May was a busy month especially with the Auckland Writer's Festival and Ockham Award winners announced. It seemed like the city was buzzing all month with all sorts of events, May really flew by and here we are in June already! Here's what I managed to read in between all the excitement.....
With the Comedy Festival happening in Auckland throughout May, I thought I’d kick off the month with Pax Assadi's new memoir Mortified. I’ve been a fan of Pax since he was in the comedy trio Fricken Dangerous Bro and I enjoyed his TV show Raised by Refugees. In Mortified, Pax embraces all the embarrassing moments that have happened to him growing up, I found myself laughing out loud throughout the book. He also shares heartfelt moments of his family and experience growing up as an immigrant in Aotearoa. As an immigrant myself, I connected with so many of these moments also. If you’re in need of a laugh then I highly recommend Mortified!
I picked up Meg Mason’s upcoming book Sophie, Standing There next, I’d had the ARC copy for a few weeks and it kept beckoning me to give it a read. The book centers around Sophie who is a technician for mainly literary festivals and one in particular which will feature her favourite author, Lilac Dunne. I thought the timing was perfect for me to get stuck into this book as the Auckland Writer’s Festival was just round the corner. I enjoyed that the book revolved around the book industry with a behind the scenes look plus name dropping of some famous authors. At one point I have a suspicion that a particular New Zealand author’s book is mentioned, let me know if you spot it too! This was a slower paced book than I’m used to however it felt needed as more of Sophie’s life is revealed, especially in the second half of the book where you understand her behaviour and her fascination with Lilac. Much like Sophie, the book has left me wanting to dive deeper and listen to any podcast or interview that Meg has done to promote the book. This was definitely one read I found hard to put down and has left me wondering who is Meg Mason’s inspiration behind Lilac Dunne??
With the new movie out on Netflix I decided I really needed to finally read that Octopus book everyone goes on about! Remarkably Bright Creatures was everything I was expecting, a lovely feel-good heartwarming read. It’s one of those stories that has a layer of mystery that follows the characters in this little bay. The movie had all the feels as well. It was adapted well for film I thought, even though it was told slightly differently I don’t think it took away from the book at all instead giving it a fresh perspective. If you’re looking for a cosy read and watch now we are in winter then I recommend Remarkably Bright Creatures.
Next up for the month was Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Stakes which I have been looking forward to reading since she announced the release at the end of last year. As soon as I got my ARC copy it went straight to the top of my TBR pile. I just love Noelle’s writing, I don’t really know how to describe it, it’s just so unmistakably hers. She writes with such raw honesty and doesn’t hold back as she lays everything out there from her addictions and desires. It surprised me to learn that she had actually started writing Stakes before Grand. Her curiosity with Bram Stoker’s Dracula brought back memories for me as a teen in the 1990s, also obsessed with Dracula, partly due to the star studded film. It was interesting to read how this book was a part of her life and how she would keep coming back to it at different stages in her life.
The memoir addresses the #MeToo movement and also has her coming back to the Magdalene laundries in Ireland. As I have recently read Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These, the laundries are still very fresh in my mind and I found myself reflecting again on this troubling part of Ireland’s history that I knew little about until recently. If you were a fan of Grand, memoirs like Mother Mary Comes to Me or also drawn to Bram Stoker’s Dracula then this one is for you. After finishing Stakes I of course had to revisit Coppola’s film, Gary Oldman plays the perfect Dracula!
I ended the month finally starting my May Book Club pick, A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James. I’m very behind along with most of the club lol but I’m enjoying it so far. Will report back once I’m done but bear with me, it’s a chunky read at 720 pages!
Let me know what you read and enjoyed in May!