Hello friends. How have you been? Have you been up to anything fun?

I had a nice day yesterday celebrating Beltane, a springtime celebration that takes place on the first of May in the northern hemisphere. 🌱 I sat in the grass and ate a cupcake that I made with chamomile milk ( recipe here! ). Then I had an impromptu crying session.

I listened to a podcast episode about the international workers day, hosted by Working Class History ( link here! ). Later I sat and read a few chapters of one of my current reads, “Mad Sisters of Esi” by Tashan Mehta… Do you know that feeling of anticipatory sadness when the book you are reading is so fucking magical and life-giving, and as you’re reading it you are starting to think about how sad it is that it inevitably has to end at some point? Yeah, that’s how I feel about that book. I should learn from the current changing of the seasons and not hold onto things so tightly...

Anyway. I love spring and I will not shut up about it.

I came home and pulled out my cards to do our monthly reading for book inspiration for May. I did the reading on my bed, watching the sun play with the golden details on the cards, and I wrote down some messages for us. Come sit with me, have a chamomile cupcake, and let’s chat about tarot and books together. _

How this works

I pulled some cards for us and wrote a little bit about what I’m seeing when it comes to reading inspiration for the month ahead. You are welcome to simply take what resonates from the reading and move on with your day, or, if you think of any specific books that align with what I’m describing, comment those titles down below for people to check out. These readings don’t aim to be particularly predictive, and they aren’t meant to be taken as gospel. This is simply a bit of fun, something to bring you some reading inspiration if you need it, and an opportunity for us to further connect as a community. _

I’m using the Lilifer tarot deck, created by Marion Costentin, published by Little Darkness. The spread is designed by me. Here are the questions we will be looking at, and the cards we got. For a better experience, I recommend viewing the pictures below on the Pagebound website!

_

To start with, we are being met with two cards we saw before, and in the exact same positions: King of Swords (as seen in the March reading) and The Magician (as seen in the April reading). These energies seem to be still relevant, but because we are reading these first two cards together, we may be looking at different aspects of each of them this time.

Together like this, I think they are suggesting a high potential for learning and achieving our reading goals this month, as long as we are able to clearly define for ourselves what it is that we want to spend our time on. The King is in the suit of Swords, which is the suit related to the faculties of the mind. There is potential for intellectual expansion and deeper learning this month. Because this King is wise and knowledgeable, perhaps we are talking about topics that are already familiar to us but that we want to learn more about. Alternatively, this may be a call to pick up a book that is in a genre we know we really enjoy, as there may be potential for us to expand our list of favorites this month, which is exciting.

If The Magician was to give the King of Swords some advice here, it would be to make sure they have a clear sense of direction, take care not to get stuck in the planning stage, and to use all of the resources they have at their disposal.

Sometimes it’s good to go with the flow and see where we end up with our reading practice, but other times this approach can lead to lack of clarity, overthinking and indecision. The Magician is here to give us a gentle reminder to pay attention to this and not allow ourselves to get to that point. Additionally, to best use the potential illustrated in the King, we might want to have some kind of plan that is simple and direct for what we want to achieve with our reading this month. If we happen to be researching a specific topic, we should remember to visit our library and talk to the librarians there, as they will be able to point us towards specific authors, books and resources, and make the process of researching significantly more effective and enjoyable. Plus, they are often very good at recommending titles based on specific books or authors, so they can assist when we are looking for books that fit a very specific vibe. For those of us who live where libraries aren’t as accessible, this is equally a reminder to not forget to utilize the resources available on the internet, such as online libraries, books in the public domain, zines and open-source journals. It's also worth mentioning that Pagebound is a place where many librarians hang out, and if they are up to chatting and have time to spare, they may be able to assist you through Pagebound Club! _

Alright then, let’s move onto some specific prompts that may help you pick out the books to read this month, if you are feeling a bit unsure or uninspired.

The top row is talking about nonfiction, and here we have two Tens: The Ten of Swords and the Ten of Wands. Tens often suggest an end of a cycle, learning from the past and moving onto better things.

What I’m seeing here is a suggestion to abandon a mindset that is not helpful to us anymore. This mindset relates specifically to the energy of the Ten of Wands and, in the illustration, we can see this character carrying ten flaming wands all on their own. What this card is often talking about is a rather extreme way of working towards something. We may be in this situation because we feel that the end justifies the means, or that the goal is so valuable, it is worth our suffering. In some cases we may even feel like we don’t have another choice but to carry this burden. That said, this card, together with the Ten of Swords is here to tell us that, in this case anyway, the end does not justify the means, nothing is worth this kind of self-inflicted suffering, and we do, in fact, have a choice.

