May Favorites

I only have one favorite this month. READING! With a lighter teaching load this month, I've been devouring books to satiate my appetite for words. With several visits to the library each week and several more visits to the fitness center (where I have been doing most of my reading), I read or listened to at least 8 books in May.

Listens

1. A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab
2. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Reads

1. On Slim Unaccountable Bones by Emma Lou Thayne
2. The Class from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler
3. The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
4. Star Wars: Guardians of the Whills by Greg Rucka
5. The Lifted Veil by George Eliot
6. Brother Jacob by George Eliot

Of all these books, the one I would recommend the most highly is Code Name Verity, a book that I read last year, too. It is the story of two best friends during World War II: a British spy and a British pilot. They get shot down over France near the end of the country's Nazi occupation and are instrumental in the liberation of one particular city. Oh, and they're both women. And it's sad. But my favorite aspect of this book is the clever structure: for most of the book, you are reading what the spy is writing to her Nazi captors. That first-person narrative displays her unique personality whilst also hiding lies and secrets and maybe even code. You'll laugh and you'll cry and you'll want a best friend like Julie or Maddie to invade enemy territory with you.