Saturday, December 13, 2014

For the love of reading


Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieUnlike many books based on Africa, this book focuses on the lives of a group of middle class Nigerians.   This is a story around a girl (intertwined the stories of people she grows up with) who moves to America for college. 

It follows her journey as a foreigner in a strange new land to someone who might still be considered a foreigner but understands the American culture better. This allows her to have great insight into the US and the complexities around race relations.

This is a perceptive and fantastically written book that has it all - strong characters that grow and develop as well as a social commentary and narrative that keeps you turning those pages. STARS *****

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. If you liked Gossip Girl, then this is the book for you as this could easily pass as an Asian equivalent. It was hard to tell if the author was joking with book as some of the individuals in the book as they were a little redic (like Gossip Girl) but it was a fun read.  STARS ***

The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman. This book is truly amazing and one of the best books I've read all year. 

With the various stories that weave together, the book makes good on its promise to 'tell people what happened here', specifically what happened to the Jews during the world wars. I couldn’t put it down. STARS *****

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron. Zafron's the shadow of the wind is such an amazing story and so cool in so many ways. It's rich and, at times, dense plot makes it almost impossible to put down. I soon realised that I could not go for a few days with reading a few more pages, not only because I wanted to find out what happened next, but if a few days passed I would forget the many small details of the story.

Having just finished this book, I felt that I was swept up and carried along by the writing while being overwhelmed by the details, if you know what I mean? It was a strange feeling. 

Also, some of the expressions seemed a little too contemporary but this is a small matter, it was a great book. STARS *****


Breath by Tim Winton. I could not put this book down. For the 2/3rd of the story I fell in love with the relationship between the various characters as well as their quirks but then it seem to fall flat . 


The characters in Breath were typical Winton characters - flawed, self doubting, unpopular, dark and brooding. Probably my favourite Tim Winton book yet. STARS ****



7 comments:

  1. Thank you for the recommendation. I am such a bookworm myself, I will make sure to check them out!

    Coco xx

    http://mllecoconath.com

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  2. It's interesting know which books have struck a chord with you and I love the final image shown at the end of this post haha!

    http://aglassofice.blogspot.co.uk

    x

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  3. Thank you for visiting my blog! Your blog is amazing :)

    http://jeninapearl.blogspot.com/

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  4. Ahh, it's pity that the last book seemed to fall flat - it's so sad when that happens with books!

    Corinne x
    www.skinnedcartree.com

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  5. Haha that quote is great! :) Thanks for the book recommendations, I will definitely check some of them out! And thanks for visiting my blog!

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