As usual, I still haven't read all of my anticipated books from earlier in the year, but I'm already eagerly looking ahead to the books being published in May. And there are SO MANY books being published in May which I want to read! In fact, I was lucky enough to get advanced copies of some of them from Netgalley, so I've already read some of them! (But I promise that did not in any way affect my opinions.) Here are some of the ones I'm most looking forward to, in order of publication date.
I’m very picky with my ratings, so I’m happy to say that Project Hail Mary was amazing and my first 5 star review of 2021. When it starts, the narrator wakes up alone with no idea who he is, where he is, or why. As he explores and his memories start to come back, with the book unfolding both in the present and his flashback returning memories, both he and the reader discover that he is alone on a spaceship on a very important mission. There is SO much more to it than that, but because of the nature of the book, pretty much everything about it is a spoiler and it’s so much better to see it unfold yourself. Just know that it is absolutely terrific.
For the vibe, think of the best of intellectual science fiction - books like The Sparrow and Children of Time, movies like Interstellar and Arrival, and of course both the book and movie of The Martian, Andy Weir’s first book. Iit is both a little more science-y (which even though I couldn’t understand it, was interesting), and more science fiction-y than The Martian, but it’s funny and emotional as well. It was a long book but I read it quickly because I couldn’t put it down. I was thrilled to get an advanced copy from Netgalley (it’s out 5/4), and I highly recommend reading it as soon as possible both because it is great, and to avoid spoilers.
If you look at enough book recommendations, sometimes you start to feel like you’re just seeing the same books over and over again. No surprise, and there’s nothing wrong with that - plenty of popular books are absolutely terrific and among my all time favorite reads! But sometimes you want a recommendation that is a little more off the beaten path - whether because you’re a voracious reader that has already read the usual suspects, or maybe you’re looking for a book that might actually be on the library shelf instead of having a miles-long waiting list. So today I thought I’d share with you some of my favorite books that are a little more obscure, books you don’t see people talking about much. If you have read these before, it might be because you have similar taste to me - or if you’re someone who has been following me for a long time, it might just be because you saw this book on one of my top 10 lists of old! These are all books that I rated either 4.5 or 5 stars, and mostly books that were on one of my top 10 lists in the past, and as a criteria for “less popular,” I chose only books that had less than 5,000 ratings on Goodreads.