What I am also getting from this second card is a focus on community: breaking through unhelpful beliefs around community, breaking down our personal trust issues, and not allowing negative experiences from the past to rule our present. The illustration of the Ten of Swords could then be seen as a suggestion of a fear which might have caused us to become defensive and isolate ourselves needlessly. With the Swords, things aren’t always what they seem, and sometimes our fears, anxieties and insecurities get the best of us.

So what books are we looking at here? I would suggest we think about what mindsets we hold that we know aren’t helpful to us, and go from there. This is a question that each of us can best answer for ourselves, but looking at the second card, there are some topics that come to mind for me. For example, this could be examining the harmful nature of capitalism, and looking for a reminder around the inherent value that we possess regardless of a job that we may or may not have. It could be examining our ideas of community and mutual aid. It could be examining our ideas of rest, and how unhelpful it is to think that we get some kind of mystery brownie points if we do something all on our own, even if it means sacrificing our wellbeing.

The third card for nonfiction is the Page of Pentacles. This card tells me that the books that fall under the topics illustrated in the Tens should have a gentle yet committed approach that’s full of curiosity. This Page is in no rush. They understand that a change of mindset suggested in the Ten of Swords will take time, but they never underestimate the value of taking little steps towards that goal every day. The books we should look into for nonfiction should have this practical and grounded approach, with a focus on the journey as opposed to the destination. _

Now, let us look at the cards that talk about inspiration for fiction reads this month. We are starting this row with the Seven of Pentacles. In this illustration specifically, we are looking at a figure surrounded by lovely flowers, perhaps in a garden of sorts. Their mind is preoccupied by a bunch of pentacles. Let’s say that the pentacles are the symbolic fruit that these flowers may eventually turn into. Now, this card is directly connected to the next one, which is the Four of Pentacles. This Four often represents someone who is holding onto something very firmly, leaving no room for flexibility or spontaneity. This is their comfort zone, and by gods, they will remain there. If we try to connect these two cards we get a better idea of the type of stories we might want to look into.

When working towards something that matters to us, it is all too easy to fixate on one specific thing we want and become rigid and stuck. Our character in this story is contemplating about the future. They have a narrow idea of success and everything that falls outside of that is to them considered a failure. The Two of Swords is telling us that the way this story is framed might be exactly comparing these two scenarios, and exploring the turmoil our character goes through thinking about their situation. Their narrow view of a single positive outcome is holding them hostage, as every time we give something this much power we become vulnerable. I am not getting a fantasy story from these cards. I’m thinking of a slow-paced story, grounded in the reality of uncertainty around a particular thing and the mental struggle our character is experiencing dealing with that uncertainty. _

That’s it for our monthly reading! I thought this one was very interesting, if you couldn’t tell by how wordy it is! Both fiction and nonfiction inspiration this month feels very abundant and specific. I will say though, the message for fiction books came through very clearly to me, but I truly can’t think of a title that matches the vibe. These posts are always meant to get some book recs in the comment section based on the reading, but this time I am especially curious what may come up for fiction recs. If you have any ideas, I’m excited to hear them! _

Last month we had that Judgement energy for April. Did you notice anything in your reading practice that related to that part of last month’s advice? Personally, I picked up a fiction book after a long time of reading only nonfiction (I'm a nerd, sue me), and I absolutely fell in love with it! It was a change for me and it really inspired me creatively, so I’d say Judgement resonated! I also followed the advice from the nonfiction part of the reading and started “Empire of AI” by Karen Hao! I’m going through it slowly, but I’m very glad I actually picked it up after staring at it on my TBR for ages.

OH and also, friends, I found time to do some spring cleaning, lol! I know you were dying to know. 🙂‍↔️

Anywayyy… I hope this month’s reading brought some value to you. I genuinely love doing these posts, I look forward to them every month. Thanks for reading! It’s totally cool if you skip the chatty bits, btw! I’m happy you’re here regardless :)

See you in the comments! _

Previous readings: April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026

Is anyone else buzzing with excitement to see the picks for the summer readlong? I haven't even finished my spring readalong yet, yet I'm very excited about the dopamine hit of having the summer picks revealed.

What are you hoping for, vibes and genre vibes?