May 2026 Books

♥ Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen: The Body Under the Piano by Marthe Jocelyn with illustrations by Isabelle Follath - I am hooked on this series! I started with the third book, since it was the only one available at the book shop I was in, and liked it so much I bought the other three books. The Body Under the Piano was the one that started it all and I loved learning how Hector and Aggie met and became friends. The next book takes place at Christmastime, so I'm saving it for December. On to book four!

Post Script:

A Little Life ¹ by Hanya Yanagihara - I can't remember a character I identified with more than Jude St. Francis, the man at the center of Yanagihara's disturbing and distressing book. I only made it 58% through the audiobook and had to give up. I Googled the plotline because I wanted something good to happen to Jude but it never did. Or rather, the scraps of happiness he experienced never made up for the horror that was inflicted upon him. Listening to the exceptional Matt Bomer narrate and tell me one despicable thing after another that happened to Jude from childhood onward became exhausting. I spent an entire two and a half hour car ride to Phoenixville in tears, feeling crushed that little boy Jude was so unloved and uncared for. He eventually found a group of wonderful men that saw his goodness and beauty but no matter what, the trauma that Jude went through was too much and he never believed that anyone would ever love him for real. It got to a point where I became angry with Yanagihara for hurting Jude. Like when we were all furious with the writers of Downton Abbey for having our beloved Anna be raped in season four. Don't make me love someone and then hurt them and expect me to keep coming back for more. It got to where I was having trouble sleeping because I would just remember and replay all the sexual trauma that sweet Jude went through, only to find that his entire life was tragic and awful. (And I do not think a handful of moments with great friends makes up for decades of abuse and neglect.) I returned it to Libby early and put on The Nanny to push away the heartache of meeting Jude St. Francis and then having to find out the cruelty he suffered. (It's a known fact that Fran Drescher can heal all emotional pain. I turn to that series when I need to feel peace and to crack up laughing. It never disappoints.) I'm finally getting around to posting this in July and still, at least every other day I think of Jude. A sweet, caring, broken man who I came to love and continue to feel enraged at what Yanagihara subjected him to. How dare she. I'll never read another thing she wrote for asa long as I live.

¹ - audiobook
² - abridged version
* - liked
♥ - loved
Any unmarked titles were, in my opinion, so-so.