrounded town, and two Serb Army soldiers attacking it—through the ten-day period that changed the course of the war in Bosnia and was arguably the darkest hour in United Nations history. Endgame is a tale of cynical power politics in the post–Cold War era, a case study in genocide, and a disturbing testament to the power of propaganda and self-delusion.

Review: I won’t shut up about this book until more people read it. I had never heard of it until this month and I need to remedy that for everyone else.

This book is an absolute feat of journalism. I can't even fathom the amount of time that went into interviewing and researching for this book. It's a book that comes along every once in a while that you know not only impacted the world when it came out, but still does to this day.

It's still an incredibly important read today as it outlines not only a systemic genocide, but also how the (at best) ineptitude and (at worst) malicious intent of the Western world helped it happen. It's also incredibly imporant because still, to this day, the whereabouts of over 7,000 people is still unknown.

Watch my full review

What I’ve added to my TBR (to-be-read)

“A Flower Traveled in My Blood” by Haley Cohen Gilliland: I first learned about the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, grandmothers who fought to find their stolen grandchildren during Argentina’s brutal dictatorship from reading my favorite book of all-time “Still Life with Bones”, so I’m eager to learn more.
“Blood Over Bright Haven” by M.L. Wang: Ok, ok. I’ve heard everyone freaking out about M.L. Wang so I think it’s about time I pick up one of their books and the Literary Libration Podcast convinced me to start with this one.
“The True Happiness Company” by Veena Dinavahi: A memoir about a woman who found herself trapped in a self-help cult. Obviously, I need to read it.
“Salt Bones” by Jennifer Givhan : A horror re-telling of retelling of Persephone and Demeter in the Mexicali borderlands. I have an advanced reader’s copy of this and I will be reading it soon.

Families I’m supporting

In the midst of a ceasefire, mutual aid and support is so incredibly important to help families rebuild their lives and to help provide them with continued opportunties for safety. If you’re able to, please support a family:

Mahmoud, Tamer, and Tala. I last heard from Mahmoud last week and this family is still in Dai Albalah in the middle of the Gaza strip. They lost their mother and wife earlier this year. Tamer has Autism and navigating this cruel world is especially hard for him.
The Tareq family including Amani who is suffering from multiple medical conditions and needs urgent care
Mohammed’s family including his wife and three kids as they struggle to survive in Khan Younis
Rozana’s family including her husband and three-year-old son (Ziad) who used to live in Gaza City and now have no home or clean food and water which is making Ziad’s health deteriorate.

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