May Review

What I've been reading, watching, and listening to this month

Photo by Click and Learn Photography on Unsplash

It’s time for this month’s review of the best reading, watching, and listening!  This is an extra end-of-the-month post for all subscribers.  

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I always picture in my mind May as a month of idyllic fields of bluebells and warm spring days, setting the scene for summer…

In reality, the springtime in the UK can be a bit of a mixed bag.  But we have had some warm sunshine, prompting me to want to pick up a book and sit somewhere beautiful to read outdoors.  The bluebells have well and truly been out in force, and I’ve been enjoying some nice visits to local woodlands and parks.

Books I’ve read this month

Mona of the Manor by Armistead Maupin

I’ve been waiting patiently for this one to arrive as it is the tenth installment in the Tales of the City series, and perfect for a summer (or pre-summer) read.  Having been a fan of the series for years, and recently attending an online interview with Maupin, I was really excited to get this newest installment.

I have to say that although I enjoyed it and raced through it as I always do with his books, I much prefer the previous volumes as they are mostly set in San Francisco.  SF in fact feels like one of the characters in the books, it is so influential to the text and the central characters’ lives.  This volume is set in the UK during the AIDS crisis of the 1990s, and only features a couple of the main characters from the original novels.  As a die hard fan, I wanted to catch up on all my old faithfuls!

Mona of the Manor by Armistead Maupin  

Flight by Lynn Steger Strong  

I’ve just finished this novel, which was a random find in my local library.  It is a fairly short, almost meditative book about three siblings and their partners and children who have gathered for their first Christmas without their mother, who has recently died.  Whilst trying to uphold their mother’s holiday traditions, and decide what to do with the house in Florida she left without a will, tensions arise and personalities clash.  There is also an added element to the story with a young, ex-addict single mother and her daughter, who cross paths with the siblings, forcing them to work together.  

I found this an interesting book, which had a lyrical, meditative quality to the prose.  For a short novel, It contained a lot of ideas around the ways in which we live now, including parenting- becoming a parent, failing to become a parent, and trying to be a ‘good mother’- to grief, climate change, and our impact on the environment.  

Articles I’ve enjoyed this month

Firstly, the literary world lost the wonderful short story writer Alice Monro this month.  Once dubbed ‘the Canadian Chekov’, Monro’s stories are a delight.  Here are a couple of tributes, amongst many that I found particularly good (including fellow Canadian and Substack’s own Margaret Atwood reading one of Monro’s short stories aloud).

This review on Miranda July’s latest novel about midlife, All Fours, made me add it to my TBR pile.  

Two reviews of Laing’s new book, The Garden Against Time, made me want to get outside and get my hands dirty.  

(In reality, I can’t even keep houseplants alive, but I can dream…) Photo by Ona Creative on Unsplash

I enjoyed this essay about the anxiety of new motherhood and Nella Larsen’s Passing. 

This piece by Bee Sacks was fascinating and informative on one writer’s story of coming out as a non-binary author, and this review of The Secret Public by former music journalist Jon Savage, a book which explores how pop music drove the LGBTQ+ liberation.  

Substack essays I’ve enjoyed reading this month…

This piece by guest writer Mr Troy Ford on Dr Kathleen Waller’s The Matterhorn was a great introduction to the layering of queerness in fiction, for any fiction writers out there.  (I’d also like to plug this new LGBTQ+ directory on Substack, just in time for Pride month in June!)

I also enjoyed reading this excellent essay on The Austen Connection all about protest and power- something that I know has been very much in the headlines lately.

I also just want to say a big ‘Thank you’ to my fellow writer Matthew Long for inviting me over to his newsletter Beyond the Bookshelf to talk about the books that made me a writer.  It was a lot of fun to reflect, although difficult to choose just a few!  

What I’ve been watching this month

I recently finished the fourth series of Unforgotten starring Nicola Walker, which was an emotional affair!!  

I’ve also been enjoying Australian comedy Fisk, which features a recently divorced middle-aged wills and probate lawyer as she navigates life at a small firm.  (Sounds a bit dull, right?!  But I assure you, it is really very funny!)

What I’ve been listening to this month

I promised my teen I would include a plug of this new podcast Lights, Camera, Neurodiversity by Caitlin Hamilton, who has recently appeared in BBC series A Kind of Spark.  I read the YA book a while ago, and mentioned its prequel Keedie last month.  Hamilton discusses topics around discovering her neurodivergence as a teenager and becoming an actor.

That’s about it for May; a bit of a leaner month as I have been working on writing projects and getting outdoors!  What have you been reading, watching, or listening to?  Please share in the comments 😀  

See you on Sunday for another essay on literature.

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