November 2017 Reads Wrap-Up
Ok so it’s almost time for a December wrap-up or a 2017 wrap up, so this post is horribly late. It has been a wildly busy time though! I started a new job and have really hit the ground running. The festive season is also packed with activities and trying to catch up with everyone before they all go away. I only managed to read four books in November, but one of them was ‘A Little Life’, which profoundly affected me and kind of resulted in me taking the rest of the month a bit slower. Let me know what you think of last month’s reads.
1. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
My rating: 5 stars
My thoughts: As many of you know, I am a bit of a crier – I mean I’ve been known to shed tears in the Guide Dogs’ advert, so, you know… But this book was something else. I honestly have never cried so much in my whole life. My husband would wake up in the middle of the night to me sobbing and ask me “is it the book or is something wrong?”. When I answered, through tears, “it’s the book”, he would give me a pat and roll over. As I said in the intro, this book profoundly affected me (and still does). The story is horrific and epic at the same time. The author simply does not give the reader one moment’s reprieve. I highly recommend this book, but would warn anyone that it contains a vast amount of abuse and is utterly heart-wrenching.
2. The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials - Book 3) by Philip Pullman
My rating: 4 stars
My thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed the last instalment of this trilogy. Pullman is an absolute master of the imagination. Interestingly, while I was reading this, ‘The Book of Dust’ came out and Penguin Random House very kindly sent me a copy! So now I don’t have to leave Lyra’s world just yet.
3. The History of Bees by Maja Lunde
My rating: 3.5 stars
My thoughts: I have heard some great reviews about this book but, to be honest, I just didn’t love it. It alternates between three stories – one set in 1800s England, one in 2007 in the USA, and one in 2095 in China. I found the stories disjointed and I found the constant hopping between the three a bit off-putting – I couldn’t quite focus on this book. Notwithstanding this, it is an interesting premise and a lovely tribute to bees and their vital importance in the world.
4. High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard
My rating: 1 star
My thoughts: this book is supposedly a New York Times bestseller, and the author does not waste a moment before telling you this along with many of his other achievements. This book could’ve been good, but there’s nothing original in it and the author is so busy bragging that he forgets he’s supposed to be helping you. It was a self-absorbed ode to himself. This was very unfortunate as there were some useful tidbits, but they remained tidbits due to the author’s ego-centric approach. One reviewer on Goodreads quite aptly described it as, “An amateur attempt to overthrow ‘7 Habits of highly effective people’ and other habit related classic self-help books.”
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Happy reading!
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