Victoria Aveyard – ChristyESWriter

Books read in June:

War Storm – Victoria Aveyard:
3 Stars
This is the final story in the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard, though the first book in the series is one of my favourite books from the last few years, the third book in the series and this one will not be. The book wraps up the series well and doesn’t fall into the trap of many books of the same genre in trying to give all the characters a happy ending and thew ending of the book does make sense for the characters, but I’m still disappointed by it.
Favourite Quote: “Soft hands, better suited to book pages. Never used in war. Never needed in battle. I envy those hands.”

As They Say in Zanzibar – David Crystal:
4 Stars
This is a linguistics book that I got from the library and is mainly a book of proverbs from around the world. As someone who studies linguistics as much as they can it is interesting to learn how different countries have different sayings for the same situations and hoe some sayings are more well known than others.
Favourite Quote: “Those who hear not the music think the dancers mad – China.”

City of Circles – Jess Richards:
3 Stars
This is a book set partly in a circus and partly in a city called Matryoshka – the city of circles from the title. I enjoyed reading about the world and the places in the book more than I enjoyed the actual plot and story. Matryoshka is a city that seems like places I have been and places I have never been at the same time and reading the book did make me wonder if it is time I went travelling again, but the plot didn’t capture as I had hoped it would.

Books to read in July:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman:
This book is the book chosen by my book group for July and I have been recommended this book by a few different people so was waiting for a reason to go and buy it. The book follows Eleanor as she tries to stop being lonely. Having already read the first few pages I can already tell I am going to thoroughly enjoy reading this book, I just hope I can finish it before I meet with my book group!

Mun Mun – Jesse Andrews:
This book is the latest book I have received from Readers First in exchange for a review so will be doing a full review of this book after I have finished it. The book is set in a world where your physical size is directly related to how much money you have and those with the least money are roughly the size of mice. It follows one person as they try to make more money so they can become taller. The book seemed such an interesting way of looking at wealth in society that it seemed impossible not to read.

Books Read in May:
Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides:

2.5 Stars.
This was the book chosen for my Book Club in May. I was on holiday at the time so missed the meeting discussing it, but finished the book anyway. The book is well written, though it doesn’t seem so much to be a story at least not one with a clear ending. Though this is obviously on purpose, making the book read more like a memoir than a fiction, it did leave me feeling intimately disappointed after reading the rest of the book.
Favourite Quote: “‘Whoever named it morning sickness was a man,’ Lina declared. ‘He was just home in the morning to notice.’”
The Illumination of Ursula Flight – Anna Marie Crowhurst:

3 Stars.
I got this book to read from the Readers First website and my review of the book can be found here

The book is well written and generally quite quick to read, though the story is a bit slow and the ending did leave me a little disappointed.

Favourite Quote: “there was nothing I liked more than to see my own name drawn out by my own hand, and so I wrote it everywhere I could, including places I knew were forbidden”.
The Little Friend – Donna Tartt:

3 Stars.

I had had this book on my to read pile for over a year by the beginning of May so wanted to read it before I read anything else. If you are a fan of Donna Tartt’s writing then you will enjoy the writing in this story, though the story itself seemed a little convoluted and difficult to follow. I am glad I have read the book but will probably never read the book again.

Favourite Quote: “She did not care for children’s books in which the children grew up, as what “growing up” entailed (in life as in books) was a swift and inexplicable dwindling of character; out of a clear blue sky the heroes and heroines abandoned their adventures for some dull sweetheart, got married and had families, and generally started acting like a bunch of cows.”

TBR:

In June I will read:

War Storm – Victoria Aveyard:
This is the final book in The Red Queen series. The first book was my favourite book I read in 2015 and while I have read all the other books in the series including the short story prequels, the third book in the series was not as good as the first two. But I am invested in the series and need to finish this book this month so I can find out how everything turns out!

As They Say In Zanzibar – David Crystal:
This is essentially just a big book of proverbs from around the world and is a book I got from the library. I do linguistics and so when I went to the library for another book entirely, the chance to learn some proverbs from around the world was too good an opportunity to pass up.

City of Circles – Jess Richards:
This is the third book by an author I have met before and as this story is a love story set partly in a circus, I am looking forward to reading this book more than I was the first two.

Tag: Victoria Aveyard

June Wrap-Up and July TBR

May Wrap-Up and June TBR