May 19 for 2019 update

This month's novel was Valencia and Valentine by Suzy Krause. It was one of the free Kindle selections in May. I liked it a lot. There's some plot twists and it wasn't too predictable. One of the characters has really bad OCD, so if you're not comfortable reading about mental illness, it might not be for you. I personally never figured out the author's intent for writing so much about OCD. I am not sure if she really meant to educate the reader somehow, or if this was just a marketing gimmick. There were times that I felt it was in poor taste to make a character disabled if it was just to make the book more interesting. But, I really wanted to know what happened, so I kept reading. There are other references to mental illness as well. Some people do die in the story, and there is a reference to a supporting character's suicide, but all of this happens "off screen", so to speak. Anyway, an interesting set of stories in these two women's lives, and how they eventually intersect.

 

My nonfiction book for May was Live Your Truth by Kamal Ravikant. I got this one in July 2018 but I had never read it. I like the Ravikant brothers, and I think this book was on sale at the time. However, I did not find this book to be very memorable. Kamal wrote it after a breakup and after recovering from illness and depression the year before. So I think the intended audience is "sad people" and it did not resonate with me at the moment. Kamal seems like a sad sort of person and also a weird person. I have a novel that he wrote in 2017 (it's coming back to me now, I think that one was on sale too), and maybe I'll read it...maybe I won't. I'm not really selling Kamal very well but if you are feeling sad or going through a breakup then either this book or his first one (Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It) would be recommended. As I write this, I noticed that the blurb reviewers for the book are Tim Ferriss, James Altucher, and AJ Jacobs. Search for Kamal's interviews with any of those guys if you'd rather to listen to something a little more interesting than this book. Also note that of the 2 brothers I do prefer to listen to @naval.

This month's classic movie was War Games, which is currently available to stream for free if you have Amazon Prime. That was a fun movie to re-watch, and see all the old 1980s references that now we see in Stranger Things. I had recently heard some discussion about this movie on the 99 Percent Invisible podcast, though I don't remember which episode...sorry...but I'm sure it helped to inspire my choice.