Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
This week’s topic is Your Last Ten 5-Star (or 1-Star) reads! I don’t think there are ten books I’ve given a 1-star rating, and the other option is much more positive, so I’m going for the 5-star one. I try to not give too many books a 5-star rating, but then again, what is too many anyway? This list is in chronological order, from newest to oldest, and the last one on the list dates back to early in July last year, without counting any rereads.
So, here are the books I loved most in the past eight months! Prepare for some elaborate gushing.
(The links lead to my reviews of the books)
- The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman: I was surprised by how much I loved this book in comparison to the first one in the trilog – which I really liked too, but not as much as The Subtle Knife. The world building blew me away!
- Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith: This is the third book in the Cormoran Strike series, and (in my opinion) definitely the best one. It’s dark and kind of disturbing and so good.
- Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas: I absolutely adore the Throne of Glass series, and this third book was amazing! Even more world building and I’m just in love with the characters.
- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: I spent quite a lot of time with this book because I had to write a reading guide about it for one of my courses, and still I’m not sick of it! Beautiful writing and a heartbreaking story. Take out the tissues for this one.
- Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins: Something completely different, but wonderful in its own way. Like the first book in the series, I read Lola during my midterms, which wasn’t a smart idea – I found it impossible to put down this book!
- We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver: At first I wasn’t sure what rating I should give this book, but seeing as it left me absolutely shattered and I was in complete awe with the writing, I didn’t really have a choice. I didn’t write a review about this one because I simply didn’t know how.
- Cress by Marissa Meyer: This is the third book in The Lunar Chronicles, and I loved it a lot. Getting back to old characters, meeting new ones, and in the meantime the story just gets darker and more political – I like it! I’m definitely going to have to pick up Winter, the last book in the series, very soon.
- Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas: This is the book that came before Heir of Fire, and it was just as amazing as that one. The story really got going after things were introduced and set up in Throne of Glass. If you like YA and fantasy, I’d definitely recommend reading this one (although I can hardly imagine any book blogger who loved YA and fantasy hasn’t read this series yet).
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: A classic! I was blown away by this book and particularly by how relevant it all still is. I also love Harper Lee’s writing style, so I should really pick up Go Set a Watchman soon.
- Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz: I’m so glad this book made the list! I read this in early July and adored it so much that it is now one of my all time favourite books (together with Wuthering Heights and the Harry Potter series – it’s that good). I’m going to reread it soon!
And that’s the list! Do you agree with my 5-star ratings? What are some of your latest 5-star reads?
Books Baking and Blogging 
Great list. I love To Kill a Mockingbird, though I did recently blog about whether it’s time for school’s to replace it (in part because of the Lee estate’s decision to make it more expensive to purchase). Still, I can’t deny that it’s been a very influential book in my life.
Thank you! Ooh, I’ll have to check out that post (*writes post it to remember actually doing so*). Before reading your post I’d say don’t replace it because I think it’s timeless and an important part of history. I’m curious to see what you’ve written about it, though!
All The Light We Cannot See, The Lunar Chronicles, Throne Of Glass, To Kill A Mockingbird… The are all on my list of favorites as well! 🙂
They are some really good books! I can’t wait to read Winter and Queen of Shadows. 🙂
Ah, yes, Heir of Fire is amazing! It’s my favourite of the series, actually. I’m hoping for Empire of Storms and the sixth book in the series to be equally amazing, because Queen of Shadows seemed like a bit of a let-down after HoF.
And I agree with you on To Kill a Mockingbird, it’s such a wonderful story! We recently got a new Slovenian translation (I read it in English), so I’ve been pushing it on everyone I know. I heard that some American law students are supposed to study Atticus’s speech at the court as an example of a great practice, that’s something you don’t see every day.
Ooh, there’s a title for the fifth one?! Didn’t know that yet. 😀 I’m really curious to see what I think of Queen of Shadows, since I heard more people were a bit disappointed by it. I do hope I’ll love it as much as Heir of Fire…
Wow, I didn’t know that about Atticus’ speech! That’s really cool. 🙂 I’m kind of scared to read Go Set a Watchman because of the things I heard about his role in that one. I loved him so much in TKAM!
I keep seeing Aristotle & Dante and All The Light We Cannot See everywhere and they’ve both received such rave reviews — I really need to pick them up! Which one would you recommend first out of the two?
Here’s my TTT. 🙂
Oooh, that’s a difficult choice! I’ll have to go with Aristotle & Dante, though, because that one’s gotten into my top 3 of all time favourite books. 🙂 I hope you’ll enjoy them both!
Me too, thanks! Now, to get a copy… 😛
I’ve only read Lola on your list, but I found it totally adorable! I’ll have to check out the rest on your list ASAP!
My TTT: https://booksbeyondmeasure.wordpress.com/2016/03/29/top-ten-tuesday-9/
I loved Lola! I’m planning on reading Isla soon, too. Thanks for your lovely comment 🙂
We Need to Talk About Kevin is a book that has stayed with me for a long time after I read it – that is definitely a 5 star read! So powerful in so many ways!
I had to read it for a course of mine, and it really hit me quite a bit. Had to take breaks in between reading it, as well. But it resulted in some interesting discussions in the seminar! Powerful is definitely the right word!