✨May 2020 Read Wrap-up✨

The only good thing that came out of this quarantine is finishing my TBR list (albeit I still have three books to go). This month I read five books, which is a lot for me since I am busy during my academic so much so I only manage to read two or three books. But I am so happy with what I read- the list was so diverse ranging from fantasy to historical fiction.

Here are the books I read in May:

Book: Crown Of Midnight (TOG #2)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Rating: 4.5/5

Synopsis: After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.

Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardise everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.

Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?

My thoughts: I loved this book! I can't wait to read the rest of the series. The only thing I didn't like in the book is the romance between Chaol and Celaena. But the cliffhanger was so good and unexpected.

Book: Wide Sargasso Sea

Author: Jean Rhys

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis: Wide Sargasso Sea is a 1966 novel by Dominica-born British author Jean Rhys. It is a feminist and anti-colonial response to Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre(1847), describing the background to Mr Rochester's marriage from the point-of-view of his mad wife Antoinette :, a Creole heiress. Antoinette Cosway is Rhys' version of Brontë's devilish "madwoman in the attic". Antoinette's story is told from the time of her youth in Jamaica, to her unhappy marriage to a certain unnamed English gentleman, who renames her Bertha, declares her mad, and takes her to England. Antoinette is caught in an oppressive patriarchal society in which she fully belongs neither to Europe nor to Jamaica.Wide Sargasso Sea explores the power of relationships between men and women and develops postcolonial themes, such as racism, displacement, and assimilation.

My thoughts: A short and engaging read, this novel leaves a lasting impression of someone who has read and loved Jane Eyre. Read my full review here.

Book: Lolita

Author: Vladimir Nabokov

Rating: 3/5

Synopsis: Lolita is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with a 12-year-old girl, Dolores Haze, with whom he becomes sexually involved after he becomes her stepfather. "Lolita" is his private nickname for Dolores.

My thoughts: It was a difficult book to get through. I had been reading this one since February of this year but I just couldn't read it entirely without taking breaks. But none the less, i loved it. It has quickly become one of my favourite modern classics.

Book: Find Me

Author: André Aciman

Rating: 1.5/5

Synopsis: In Find Me, Aciman shows us Elio's father, Samuel, on a trip from Florence to Rome to visit Elio, who has become a gifted classical pianist. A chance encounter on the train with a beautiful young woman upends Sami's plans and changes his life forever.

Elio soon moves to Paris, where he, too, has a consequential affair, while Oliver, now a New England college professor with a family, suddenly finds himself contemplating a return trip across the Atlantic.

Aciman is a master of sensibility, of the intimate details and the emotional nuances that are the substance of passion.Find Me brings us back inside the magic circle of one of our greatest contemporary romances to ask if, in fact, true love ever dies.

My thoughts: I have written a detailed review for this book which you check here.

Book: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Author: J. K. Rowling

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis: Harry Potter's summer has included the worst birthday ever, doomy warnings from a house-elf called Dobby, and rescue from the Dursleys by his friend Ron Weasley in a magical flying car! Back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his second year, Harry hears strange whispers echo through empty corridors – and then the attacks start. Students are found as though turned to stone … Dobby's sinister predictions seem to be coming true.

My thoughts: I have been re-reading Harry Potter and always it is a delight to read. I love this series, it is my favourite series of all time.

This brings us to the end of the wrap-up (or should i say a wrap up on the wrap-up?).

What did you guys read this month? Did you enjoy them? Let me know in the comments.