April Books List

(1) Revolution 1989: The Fall Of The Soviet Empire by Victor Sebestyn
If you want an easy to read, fully accessible and thoroughly engaging history overview of the downfall of the Soviet Empire, then this is the book for you.  I've picked up (and inevitably put down) many books on this era, and found the majority dull and far too dense for me.  It's almost like you need a Masters in Eastern European history just to look at some of them!  So I was very happy to stumble across this one as it's a great starting point / introduction to whet your appetite with.  [5/5]

(2) Shades Of Grey by Jasper Fforde
It took me a while to get into the crazy and colourful world of Shades Of Grey, but once I did, I found myself really enjoying it.  This future world is terrifying as you'd expect from any other dystopian story, but it's the sheer humour and wit that Fforde has, which really sets it apart from all others in the genre.  I've never read anything like it before!  For a taster, there are some cool promotional ads on Youtube for it.  [4/5] 

(3) Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
I'm sure most people have read this by now, but it's basically about a woman in her thirties who decides to undertake a spiritual journey and leaves behind her job and her husband to go and find a new happiness and purpose in life.  This tried and tested formula has been done to death now with so many books around of a similar vein and the story always seems to be the same.  That said, I thought it was OK, even if I read it just for the pure escapism/travel factor because I've always wanted to go to Bali and India, and I love Italy.  [3/5]

(4) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Yet another one of those books that I've been wanting to read for such a long time, and have finally plucked it from my bookshelves.  One Hundred Years of Solitude is an epic magical realism story.  The prose is simply beautiful and the sheer scope of following seven generations of this extraordinary family was at first intimidating, but quickly became more of a comfort each time I picked it up and got stuck in.  Well worth picking up if you want a book you can escape into.  [4/5] 

(5) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Oh Charlie, you have to be one of my favourite YA characters ever.  Young, angsty, unsure and evoking everything else that a teenager goes through as they stumble through the warrens of life and try to figure out what the hell is going on.   I haven't read many books like this where there's a central young male character, so it offered up a different, but in many ways still similar, perspective to the coming of age genre.  [4/5]

What have you been reading this month?  

 

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