What I Read in May 2025

Happy June, friends! Here are the eight books I read in the month of June:

GIOVANNI’S ROOM by James Baldwin

It was about time I finally read a James Baldwin book (at the ripe age of 32)! I started with Giovanni’s Room since it seemed to be the most recommended book out of all of his writings (at least according to my TikTok algorithm).

David is an American living in the 1950s Paris, and while his girlfriend Hella (also American) is in Spain contemplating their future together, David meets Giovanni through an acquaintance. David goes home with Giovanni, or rather to “Giovanni’s Room” which becomes a symbol for how David feels about his life (he does not want to be gay?! how to escape the feelings??). Giovanni’s Room begins at the end so a sense of melancholy stays with you the entire time which feels appropriate for what happens as well. Beautifully written.

EMMA by Jane Austen

I had first read Pride and Prejudice back in 10th grade and have re-read it a couple of times since. I had been wanting to read Emma since high school actually because we watched Clueless (or at least bits of it) during AP Literature to study cinematography and learned that it was based on Jane Austen’s Emma. So I guess going into Emma, I sort of knew the plot/what to expect?! As with many classics, Emma requires a little more of an active reading to make sense of what they are actually saying but I really enjoyed that process and the subtleties. I found Emma a little bit annoying and “clueless” but in a likable way nonetheless.

The copy of Emma I had on hand (or I should say one of three copies which I actually read) was an a Oxford World’s Classics edition which has many footnotes throughout that provided historical context which helped with understanding and appreciating Jane Austen’s writing more.

While it has taken me quite literally 15 years to read another Jane Austen book, it won’t take me as long to read another one (Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey are on my radar for Austen in August)!

MONDAY’S NOT COMING by Tiffany D. Jackson

Monday’s Not Coming is a heavy and emotional YA novel. Claudia’s very best friend Monday has been missing for weeks, and everyone around seems to have moved on without questioning, including her parents who were used to having Monday over at their house constantly. Claudia desperately looks for Monday, reaching out to anyone who may be of help to her. Tiffany D. Jackson employs multiple timelines by organizing the chapters into “Before”, “After”, “One Year Before,” etc. so you can appreciate the drastic changes in Claudia while building the suspense before you find out about the event that separates those timelines. Tiffany D. Jackson breaks my heart every time, and I’ll continue to read more of her works.

SEVEN BRIEF LESSONS ON PHYSICS by Carlo Rovelli

It’s so special when friends gift you books because you get to learn more about them as people and it often pushes you outside of your reading comfort zone. Seven Brief Lessons on Physics was a gift from a college friend which may be obvious because I would typically not voluntarily read books about physics! This book felt liken a short glimpse into the world of modern physics. Some of the concepts were hard for me (but again, I am not a physics person haha) but this book made me appreciate the beauty of the world, so much of it yet to be discovered and understood.

WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HERE by Samra Habib

With this short memoir, Samra doesn’t hesitate to share about their life as an Ahmadi Muslin growing up in Pakistan, how their family’s life and dynamic changed after their move to Canada, and, of course, their fight to leave an arranged marriage and live a life true to their queer Muslim identity. It really is a short memoir at only 220 pages but is packed full of both the obstacles Samra had to overcome and the love Samra has to give.

JUNIE by Erin Crosby Eckstine

I learned about both Junie and the author from TikTok! Junie is an enslaved sixteen year old living in pre-Civil War Alabama. She has spent her entire life on Bellereine Plantation with her family though she lost her older sister Minnie recently and is still grieving her loss. The life as she has known it is no longer, following the arrival of wealthy white people from New Orleans.

It’s hard to fit Junie into a box — yes, it’s a historical fiction but it’s also a coming-of-age story with some sweet romance. Eckstine also incorporates elements of mystery and magical realism. Erin Crosby Eckstine talks about her motivation for writing Junie being that she wanted to write a book that she wanted to read that didn’t exist yet and how her own family’s history was the inspiration. Such an impressive debut novel!

CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger

Another classic I read in the month of June was Catcher in the Rye. It was the book pick for the inaugural AP Lit Book Club (more on this later, I might dedicate a whole post once we’re a few more books into it). I had read Catcher in the Rye in my teens but in Korean so I was really excited to read it for the first time in English.

If you’re not familiar with the plot of Catcher in the Rye, it’s about Holden Caulfield (you might’ve heard of his name) who flunked out of yet another prep school due to failing grades. He departs early from Pencey Prep (he couldn’t stand it anymore!!!) but is not ready to go home yet because he wants to wait until his parents have learned of and digested the news before going home. In Catcher in the Rye, he tells you about those three-ish days.

Holden is very young and very privileged. He is naive in many ways and critical of people, including himself, in even more ways. His rambling personality and the breakdown he has came across much more in English. Some of is certainly due to a degree of rigidity added from the translation. However, re-reading it as a much older person than Holden (I was in middle school when I read it last so Holden felt much more grown up to me then) gives me a different perspective–Holden will be just fine.

THE GOD OF THE WOODS by Liz Moore

Since I can only do certain genres on audiobooks, I am always looking for good mystery/thrillers specifically. The God of the Woods won the Goodreads Choice Award last year and for a good reason! Set at an Adirondack summer camp, The God of the Woods begins with two mysteries–the disappearance of Barbara Van Laar, the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp grounds, and that of Bear Van Laar, Barbara’s brother, from fourteen years ago. The God of the Woods alternates between the past and present as you follow the investigations of both cases! I would say The God of the Woods is not a true thriller but rather a historical fiction about family drama that has a mystery/thriller element to it. I liked it because of those reasons but that might disappoint some people.

P.S. I just finished reading/listening to The Spirit Bares Its Teeth & Ring Shout!