The June ’17 Overview
Last month I did a big post with the books I read in the previous 4 months. So, this month I can just share the books of one month. Happy days! In my previous post I wrote I was 5 books behind on schedule and I am pleased to say I am now back on track. I would also like to refer to the 5 book goal of last month’s post. I finished 4 out of 5 of the books mentioned but managed to finish 10 books total. A big help was my decision to (finally) get a library subscription resulting in the plundering of the English section and good for half of the books I read last month.
Without further ado, here are the books I read in June with the rating I gave on Goodreads (X out of 5) and my thoughts in a quick 1 or 2-sentence review.
June
‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding ***
I enjoyed the book, but not as much had I been a young boy reading it.
‘Het houden van mannen’ by Myrthe van der Meer ****
(In Dutch) Lekker melig en heerlijk concept. Het allerbelangrijkste met ‘gimmicky’ boeken zoals deze is dat het leuk blijft en dat blijft het.
‘Midnight’s Children’ by Salman Rushdie ***
What a struggle. The sentences go on for miles and at first I liked the ‘stream of consciousness’ style, but after a while it gets tiring and you just want to get to the point.
‘The Complete Maus’ by Art Spiegelman *****
Amazing, heartbreaking and profound (big words, I know). See also my full review here.
‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl ****
Lovely to read such a childhood classic again. A lot more tragic and disturbing this time around.
‘When Breath Becomes Air’ by Paul Kalanithi *****
Beautifully written account of a neurosurgeon who becomes a patient. Not just the story, but also (if not more) the writing itself is beautiful. Bonus: I absolutely bawled my eyes out at the last chapter written by his wife.
‘Illuminae’ by Amie Kaufman *****
I am in love with this series. It has been a while since I read a decent dystopian-like trilogy and although this is science fiction, it is soooo goooood. Really enjoying the ‘found footage’ format as well.
‘Ten Short Stories’ by Roald Dahl ***
I did not really enjoy these stories. There were a few nice ones, but I think most of them made me feel awkward and although that means they were written well, I don’t like that feeling.
‘Beautiful Broken Things’ by Sara Barnard ****
Lovely quick read. If I had been younger and more in the target group (14-18 year-olds I think) I would have liked it even better, because the language felt a bit ‘young’ sometimes. But overall a great story about friendship.
‘Gemina’ by Amie Kaufman *****
The sequel to ‘Illuminae’ and I loved it just as much. The final part comes out March 2018 and I will be counting the days!
July
With such a great turnover in June, I hope to keep my reading game strong in July. My main goal this time will be to finish ‘Sapiens’ which has been on my ‘currently reading’ pile for too long. I also want to read ‘1984’ and the other books will be a surprise. I plan to visit the library again and maybe pick up some Dutch literature as well.
- ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’ by Yuval Noah Harari
- ‘1984’ by George Orwell