Books I’ve Read Lately June 2018

July 2, 2018

As I thought June has been a much slower reading month than May was. The summer term is always busy with the boys in school and nursery and I’m trying to clear out the house a little ready for the summer holidays so I haven’t had as much time to read. I’ll hopefully be able to make up for that in July but for now here are the books I read in June.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman

I posted about this on my Instagram and was surprised by the mixed reviews –  I thought it was one of those books that everyone loved but quite a few people couldn’t get on with it at all and after reading it myself I can see what they mean. Overall I enjoyed it however it wasn’t until over half way through that I really started to get into it. Eleanor is deliberately a difficult character to emphasise with and I didn’t really get into the dry humour until further through. The first half of the book was a bit of a slog to read. I think I went into it with different expectations as it’s such a well known book and I thought it was going to be an easy read. Having said that the second half and the ending completely won me over; I loved the way it finished. If you liked this book then you should definitely try A Man Called Ove or The Rosie Project, both of which are in a similar vein but I found myself much more emotionally invested it. 

Winnie The Pooh – A.A.Milne

A wrote a little about Winnie The Pooh last month in my Books That Made Me A Reader and since I’ve dug them out my boys have also fallen in love with them. I’ve been reading a few with my eldest son at bedtime but he mostly wants to skip to the Tigger stories. We have a collection of small books that he’s commandeered to read himself and I made my way through the original Winnie The Pooh as it was always my favourite and I’m so glad that it is still being enjoyed by my children now.

War Storm – Victoria Aveyard

I’m such a big fan of this Red Queen series and I’ve been waiting for this final book forever! I went to see Victoria Aveyard in a talk at Waterstones Liverpool and quite happily took away my signed copy of War Storm. She was great to listen to and I loved hearing about how she approaches writing and all her thoughts on the characters. She’s very keen on kick ass females and showing the characters flaws which I love. The books are dystopian, young adult and I always think it is so hard to wrap up a big series. I won’t give away any spoilers but I was happy with how it all ended and they are one of my favourites in this genre. 

Stories For Boys Who Dare To Be Different – Ben Brooks

I’d bought this book for my eldest son and we’ve been reading it together at bedtimes. It would be easy to dismiss it as a gimmick or as a response to the Rebel Girls Books but I think it’s amazing in it’s own right. I have three young boys and we read plenty of stories about cool women and females outside the gender norms but there is also a need for them to have good male role models. What I love about this book is that it includes so many men I didn’t know anything about and even the ones I did it told me things I didn’t know about them. I always try and encourage my boys to be whoever they want to be and I think this book is great for showing them that it’s okay to be different. Lucas’ favourites are David Attenborough, Taika Waititi and Steve Irwin, I loved reading about Daniel Radcliffe, Trevor Noah and Tenzing Norgay. It’s a fantastic book for children (and grown ups!).

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6 Comments

  • Anonymous

    I felt exactly the same about Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. I read it quite quickly but wasn’t sure whether I enjoyed it or not.
    I am currently reading Somthing in the Water. A complete change of genre for me… I read during night feeds but this one isn’t keeping me awake just yet!

    July 2, 2018 at 4:47 pm Reply
    • hayleyfromhome

      I’ve just looked Something In The Water up and it looks like one I have to be in the right mood for! I did enjoy Eleanor Oliphant but I did feel a little detached from here – I didn’t feel as emotionally invested as I thought I would.

      July 3, 2018 at 9:23 am Reply
  • welliesontheschoolrun

    I’d say you still did pretty well for a slow month Hayley 🙂 . It’s interesting what you say about Eleanor Oliphant and expectations – I wonder how I will find it when I get round to reading it – I adored A Man Called Ove aswell. I wonder if I would like the Red Queen series, is it in a similar vein to the Court of Thorns and Roses stuff? That said, I now have that series and the Outlander one to get through so maybe I should hold back on picking up another series for a bit! xx

    July 2, 2018 at 5:05 pm Reply
    • hayleyfromhome

      I think I was expecting something different with Eleanor Oliphant, I definitely didn’t feel the same way about Eleanor as I did about Ove! That book make me sob and this one while enjoyable didn’t make me emotional. I love that it’s struck such a chord with some people though. I would say Red Queen is much more YA than ACOTAR, definitely more Hunger Games. It isn’t magic fantasy more like X-men powers but I love the way the story develops and the characters keep you guessing, they are fun reads although it took me a while to get into the very first one I do love them now. You’ll have finished the Sarah J Maas series before you know it 😉 xx

      July 3, 2018 at 9:30 am Reply
  • Tracey Williams

    I read Eleanor a few months ago and I really enjoyed it, infact I really missed her when I had finished the book. I just wanted to take her out for a drink lol. This year it has been my mission to read different genres (I have read chick lit for years, and was just getting bored of them). I have read a few of Lisa Jewell’s books over the past month which have been intriguing x

    July 3, 2018 at 4:47 pm Reply
    • hayleyfromhome

      I’ve read one of hers but heard the others are good, I have definitely started reading a wider selection and I think it helps to keep it interesting. Nothing wrong with chick lit though, I’m very picky about chick lit but I’m loving Jojo Moyes at the moment, is that chick lit? I’m not sure but I like it! I know so many people who say the same thing about Eleanor, I did love the character and the story was lovely by the end! xx

      July 3, 2018 at 4:59 pm Reply

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