June Reads! (Mindscape Reviews!)

Posted On July 1, 2020

Hi Readers! Just like that, June has already ended! And, as usual, I thought I will do a roundup of the THIRTEEN BOOKSI read this month! Most of them were e-books, so I couldn’t click a satisfactory picture of 13 books stacked on top of the other. Anyway, now I have read 46 books from my 52 books target in just half the year. So, obviously, I am going to increase my target, but more on that later. Check out the books I read in June!

 

~~THE NIGHTINGALE by KRISTIN HANNAH~~

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 440

My Rating: 4/5

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is a historical fiction novel set in the WWII telling us the story of two sisters ‘ Vianne & Isabelle. There are two story lines. First one is during the war, which is 95 % of the book, set from 1939 to 1945. The other is in 1995, 50 years after the second world war, where we see an old woman who has survived the war. Is it Vianne? Is it Isabelle? You will only know at the end. Both the story lines are written so amazingly well. There are many people whose lives we see getting affected because of the war. We see how every person reacts in a different way; some to survive, some to fight back, some to right their wrongs, some following orders & some to just live another day. Every person in this novel, no matter what part they decided to play, have shown that bravery can be a hundred different things. There is not only one correct way, there are hundred correct ways.

Check out the full book review here!

 

~~AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by TAYARI JONES~~

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Pages: 308

My Rating: 2.5/5

I had waited a long time to read this highly recommended novel, but it all lead to disappointment. Barack Obama recommended it, so I obviously thought it would be really something. An American Marriage is nothing but a sad little love triangle. I thought it would be the story of how a black man got wrongfully convicted, how his life changed because of it, how it impacted his marriage & maybe even the racial discrimination rooted in our world. But, it was nothing of the sort. While the writing was interesting, it couldn’t bring out the dull plot.

 

~~GILEAD by MARILYNNE ROBINSON~~

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 247

My Rating: 1/5

The story is narrated by a minister John Ames where he writes letters for his young son for him to read when John Ames will have died. It sounds good, I know, but wait. In these letters, he talks about his stories, his father’s stories, his grandfather’s stories & so on. We also get a lot of content on God, faith, preaching & all of that. And yet, it fails miserably. Nothing from this is in-depth. It is just at the surface leaving the reader to never truly understand the familial bonds or the faith in God. The content of all these stories put together amounts to everything insignificant in our daily lives. These letters are nothing but random straggling musings of a dying minister with a pinch of advice and more of mundaneness connecting no dots along the wayas the story progresses.

Gilead is the first novel which is of Historical Fiction genre, set during wartime & is a Pulitzer Prize winner, which I did not like.

Check out the full book review here!

 

~~THE DUTCH HOUSE by ANN PATCHETT~~

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 337

My Rating: 2/5

Reading this novel felt like reading a very dull first draft from an amateur debut novelist. We have a deluded robot of a narrator, reprehensible characters which we cannot get in the mindset of, dull story line & predictable end; all of which make a complete disappointment to the historical fiction genre. When I read it halfway, I knew it would not get better, because it was just so plain & dull to read. I think the author tried to make an impression with the Bildungsroman attempt of writing, but it has failed for me. Now that I read the book, here I am thinking, what was the point of it?

Check out the full book review here!

 

~~THE CODE OF THE WOOSTERS by P.G. WODEHOUSE~~

Genre: Classic Humour

Pages: 272

My Rating: 4/5

This was my first Wodehouse read in the Jeeves series & it SOLD for me! The humour in this story is just so real & simply hilarious. The plot looks so effortless, but the setting of that plot must have taken way too much efforts. I loved the British English writing as well. It took me some time to understand some phrases, but after that it is all fun fun fun!

 

~~MY MAN JEEVES by P.G. WODEHOUSE~~

Genre: Classic Humour

Pages: 256

My Rating: 3.5/5

When you start reading Wodehouse, it is almost impossible to not keep reading his books & there are so many of them!! I wanted to read ‘My Man Jeeves’ because it checks out the category of ‘A Book 100 years older than me’. This book is a collection of 8 short stories, in which Jeeves appears in less than half. Nevertheless, it is all still very funny! Below are my ratings for each of the short story.

“Leave It to Jeeves” 4/5

“Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest” 3/5

“Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg” 2/5

“Absent Treatment” 3/5

“Helping Freddie” 2/5

“Rallying Round Old George” 2/5

“Doing Clarence a Bit of Good” 3/5

“The Aunt and the Sluggard” 4/5

 

~~CHAOS WALKING TRILOGY by PATRICK NESS~~

Genre: Fantasy / Dystopian

The Knife of Never Letting G0:o 3/5

The Ask and The Answer: 4/5

Monsters of Men: 4/5

I had to read a trilogy for my ‘2020 Reading Challenge’ and I am so glad I picked the Chaos Walking trilogy! I am planning on writing a full review on this, so I will just do a quick brief here.

Chaos Walking trilogy is based in a New World where everyone can hear men’s thoughts out loud, which is termed as Noise. It’s a world with an alien species ‘ Spackle. Our main characters are Todd Hewitt & Viola Eade. I have rated the entire series at 4/5!

 

~~CHAOS WALKING SHORT STORIES by PATRICK NESS~~

Genre: Fantasy / Dystopian

The New World: 4/5

A Wide, Wide Sea: 3/5

Snowscape: 3.5/5

These three are short stories of around 40 to 50 pages each are an obvious must read if you have already read the main trilogy.

 

~~HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE~~

Because I was entirely caught up in the Chaos Walking world, I paused on my Harry Potter re-reading. I finished this one just before picking up Chaos Walking. Now, I have only the last book to read which is sure to be done in July!

 

So, that is that! Thirteen books read in June! I will be back for a Chaos Walking Review & to show off my July Book Haul!

Until next time,