5 for 5 – May Mini Reviews

Hello all! It’s the first Friday of the month- and for me that’s become synonymous with “time for my monthly mini reviews”. Basically this is my way of catching up on my increasing backlog of unreviewed books.

It’s heating up now that it’s May and I’m finally paying some lip service to books I read wayyy back at the beginning of the year. So with that said, I should really just get on with it!

Ender’s Game– okay, let’s start with the book I read the longest time ago (January *cough cough*). I didn’t review at the time, not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because I just didn’t have all that much to say about it. Bearing in mind how little I know about the sci fi genre, was that it felt pretty unique to me and was very enjoyable, with plenty of drama, solid world building and intriguing characters. I recommend it for everyone just getting into the genre (like me) and everyone that’s been a fan for years (though let’s face it, you’ve probably read it by now). I will be honest and say that surprisingly for such a good book, it didn’t leave me with a burning desire to read more in the series. Let me know in the comments if you think the rest of the series will change my life or something and I’ll bump it up my tbr- otherwise this is going to be a “maybe one day” sort of thing.

Rating: 4/5 bananas

The Romanovs– annnd this book reminded me of the times when I thought non-fiction wasn’t for me. I did not enjoy this in the slightest. I was promised intrigue and drama and extreme characters… what I got was an endless stream of wars, hardly fleshed out historical figures and very, very dry commentary. If you like the kind of books that send you to sleep, then this is for you!

Rating: 2/5 bananas

 

The Bluest Eye– so this book is a realllly really long time coming for me- fun fact I met the author back when I was still at school and have been wanting to read this ever since. Finally, finally I picked it up and I get why this is a big deal now. It’s cleverly written, has intriguing characterisation and a powerful commentary on race. Furthermore, the mixture of the slow reveal coupled with knowing the end result at the start builds up the layers of revulsion and horror as the book progresses. I can also seriously recommend the audio book for this one, because Morrison’s voice is gloriously rhythmic and beautiful to listen to.

Rating: 4½/5 bananas

Killing Fields– I didn’t know much about the Cambodian genocide, so it was worth reading for that purpose alone. Some of the characters (or I should say people since this is non-fiction) stood out to me, such as Pran, however I didn’t connect much with anyone else and found the journalistic writing style a little dry.

Rating: 3/5 bananas

One Day in the Life of Ivan Densovitch– so I have mentioned this, briefly, on my blog before, but I totally failed to review it. It’s a quick, but absorbing read, gives an full insight into daily life in a communist gulag. Despite its length, I would say this is one of the most impactful books I’ve read so far this year. Plus, together with The Killing Fields, this should fill most people’s daily quota of reminders why communism is bad 😉

Rating: 4½/5 bananas

So that was a very different array of books. Have you read any of these? Did you like them? And which non-fiction books have you read lately that didn’t make you excited? Let me know in the comments?

Also, I’ve finally done that thing where the book covers link up to goodread synopses- so click away 😉