What a month May has been! It’s been one massive roller-coaster from beginning to end.
May actually started off a little slow and leisurely. I had just completed one big project release, and finished a lot of work towards the next one, and so I was feeling good and lazy.
And that’s when the unexpected happens, doesn’t it? The next two weeks suddenly ramped up into super-speed mode where life, work, blogging, and family demands kept me on my toes.
The last week of May was the week of my travel to China. I entered it feeling ragged and flu-ey. Thankfully, the viral held off during my travel, but it’s come with a bang now, and I’ve been feeling poorly since I’ve been back.
I was half-tempted to cancel my monthly updates post, but it’s something I want to maintain at least this year, and so here’s a quick one about all that I got up to in May.
May was less about reading books and more about blogging about them. I finished up some long-pending reviews – 1Q84, The Three Body Problem, and Beast – all books that I had finished in April.
Beast 
1Q84 
The Three Body Problem
I had planned to take China Rich Girlfriend (the second book of the Crazy Rich Asians series) to read while in China. But the book didn’t really hold my interest, and I dropped it in favor of my daughter’s book – An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, which I quite liked.
Snubnose loved the unabashed materialism of China Rich Girlfriend far more than I did and read the book from start to finish during a train ride from Xi’an to Shanghai.
An Abundance of Katherines 
China Rich Girlfriend
Another book that I finished and loved this month is Antony and Cleopatra by Colleen McCullough. Here’s how I came to read this book. I had sent Snubnose over to the library with a request for The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (which the librarian told was reserved for me). However, there was some confusion and the book wasn’t available. So Snubnose looked around and got me Antony and Cleopatra saying she thought I would like it.
Turned out, I loved it. I am not very familiar with ancient Roman/Egyptian history and loved how this book brought me to speed with the times without being boring or difficult in any manner.
I tried to follow up this book with Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran, which I thought made a natural sequel. Sadly, the difference in styles was all too jarring, and I found myself DNF’ing Cleopatra’s Daughter. This is a book I might have liked in other circumstances, but after the stellar Antony and Cleopatra, it was a massive disappointment.
I didn’t really watch anything interesting in May (apart from Game of Thrones), it was too hectic a month. That said, I watched Ordeal by Innocence (based off the Agatha Christie book) during my flight back home from China and it didn’t put me to sleep, so I guess it’s good?
I didn’t care that they made such drastic changes to the plot (I am a Christie purist), but overall it was a good three hours of entertainment.
And oh yes, I saw this silly movie on Netflix – The Perfect Date starring Noah Centineo and Laura Marano. It was ok, it felt too young for me, what am I doing watching such movies anyway? It was blah and formulaic, but also mildly fun maybe because the lead pair had pretty good chemistry.
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So, travel to China was the highlight of this month and quite possibly the year. I was a little worried while trip planning about the food (vegetarian) and toilets (picky about cleanliness). Everything turned out ok though. The food was a delight for the most part, and the toilets, sigh! I guess we survived.
I’m still gathering together all the photos and videos we shot. It’s going to take some time to process all that we saw and did. For now, I can say it was an amazing and eye-opening trip that made me totally rethink how I view the country and the people.
So that was May – amazing, frustrating, and crazy-busy in turns. Overall, a very exciting month, and one of the best months of the year so far!
How did May treat you?
I cannot believe Snubnose is old enough to read China Rich Girlfriend. I’m with her — i loved seeing all the STUFF the characters in that series had, even though I do deplore that kind of consumption in real life. It was still just like, weirdly fascinating. Glad Snubnose enjoyed!
I didn’t like her reading this series, it felt a bit old for her, but she was pretty enthusiastic about it. She’s now on to Rich People Problems and loving it.
I love the cheesy, poorly written and way too young for me netflix movies too! Sometimes you just need a predictable movie!!
Oh yes! Sometimes you just need pretty people and cheesy lines, so you can just chill and watch something entertaining without getting too drawn into it.
I would love to go to China. The month of May was fabulous for me as I celebrated my daughter’s graduation.
China was amazing, it was completely different from how I imagined it to be. I would have loved to spend a couple more days in the place.
Sounds like a testing month! I definitely feel ya, May was a doozy! Let’s hope June is better and you start feeling 100%!
I thought the perfect date was just ok too! Def enjoyable but not one I woudl watch again!
Yeah, strictly a one-time watch!
I glad you enjoyed your trip to China… food and toilets are a struggle for me too anywhere I go. It’s not easy. Sounds like you have a good month. Hope you feel better soon.
I wish all my Mays were this interesting!! I have read both the Cleopatra books you mentioned but read them at different times so I loved them both. I read Nefertiti by Michelle Moran after and liked it too. For a more historically accurate reading I picked up Ramses by Christian Jacq. Heading to Egypt this summer so my reading list is full of these! I will be on the lookout for your China chronicle!!
I’ve read Nefertiti too, and I liked it. I would have liked Cleopatra’s Daughter too, but couldn’t take the change in tone from Antony and Cleopatra. Especially since Michelle Moran had a very different interpretation of the main characters such as Octavian, Cleopatra, Antony, and so on.
I went to Egypt last summer, and the funny thing was Nefertiti and Cleopatra were hardly mentioned by the tour guides. They were all about Rameses II and Hatshepsut. It’s a fascinating place, and you will love it for sure.
Ramses from Christian Jacq is going on my TBR list. Definitely have to read that!
Sounds like you’ve had a busy month too! I’m not sure where May disappeared really… hopefully June will be less frantic for both of us!
Yeah, May went by way too fast! I am hoping for a more peaceful next couple of months.
I am impressed by how many books you manage to read. I liked Great Alone 🙂. I am planning to read Antony and Cleopatra.
May was a busy month for us in the second half, too. Both of my boys finished school for the summer, so we had a lot of end-of-school-year events going on between the two schools. Plus, I was the yearbook coordinator for my son’s elementary school, so I had a lot to wrap up with that, too.
Good to hear your trip went well although sad you were poorly on your return.
I don’t mind feeling poorly as I had such a fantastic time during my travel. It’s mainly due to the difference in weather. China was balmy and pleasant while home is hot and humid.
I watched Game of Thrones too. I did expect more though for the final few episodes it seemed a bit rushed to me and could have been better.
Yes, Game of Thrones was super-disappointing in how they rushed everything through.