Five Star Faves

I mentioned in an earlier post, that I am going through a reading funk. Not so much that I am not reading but the books I’ve read recently have not given me life. I seem to have plenty 3-star just okay books. So far, only American Marriage has given me a tingle in my book parts.

I went to look at my Goodreads history to see what books I liked in the past to see if I could find a theme and make reading decisions that’ll lead to a book tingle and realized that in all my Goodreads history, I have only given 7 books 5-stars! So either I am reading not enough or I am just that stingy with my stars. Anyways, I thought it was a nice number and decided to share with you guys.

As a reminder, the major criteria to get a 5 star from me is to just have me engrossed and who knows? It could be a case of right mindset at the time I read the book. I’ve talked about two of the 7 here: Beartown and Year of Yes. Here are the other 5 in no particular order:

1. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan: I was besotted with this book. The extravagance, the culture, the lightness and fun of it all. It’s being turned into a movie in August and I think it’ll be fun seeing the lavishness translated to screen but I am leveling my expectations in terms of the story line. A quick search tells me that I have apparently written about this book before here. That being said, I wasn’t as in love with the rest of the trilogy. There are many characters in the book and probably if you binge-read it, it won’t be so hard to keep up but I read each book as they came out with time in between and it was a little bit of work trying to remember and place the characters.
2. Daughters Who Walk This Path by Yejide Kilanko: I usually have issues with a lot of Nigerian authors for many reasons. Usually wordy, lots of translations and just the general vibe of trying to cater to an international audience. DWWTP was refreshingly different. A straight easy read, I was interested in the characters and the overall storyline that touched on topics oft not discussed among Nigerians.
3. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur: I am not into poetry and never had the desire to read a book full of poetry but I was hearing good things about this and joined the (very long) wait list for it at my library and it was totally worth the wait. I loved everything about the book because I related to it. I liked how it had no structure and wasn’t uber serious/professional (the “I’s” were spelled as “i”). Combined with her illustrations, it worked for me. So much so that for someone who never owns books, I had to own this one.
4. Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue: Every time I talk about this book, I gush. I loved it so. I admit, I am a sucker for an immigrant story and this is one. The shock that comes with moving to a new country from Africa, getting used to it and doing everything possible to stay in this country, even when you realize you are basically living a bottom barrell life. How far do you go to stay? The book is basically about the “doing everything possible” to stay. Yet another immigrant tale that didn’t fail me.
5. The Hopefuls by Jennifer Close: I don’t expect everyone to react to this book like I did because at first glance this book looks like an easy breezy summer read but it really wasn’t. It uses two couples in the D.C. political scene as a backdrop for a plot that addressed so many things my friends and I have been talking about lately at this stage in our lives. The evolution of friendships, marriages, attitude to life, envy, feeling behind in life etc. It was an enjoyable read that also made me think  of the parallels in my own life. 

So there you have it. I really wish I had more 5 star books on my roster but alas. I’ll keep on working on it and maybe next year I’ll have 5 more to share with you. Wish me luck!

Taynement

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