May 2023 Reads

Nazywam sie Kabelek, Jamnik Kabelek by Michalak Gierwiallo

This was a children's book, written in Polish, about a sausage dog who is learning how to be okay with his long self. This was a slow read for me, as I'm getting used to the Polish language, but the story and its illustrations were adorable.

Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov

Can I give a book six stars? I picked it up for two reasons: it's won a ton of awards, and it's a Bulgarian novel. Gospodinov treats himself as the main character in this world that imagines people obsessed with preserving the past--so much so, that rooms, cities, and entire countries become devoted to past decades. The metaphor works on several levels, exploring not only personal nostalgia but also the shared memory loss of a nation. My main takeaway was the idea of all political groups being the choice of one past mistake over another. Depressing and, oddly, comforting.

AI and UX by Gavin Lew

I have to jump on the AI bandwagon, even if it's just to glance around. Do I think AI will change everything? Not any time soon. But it's a tool that also likely isn't going away anytime soon. This book covers how AI can be used for better UX, but also how AI is useless without UX. Worth a short read.

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Yes, this month's post only has three this time around. But that's because I already wrote a piece on books I read in May that were recommended to me by AI. Check it out.