May Reading Roundup

'The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman,' 'Matriarch' and more books I read last month

Jun 13, 2025

Excuse my cat’s bite marks on the cover of *The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman.*

Hi friends,

In exciting news, I chatted with author and culture writer Niko Stratis for Parnassus Books about her new memoir The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman. You can read the interview here, and you can buy the t-shirt I’m wearing in the photo here.

As you know, I love interviewing folks, so I’m thrilled I still get to do it in my post-Scene life.

Now, let’s get into what I read in May!

The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman by Niko Stratis

I loved this book so much. Hands down one of the best memoirs I’ve read. A coming-of-age/coming out story told through songs. There’s so much heart and pain in this book. The way that Niko can weave a personal essay with music criticism is masterful. She never strays too far from her own story, even when she is literally telling you the history of the band Wilco.

This is some of the best personal essay writing, and music writing I’ve read. If you teach either of those things, you should teach some of these essays.

Read my interview with Niko Stratis here.

Out On a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young

I loved the opening/meet-cute: two strangers meet at a Halloween party, both dressed as pirates. They get in a jokey argument about who deserves to be a pirate because one of them has a prosthetic leg and one of them has a limb difference. Then they have a one night stand and she gets pregnant.

Just a straight-up love story (open-door). Great listen if you’re stressed out, or need something easy and escapey.

Matriarch: A Memoir by Tina Knowles

Honestly? Pretty great. I was daunted by the page count, but I felt compelled to read it. I know so many Beyoncé scholars and I’ve always been jealous of how much lore some people know. Well, now I am one of you. And yes, this is a threat.

Ok, back to the book. I knew Tina did a lot behind the scenes, especially for Destiny’s Child, but I had no idea how much she did. Just, wow. It was fascinating to learn all of the family history, especially since it is 80% a biography of Beyoncé. If you’re the least bit interested, I say read it.

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

When I finished this I said in an IG story that I didn’t like it and wow, you all really came for me lol. I am not an Emily Henry or romance hater! I like Emily Henry! I have read all of her books! I found this one to be a snooze. It’s fine. It’s obviously not bad. I just found it boring and a little tedious.

For my fellow discourse-heads, the May 15 episode of Commotion about this book is a great (and satisfying) listen.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

I’m not gonna lie. This was kind of a slog. And it’s loooooong. I was debating DNFing it and found a review that compared it to Interview With The Vampire. I was like, well shit, let me give this another try. It’s just so slow. I liked the ending though. Was it worth it? TBD.

I will say, the audiobook production is great. I also love that Stephen reads his acknowledgments, which has become my favorite part of his audiobooks. In this one he thanks Percival Everett for Erasure, which he said has never left his mind and heavily influenced this book.

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Don’t forget, now you can find all of my 2025 reads in The Blonde Mule storefront.

Thanks for being here!

Kim

ICYMI: Here’s what I read last month: