Books I Read in May

I'm not sure if this is an exhaustive list. I may not have kept very good track, and well, it's been a little while, but here we go for the first catch-up edition of Books I Read.

Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan
Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan
Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
Books 9, 10, and 11 of the Wheel of Time series, which I discussed here.

A New Spring by Robert Jordan
This is a prequel to the Wheel of Time series. I greatly resented it when it was published, because at that point the series was nowhere near its conclusion, and the books in the series were getting incredibly bogged down and drawn out. I just wanted the author to focus on finishing the series in an enjoyable and reasonably efficient manner. And that was typical of the feelings of fans of the series at the time. actually complained to my brother that if Jordan was going to waste time with prequels and didn't focus on completing the WOT, he would die before he finished it. This seemed like hyperbole, because Jordan was only about 55 then, so he should have had easily 20 years to write. But then he was diagnosed with a rare blood disease, and sadly he did depart this life before finishing the series. So of course I regret my words, and I have to admit I quite like the book. Apparently Jordan planned to write 2 more prequels, so I'll be curious to see if those will be written by Brandon Sanderson (the author now completing the series) once the main saga is published.

The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove by Cathy Erway
Food memoirs are a favorite genre of mine. In this one, the author stops eating out for two years. I really enjoyed the book. It's fascinating to me to read about life in New York City. It's completely foreign because it's so unlike any of the many places I have lived. Yet at the same time it's completely familiar because it's such a constant subject in our popular culture. Additionally the book is interesting because the author is a very adventurous cook, and she combines the food stories well with the memoir aspect of the book.

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
I discussed this book here as number 100 from the list of the top 100 Children's books.

Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin
I like Emily Giffin's writing quite a bit. Her characters are very real and for the most part likable. This the second novel in a row in which she deals with the topic of infidelity. In Love the One You're With she treats a wife's infidelity, and in this one it's the infidelity of the husband. This novel goes back and forth between the perspective of the wife and the other woman. As popular women's fiction, of course it's not presented as a book about sin and how it infects our lives, but in effect, that's what it is. By having the perspective of both the women, we see hw everyone is harmed by the relationship. The book deals with the relationship in a way where we can see how the couple are drawn into it. I like and could sympathize with them even when I didn't like or agree with the choices they made. It liked that to me it seemed it was written so that we root for redemption rather than retribution.