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My Favorite Books of May

June 10, 2020 by Kenna Griffin

May was a productive reading month.

I read 12 books in May. Of those, I gave six—one fiction and five nonfiction— perfect grades.

It seems I remember dropping a lot of books in May, but that’s ok if the result was half of the books I read being “must reads.”

You can read my reviews below.

Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life

I was intrigued when I saw that Marie Kondo had an organization book for our professional lives.

I wasn’t crazy about her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I just don’t have the need to thank my coat for keeping me warm. Also, I’m not the kind of person who keeps stuff. I don’t have an emotional attachment to things. The book didn’t hit for me.

But, if you’ve ever seen my desk, it’s always a mess and my digital clutter is even worse. I decided to give Kondo’s second book a try.

Kondo wrote Joy at Work with Rice University business professor Scott Sonenshein. Together the authors provide advice for overcoming workplace messes that drain your energy and kill your productivity. The book provided a lot of strong takeaways that made it worth reading. Now if I would just implement some of them…

The Holdout

Bobby Nock, a 25-year-old black teacher, is about to be convicted of murdering his 15-year-old student, Jessica Silver. There’s just one problem for the prosecution—Maya Seale.

Maya is convinced that Bobby isn’t guilty or at least there is reasonable doubt. She persuades the rest of the jurors to return the verdict of not guilty, a controversial decision that changes all their lives.

A decade later, a true-crime film crew reassembles the jury. They want to retell the story, with a focus on Maya, who has become a defense attorney. When one of the jurors is found dead in Maya’s hotel room, she has to prove her own innocence while revisiting the original crime that brought the group together.

You Are Not Alone

Cassandra and Jane Moore are everything Shay Miller wants to be. The sisters are beautiful, stylish, rich, successful, and they seem to have the answers to every one of Shay’s problems, sometimes before she even knows she has them.

When the Moore sisters befriend Shay, she thinks her life is improving. But soon she realizes that they may have been involved in an “accident” she witnessed and could even be framing her for murder.

Shay finds that she may not be safe from these women or the rest of her new circle of friends. She needs to discover the truth before she has an “accident” of her own.

The Lies We Told

When Clara’s boyfriend, Luke, goes missing, she discovers that the perfectionism she saw in his family was all a facade.

Clara discovers that Luke’s sister, who disappeared when he was much younger, and a strange girl named Hannah, who has been stalking and threatening him, may be connected.

Now Clara has to figure out the connection and find Luke before it’s too late. But first she has to convince his family to tell the truth about the secrets they’ve been keeping.

In An Instant

Finn Miller has a normal 16-year-old life with a teenage crush, a fashionable best friend and an annoying family. When a devastating car accident sends her and 10 others over the side of a mountain, Finn watches from between worlds as her family and friends try to survive the wreck.

Finn watches as her brother also dies, her parents struggle with blame and reveal secrets, her best friend searches for the truth of what happened while the group fought for survival, and her sister copes with grief and her own personal injuries.

A Good Marriage

I’m not usually a fan of Stephen King. I love his writing style, but I don’t like the Sci-Fi genre, in general. My husband listened to this book, which is one of King’s short stories, and told me I should do the same. I’m glad I listened. I listened to the book and watched the movie in the same week, amazed by how much King modeled the story after the BTK Killer, Dennis Rader. The movie also was good and followed the book closely.

Darcy Anderson’s husband of more than 20 years is away on a business trip when a search for batteries in the garage results in a horrific discovery. Darcy knocks over a box under a worktable and finds evidence that her husband is a rapist and murderer.

What do you do when you discover that your husband, the father of your children, is a serial killer? Do you keep his secret to protect your own life and theirs?

There they are! My favorite books of May. I hope you find something on the list to read and love. As always, happy reading!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above (typically those to books) may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I promise that I only recommend products or services I use personally and think will provide you value. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Prof KRG

Prof KRG aims to create an ongoing educational dialogue among media professionals, students and educators.

Please let me know what resources you need or topics you wish you better understood. If I don't know the information, I'm happy to seek out someone who does.

Contact me via email at kennagriffin@gmail.com.

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About Kenna Griffin

I am a mass communications professor, journalist and collegiate media adviser. I teach classes including those on writing, reporting, media law, media ethics, social media marketing, and public relations. I am married, have two children and live in Oklahoma. More about this site's purpose

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