(1) Fast Food Nation: What The All-American Meal Is Doing To The World by Eric Schlosser - Accessible to anyone who is interested in the fast food industry, and the politics and economics that go hand in hand with it. I guess if you're reading this in 2012, then you may have already heard about most of the horrors that Schlosser goes into detail with, but it's still a worthwhile read and really easy to pick up whenever you fancy reading it. [5/5]
(2) Delirium by Lauren Oliver - So disappointing because the concept sounded interesting (it's a YA dystopia about love being seen as a disease and something that they cure people of), but it never seemed to reach its full potential in the book. The characters felt very average at best and although the last quarter of the book does make the sequel sound promising, I don't think I'll be reaching for it just yet. [2/5]
(3) Richard by Ben Myers - Richard is a fictional account of Richard Edwards (the troubled songwriter/rhythm guitarist of the Manic Street Preachers who went missing in 1995 and his body was never found) during his last days, told through his eyes. Although it wasn't my cup of tea prose-wise, I do think the author did a good job of exploring this concept, though I have no idea who would actually read this if they weren't a diehard Manics/Richey fan! [2/5]
(4) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - I have been meaning to read this for years and after watching the Stanley Kubrick adaptation last month, I finally decided to take this off my book shelf. The subject matter is of course unsettling and disturbing, which makes it a difficult novel to read at leisure so I found myself reading it in chunks throughout the month. I'm glad I've read it because it's a 'classic' and all, but it's not something I'd ever willingly read again. [3/5]
(5) Fifty Shades Freed by E. L James - I wasn't expecting this series to be anything more than some easy summer reading trash, but this last book in the trilogy has the most anti-climatic ending! I guess it fits with how the story was going, but why did it have to end like that? What happened to the very-mild-naughtiness that made this series actually bearable to read?! [2/5]
(6) Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway - I struggle reading anything by Hemingway; his writing style is just generally not my thing. Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises isn't one of this famed 'better' books and I feel that this novel shows Hemingway to other people in the way that I see most of his work. It's not terrible or anything, but nothing extraordinary either. Just very average, but OK if you're looking for a quick summer read that isn't chick lit. [2/5]
What have you been reading this month?
I was also disappointed with Delirium, it reminded me of Matched by Allie Condie too much. I read Lolita when I was 14, it creeped me out so much haha x
ReplyDeleteYeah Lolita is pretty creepy! I like Matched a lot more than Delirium for some reason, I think I got into that one a lot more and preferred the characters. One of the problems with all of these YA dystopias is that they can start to blur into one a bit! x
DeleteLol it is so embarrassing but the only book I've read out of these is Freed. I hated the ending, it just didn't fit with the other 2 books. I started reading Lolita years ago but never finished - it tends to happen a lot with classics :p
ReplyDeleteI don't know what the author was thinking ending it that way, but I guess it was always going to revert back to a mainstream relationship in the end - dull! I've done that with some classics too, particularly anything Austen, just can't finish them x
DeleteLots of fabulous books. I've just finished reading all the Fifty Shades of Grey books and I quite liked them. I found it all repetitive in parts and there's some bad grammar, but it kinda drew me in.
ReplyDeletexxx
www.forevermissvanity.com
Same, some of the writing was downright awful but I still got sucked in! xxx
DeleteI'm about halfway through Delirium and its definitely not wowing me, I am quite disappointed. I've heard good things about Divergent though so I'm definitely going to give that one a go :-)
ReplyDeleteDivergent is great! I really loved that and I've read Insurgent too which was good. Both are MUCH better than Delirium IMO :)
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