Another five book reviews for you, bringing the 2020 total to 70 so far. I’ve only got five left to hit my target of 75 books for the year (the target that was only 16 back in January!).
A part of me hopes that I don’t read anywhere near the amount of books next year that I’ve read in 2020. I hope I’m too busy traveling, socialising and back living a normal life to have the time to read so much.
The other part of me wants to beat my total for 2020 and aim to read 80 books in 2021 – that would be some feat. Anyway, you can keep up with all the books that I do read on my Orlagh Claire Instagram or on my book Instagram, @ocbookshelf – yes, I am now one of those people.
1. CILKA’S JOURNEY BY HEATHER MORRIS
After reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz and learning about Heather Morris’s second book about Cilka, I had to purchase it straight away. Thank you Tesco for the bargain at £3.50!
Just like The Tattooist, it didn’t merit a rating – how can you rate out of five stars a book about concentration camps and WWII? I will say that Cilka’s Journey, along with The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a must-read and it’s stories like these that make us appreciate the times in which we live and how fortunate we are.
I have The Choice on my bookshelf to read next month and have got my eyes on The Librarian of Auschwitz, as I want to read as many of their stories as I can.
2. THE FLAT SHARE BY BETH O’LEARY
A completely different kind of book compared to Cilka’s Journey, I had heard so many good things about this book all year and had it recommended quite a few times after loving Me Before You so much.
I can definitely see why it was recommended so much and would recommend you to go and read it for yourself. It’s a hopeless romantic kind of book which I’m really not into, but I loved it. It made me laugh and almost cry. A lovely read.
3. THE MIRACLE MORNING BY HAL ELROD
I’m not a huge morning person and never have been. I go through stages where I’ll wake up at 7am for two weeks straight and hit the gym every day, but it never sticks. At the minute, I’m waking up at 8am every morning and reading for an hour before getting out of bed.
However, I do sometimes wish I could get up a little earlier, to finish reading earlier and thus put some more time into the other things I want to do outside of work (like write more blog posts!). So I picked up this book to see what it could teach me about improving my morning routine.
In his book, Hal Elrod gives a list of six S.A.V.E.R.S to include in the first hour of your morning routine; Silence, Affirmation, Visualisation, Exercise, Reading, and Scribing. Of those, I currently do one. There are a lot of great reviews included in the book, some great quotes to pull and who know’s, you might just be extremely motivated by this book.
I have vowed that I will try to wake up 30 minutes earlier in the month of December (7.30am) and then progress this to 7am in January and continue reading every morning and start affirming and writing before starting my day of work. We’ll see how it goes.
4. THE SILENT PATIENT BY ALEX MICHAELIDES
Oh my word, what an ending. I was trying to figure out how the characters were connected the whole way through the book but I really did not see it coming.
The Silent Patient is a gripping thriller, and may even have you shouting ‘WHAT?!’ when you realise the plot twist. And what a plot twist indeed.
Definitely a book to add to your list if you’re into thrillers/crime novels!
5. GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER BY BERNADINE EVARISTO
This book has been on my list all year, and I finally got around to reading it in the last month of the year. The book details the life of Black women in England, focusing on important topics including LGBTQ, racism, oppression and miscarriage among others.
A very important book that everyone should read and at times made me laugh out loud whilst also hitting home the things that women across England go through today and years before.
The book ended so well with all characters coming together and being connected in some way, even though they had led completely different lives up until the ending. A book that I would very much recommend.
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