I went back over my Goodreads list to see which of my most recent reads got five stars (I don’t give those things out lightly!). It was no surprise that 3 out of 5 were dystopian/futuristic/sci-fi books. What surprised me is that out of the 120 books I’ve read so far this year (!) only 20 have earned a five star rating. And within those 20 is a mix of realistic fiction for adults, YA and MG, as well as my beloved dystopian/futuristic/sci-fi titles. There’s still a month to go. I wonder how many more five star books I’ll find in that time?
Top Five Recent Reads
The Pearl Wars (Skyship Academy #1) by Nick JamesThe voice of this character pulled me in from page 1. I absolutely adore Jesse. Great action, great pacing, great characters. And the crazy futuristic world he’s created? LOVE it. I can't wait for book 2.
Variant by Robison Wells
I hadn't read any reviews of this book before I started so the twists and turns in the story were a complete surprise. I raced through this, breathless to see what would happen next. The only bummer -- it's part of a series. *sigh* I'm reading too many series books!!
All I can say is that the National Book Awards people got it wrong. This was such an incredible book, such a moving story. It stayed with me for weeks. Loved it.
A Million Suns by Beth Revis
Expected publication:
January 10th 2012
by Razorbill I love this series, love that the world is so believable, love the characters and the obstacles
they overcome. So imaginative, so awesome...SO SAD that I have to wait more than a year for the final book!!!
Write fast, Beth!!!
Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse by Lucas Klauss
(You wouldn't guess it from the title, but this is my other realistic fiction pick)
Expected publication: January 3rd 2012 by Simon Pulse
This book surprised me in so many ways. The writing is practically perfect. The characters, I loved. Watching the MC struggle with questions of religion and atheism and respecting his parents as he falls in love, grows apart from his friends and deals with betrayals -- it's all in there and written with such honesty and humor. Once I started reading, I didn't want to stop. And when I did have to step away to cook or pick the kids up from school, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I read it in a day.
So there you have it, five books that blew me away. Books that I keep telling people they have to read. What are some of the best books you’ve read recently?
19 comments:
There were a couple of new ones in there I hadn't heard of. Thanks for the heads up!
And 120 books!!! I bow at your awesomeness!!
Shelley
Oh, I really want to check out the Variant and Shine. Glad to hear you enjoyed them! :)
I haven't had a chance to read any of these. On to my list they go!
Like Tricia, I haven't read any of these. A couple are already on my list, but now I'm adding the others.
I've read some of them. Looking forward to A Million Suns. I'm pretty sure my library will get it since they have the first book! I love finding books I love!
I want to read Starship Academy and Variant. I loved Shine. I am TOTALLY JEALOUS that you've already read A Million Suns! And I haven't heard of the last one. :-)
I'm becoming a bit more reluctant to give out 5 stars. For awhile there I was tossing them out pretty liberally.
Shelley: All those books read is due more to insomnia than anything else!
Kristan: Hope you like them!
Tricia: Always glad to add to your reading list :)
Susan: I highly recommend every single one of them. Enjoy!
Laura: I'm blown away by Beth's books. They're so good.
Shannon: My local indie, the Book Loft, gave me the ARC for A Million Suns. I love them :)
Karen: A book has to be practically perfect for me to give out five stars anymore. I give a lot of fours, but I have to seriously love the book to give it five.
Shine and Variant look good.
I've got so many series going, I'm afraid to start reading another one. But I've heard great things about Variant.
I've seen all of these around but haven't read any of them. Lucky, you got to read A Million Suns already!
I love the cover design of Everything you need... Your mini review makes me want to check it out. I need to even out my reading with some realistic fic. :) Thanks!
The last few books I finished recently were all good. Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Goliath, The Fox Inheritance. I'm quite enjoying Shatter Me right now.
Very cool. And cooler that I hadn't heard of 3 of these. I love finding out about new books!
I loved Shine and I can't wait for Beth's next book.
Imaginary Girls and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer blew me away this year.
Stina: I'm getting leery of series' myself, but I'm so glad I picked up Variant. Though I hate having to wait for the next one!
Krispy: I thought the cover of Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse was cool, too. But I'll admit, I picked it up at first because I thought it was going to be dystopian!
The Fox Inheritance is in my pile and Daughter of Smoke and Bone is on my list. I enjoyed Shatter Me, too. And if you like that, you should really read Legend by Marie Lu. I wavered back and forth on that one. It nearly got the 5 stars from me. It's really good.
Kelly: Yay! I'm glad I could turn you on to three new books!!
Medeia: Wasn't Shine amazing? Imaginary Girls and Mara Dyer are on my list.
always looking for new book recs. Thanks! It's interesting -- the more I read, the more books I find that's I've never heard of (but I do know about a few of these.:))
hi miss sherrie! cool post! for sure i wanna read that skyship academy book.now i got it on my list. :)
...hugs from lenny
Marcia: With the number of books that come out every year, it's hard to keep up! Glad I could introduce you to a few that you didn't know :)
Lenny: Skyship Academy is awesome. Hope you enjoy it!!
I have A Million Suns on order. I want to read Shine and I haven't heard of the other, but if you give them 5 stars they must be good!
I just finished Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, granted an adult memoir, but very powerful and a book I'll remember for a long time.
Bish: I remember reading Angela's Ashes when it first came out and I loved that book. One of my favorite children's authors was actually a student of Frank McCourt in high school (Jordan Sonnenblick). Can you imagine? I loved my high school English teacher, but Frank McCourt for a teacher must've been incredible!
I think I really want to read Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse. It sounds great!
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