What I've Read: January - June

Initially I was going to do a post a month about what i had read in each month but who am I kidding I won't blog that frequently, and sometimes I will only read one or two books a month which I thought would make for a very boring short blog (in hindsight that would be better than a list of 15 or so books) but oh well there are still 6 months left of the year to change how I blog. So in future there will (hopefully) be a blog a month of what I have read with a mini review of my opinion of the books.

However for today I will just list the books and give a rating out of 10!

So without further a do lets begin!

1. The Death Cure (Maze Runner #3) by James Dashner. The first book of the year started with the last if a series. Yet it was still worth a read if you have read the previous books. I started with the prequel which is still my favourite of the Maze Runner books. Rating: 6/10
2. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. It had a slow start with a new character and a new narrative introduced every chapter, but once you got further into the story and the connections between characters became clearer the book got better and better. Rating: 8/10
3. Girl Online by Zoe Sugg. I'm not going to go into the aspect of the books being ghost-written as I don't have an issue with it. First of all I will say that I am clearly not the targeted age range for the book but I still enjoyed the story even though it is a tad predictable, the characters were likeable and i will probably read her next book. Rating: 7/10
4. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton. When I picked up the book I though it would be much more supernatural and spooky, however that does not mean I did not thoroughly enjoyed reading it.  If I had known more of the story before buying I probably wouldn't have gotten it but I am glad I made that mistake as I thoroughly enjoyed it. Rating: 8/10.
5. No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. This is the second book of McCarthy's that I have read and i enjoyed it just as much as The Road. I don't normally go for western stories but I knew I liked McCarthy's style of writing and I wasn't disappointed. Although if you are squeamish then this may not be a good book for you! Rating: 7/10.
6. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It took me a while to read this one and I don't know why. Normally when it takes me a long time to read a book its because I am not enjoying it but All the Light we Cannot See was a beautiful story of two children facing adversity in World War 2. It may just have been the lack of time I had to read the book or it may be the size of the book that took me some time to get through. Rating: 8/10
7. The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom. A generic horror story about a haunted house, this book left no lasting affect on me and at parts the story just got beyond strange. There was never really any suspense and I didn't keep me awake at night like a good horror story should, that's all I really have to say about the book. I don't know how I finished it. Rating: 1/10
8. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. This was possibly one of my favourite reads of the year. I love a good thriller and this was a good thriller. The girl on the train is a real page turner I really wanted to find out what happened next. Although a few months later I can't actually remember what happened at the end. So I don't know what that says about the ending. However at the time of reading I really did enjoy it, especially as I was reading it on a train! Rating: 9/10
9. All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher. Again like Zoella's book this one isn't really aimed towards my age range, being only a year or so younger than Carrie I read it more as an autobiography than an advice book. Yet I can see how her words would be comforting to a young girl/boy going through adolescence needing some words of comfort from someone who has recently had to struggle through the tough years that are high school. Rating: 7/10
10. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. If you like post-apocalyptic novels then you might just like Station Eleven. To me it was one of those books that you could pick up and read for a long time without realising. Rating: 8/10
11. The Circle by Dave Eggers. The circle was much like Station Eleven in the sense that it was an easy read. What I loved about this book was that it felt like it could happen any day the way that technology is advancing. After finishing the novel whenever I hear about apple buying new companies and expanding I start thinking about this book and how apple are taking over the world (and yes I do own an iPhone). While reading The Circle it felt like it had heavy influences of 1984 but with a bit more modern. Rating: 8/10
12. Still Alice by Lisa Genova. Again one of my favourite books of the year so far. Although this one is completely different to The Girl on the Train as it was emotionally draining to read just how quickly Alzheimer's can affect someone. Yet although hard to read at times it was really interesting to read, I would thoroughly recommend it.  Rating: 9/10
13. Cross Stitch (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon. I started reading this one because my mum wanted to watch the Amazon prime original TV series and I thought I would read the book as we watched the series. I really enjoyed it apart from the almost game of thrones like amount of sex. If you like pretty much anything book genre wise you will like this. however it take me a while to get through.  Rating: 7/10
14. Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes. I was quite disappointed by this book and I can't pinpoint why. I thought the premise was brilliant, Hitler waking up in 2010 what could be better! However it all fell rather short of what it promised, it was all rather predictable. I would probably still recommend it as it was an easy read.  Rating: 6/10

If anyone has any good book recommendations I would love to hear them!