I hit on books with a vengeance this month. I read as if books were going out of fashion. It felt good. I read some amazing books the past month and here are a few

1) Divergent by Veronica Roth

Another pick from the YA section. This book reminded me so much of The Hunger Games. It is nice to see the rise of the female protagonist in YA fiction. Daring, reckless Tris aka Beatrice doesn’t fit the box – she is Divergent. She fights and endures inspite of the odds being stacked against. And let us not forget – love. She falls in love with Four aka Tobias who has his own share of baggage. I read Book1 of the series and probably will not read the other 2 books. Not my cup of tea but definitely an interesting brew.

2)  The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

We all have our share of secrets – secrets that eat us, secrets that come back and secrets that can kill. The storyline while interesting is nothing spectacular – a letter written by Cecilia’s husband with a painful hidden secret. There were some unnecessary characters and sub-plots like the story of Tess and Felicity. It just added more pages to the book. A vacation read – light and filled with just the right amount of intrigue.

3) The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout

I added this book to my to-read pile because it had great reviews. I didn’t even know what the story was till I started reading it. It is a story of the Burgess boys – brothers who escaped out of their small town life. What makes this book endearing are the characters – how realistic the brothers and their sister are brought to life. You can imagine them living down the lane. The Burgess boys are forced to return to the place they grew up in and support their sister.They face home truths and things change. A brilliantly written book.

4) The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht

This book made it to my to-read pile because of its rather intriguing title. The book starts in a war zone and is told by a granddaughter – a granddaughter who comes to know her grandfather has died. She knew her grandfather was sick for a long time and she goes searching for his story. A story that involves a copy of the Jungle Book, a deathless man, a tiger that escaped from the zoo, a deaf and dumb victim of domestic abuse. The author tried to weave magic and fables to reality. There was a disconnect – something didn’t just click in this book but it was a pleasure going into areas unexplored. Pick it up for a journey to unknown with some great writing but beware it could bore you.

5) Americanah by Adichie

I have read Adichie’s works before and I had I really like her writings. Americanah was no different. It is a novel touching on two important things – love and race in the backdrop of modern day America. A young couple go their own ways to seek the future – she goes to America. She lives there for nearly 10 years, has her share of ups and down. She finally returns home to Nigeria. Her experiences with being black in America is the major highlight of the book. Highly recommended.

5 books is a monthly series featuring some of the books I read and loved recently. For more book updates and to check my current reading list, head to my Goodreads account.