As 2014 comes to an end, I am hitting a panic mode. I finished off all my book reading challenges and yet I feel as if I haven’t read enough. I have planned not to read much during the last 2 months of the year and spend time pursuing other hobbies. Let us see how that turns out.

Miss.Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

What a peculiar book! I wasn’t very keen on the book when it started but it did grow on me easily. I started having nightmares about floating girls and monsters in fact. A horror story set in an picturesque island takes you a totally different world. The book creeps one out. Lovely photos included all through the book made a refreshing change. I admit I skimmed through at the end as I really didn’t like the author’s writing style and horror is really not my genre.

Confessions of a Qantas Flight Attendant by Owen Beddall

I spotted this book at the new arrivals counter at my local library and knew I had to read it. I never wanted to be a flight attendant growing up but I sure was fascinated by them. The globe trotting job and the crazy customers they need to take care of was nothing short of fascinating. Beddall’s book is a first-hand account of how things actually are. There is gossip. There are secrets and some boring bits. I loved how the book traveled. At times I felt that the book had become the author’s own fight instead of a tell-all.

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Non-ficiton is really not something I enjoy but I have been trying to widen my horizons and try books I won’t have picked up otherwise. I am so glad I picked this book up. Beyond the science and research on how the mind works and habit formation, the book features some great stories from real life. Corporate to down home. An eye-opener in fact. Highly recommended.

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

I have always had mixed thoughts about Lahiri’s works. I was never a complete fan but I really liked this book. The relationship between two brothers whose path diverges and the consequences pull you into their world. The characters are beautifully depicted and the pain they feel seems to touch you. I loved this book.

The Other Typist by Rindell Suzanne

You know in some books as you read you realise there is something sinister happening and you desperately wish to stop it and yet you keep turning the pages of the book? This was one such book. Set in the 1920’s New York and tracing the live of 2 women who type the confessions of criminals – this book isn’t for the faint-hearted.

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