Five Books I’ve Recently Read | Chapter 15

1. FIVE DAYS IN PARIS BY DANIELLE STEEL

At the beginning, I was really getting into it as it seemed like a romance novel from the perspective of the male instead of the female which you would usually find with romance novels.

However the book progressed to be a husband cheating on his wife with another married woman. Albeit that both relationships were toxic and probably best to end, but the whole book was based around cheating so I wasn’t a huge fan.

I had just finished watching Emily in Paris on Netflix and needed some more Parisian input in my life which is why I picked up this book. I might try another Danielle Steel book, but I wasn’t a huge fan of this one.

2. BOUNCE BY MATTHEW SYED

It’s been a while since I’ve read a self-help/motivational book, but here we are. Bounce had been recommended to me all year, so it was about time I sat down to read it.

The book revolves around sports psychology and the main takeaway is that practice makes perfect. It does relate back to both Outliers by Malcom Gladwell (the 10,000 hour theory) and Carol Dweck’s Mindset book both of which I’ve previously read and enjoyed.

My main takeaways from this book are that practice definitely does make perfect and that more often than not, talented people aren’t ‘born with it’, they work damn hard for it.

3. I AM WATCHING YOU BY TERESA DRISCOLL

I’ve been recently getting more and more into thrillers and crime novels as I find them much more of a page-turner and a far more exciting read than your typical romance novels.

I enjoyed I Am Watching You but felt that it was quite slow as each chapter finished with a cliff-hanger of its own. Some story lines I felt were left hanging in the air by the end, but I liked the tie-in of all of the characters for the final plot twist.

I read it quite quickly as it did keep me engrossed flipping between characters with each chapter and I wanted to find out what happened in the end. An enjoyable read.

4. THE LUCKY ONE BY NICHOLAS SPARKS

If someone asked what my guilty pleasure is in life, it’s probably Nicholas Sparks novels. I try to pretend that I’m not a lover of hopeless romantic novels and movies, but the reality is, I can’t get enough of them.

The Notebook, The Last Song, Dear John and now The Lucky One. All of the above are only examples of Nicholas Sparks books that I love and could re-read every few months.

I had already seen the movie of this book, but I didn’t realize until I started reading and picturing Zac Efron as the main character (it helped me read the book a lot quicker).

I mean, it’s a typical Nicholas Sparks novel so don’t expect anything out of this world, but if you want romance, a little scare and some heartbreak, you don’t need to look any further.

5. MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON BY ELIZABETH STROUT

I had high hopes for this book. The front said it was a #1 New York Times Bestseller and had a lot of great reviews in the first few pages.

I mainly picked up the book because I’ve been feeling very homesick for New York lately and this had a picture of the Chrysler Building on the cover so I hoped it would be about New York.

It was a very short story, one I read over two days. The chapters were very quick and abrupt, but I just didn’t get into the story at all. It was a little all over the place but dealt with a lot of issues at the same time.

It was written nicely around poverty, AIDS, family relationships and sickness, but I just didn’t connect with any of the characters at all. Not one for me, I’m afraid.