TTT: Top ten latest best reads

Today’s topic at Broke and Bookish is to list top ten latest 5 star reads. I don’t usually give 5 stars to a book unless it is exceptionally good. A book which gets 5 stars from me usually ends up in my favorite books shelf. Most of the 5 star books on my shelf are my all-time favorites. So I don’t really have many 5 star reads in the recent years. My ratings are usually 3-4 depending on whether or not I liked the book. So I decided to list some of my recent best reads as part of this tag. Some of these books were rated 5 and some 4 by me on Goodreads. But I strongly recommend that you read these books, as I definitely enjoyed reading all these ten books.

 First five of these books were read by me in this year 2016 (I read 13 books this year but most of them were disappointing), the other five were read in 2014. I am not listing the books that I liked in 2015, since I have already done a post on my favorite reads of 2015 here and I don’t want to repeat the same books here.
So these are my top ten best reads –

1. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick –
   Amazing book. The illustrations are too beautiful! Please buy a hardcover copy of this book as even the cover illustrations at the front and the back of the book were gorgeous. If you love art, you will love this book even more. Even if you don’t love artwork much, the story itself is worth reading the book. I never thought the story would be that great. I got this book only because of the illustrations so I am doubly impressed with the book. Now need to read more books by this author.
2. The Complete Persepolis (Persepolis, #1-4) by Marjane Satrapi –
   It is a graphical novel about a girl who was stuck in Iran during the Islamic revolution and it was a great read. It gave us a first hand account of the changes that Islamic revolution brought into the country. What I liked the most about the book was the part where she moves to Vienna alone. I could relate to all the struggles and loneliness that she felt when she was suddenly cut off from her family. The book is funny, but also addresses many serious issues and is a great read.
3. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie –
   I watched her TED talk and loved it. This book is from the talk and it is amazing! Every single human on this planet should read it. Even those who don’t like the “feminist” word. Especially those who think feminism isn’t needed or think it is bad. I am a fan of this writer. Need to check her other books soon. I will write a detailed post on this book soon.
4. Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondō –
   This book got released at the right time. We are planning to move to a new home this year and this book will help me tidy my belongings. I loved this book. I think this one is much better than her first book as it goes into details on how to store various items. I am going to keep this as a reference to clean our house before I move and not after (like she suggests in the book). Great book to own for those who prefer having a neat place to stay. I hate clutter and I have been spending a lot of time on Pinterest searching for ways to organize. This book gave me ideas on what to look for.
5. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn –
   This novel is better than “Gone girl”. It gave me the creeps, it was so scary. The only time I get to read books is just before I sleep and that resulted in the nightmares. I loved the suspense part of the novel. I just had to find out who the murderer was and that gave me sleepless nights. She specializes in writing about evil people and this book had so many of them. I don’t think I will read this book again as it definitely qualifies under the “horror” category.There were many quotes that I loved in the book –

   “I was not a lovable child, and I’d grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it’d be a scribble with fangs.”
   “I assumed everything bad in the world could happen, because everything bad in the world already did happen.”
   “It was surprising that you could spend hours in the middle of the night pretending things were OK, and know in thirty seconds of daylight that that simply wasn’t so.”
   “Never leave a message for someone you really want to reach. No, you keep phoning and phoning until someone picks up – out of anger or curiosity or fear – and then you blurt out whatever words will keep them on the line. “
   “There is something disturbing about not even bothering with a name… How could you kill something you cared enough to name?”

6. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart –
   This book was written differently. I loved the writing style of the author (mostly because it was unlike anything I have ever read) and the story was interesting too. I loved the way she twisted the tale about three princesses that we have all read as the book progressed. Depending on what Cady was going through at that moment, the many versions of the tale were written by her.Once I started reading the book, I did not feel like keeping the book aside for even a minute. Ending came in as a shock. I never expected that kind of a twist. Loved the book! I want to read this book again slowly and see how the pieces fit together.

   “Always do what you are afraid to do”
   “If you are terrified, there’s probably a good reason. You should trust your impulses.”

7. Two books by Sophie Kinsella –
   Wedding Night –
   This book is different from the other books written by this author and I guess that was the reason why I liked it. It’s funny as usual. I also liked the story, as it was pretty different. I read it with low expectations and ended up liking it. But it is not as funny as some of her other novels. This was the first time that I read a book in large print, so the experience was different. It was easier to read, but not very comfortable.
   The Undomestic Goddess –
   Funny and predictable as always. But still I couldn’t keep the book down for a minute. Her books are so refreshing, they are like junk food for brain 🙂
8. The Martian by Andy Weir –
   I have already reviewed this book here. It is definitely one of my most favorite books ever.
9. Inferno (Robert Langdon, #4) by Dan Brown –
   Loved the book. There were many twists in the plot that I did not expect. And this book was loaded with information about Italian history, art, poetry, places, buildings which are usually present in Robert Langdon’s books. My only complaint is that the story moves very slowly and that might bore people. I did not get bored as I loved the history part of this book as much as I liked the suspense. It might not be as good as “Angels and Demons”, but it is still good and worth reading once.
   Most importantly, I liked the theme of the book (overpopulation) and what the author was trying to convey.
10. The Call of the Wild by Jack London –
    I heard about this author and book when I read “Into the wild” book. I made a mental note to read one of his books. I really wanted to know how this book could have influenced a young man to venture into Alaska all alone and now I know the answer.
    After finishing this book, I feel like going into the wild myself for a while, without any of the day to day worries. Wild is so beautiful, especially Alaska. It has been the most beautiful place I have been to. This is a great book. Worth reading if you love adventure and nature.