What is the last book you read, and your rating?

[SunVixen]

'City of Bastards" and "War of the Bastards" by Andrew Shvarts. These are good books, but the first book (Royal Bastards) was better. Therefore, I give 4 of 5.

[Devika menon]

We Are Voulhire: A New Arrival Under Great Skies. I gave it a 3/4.

[Debottam_55]

The last book I read is 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe. I give it 5/5 stars. It's a masterpiece in post-colonial literature.

[Redlegs]

Heather Rose is clearly a huge fan of the well-known Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic. Her 2017 Stella Prize winning novel, The Museum of Modern Love, is a beautifully crafted, devotional homage to the artist, and especially her world famous show 'The Artist Is Present' held at the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 2010.

Rose has developed her fictional novel around these real events, introducing a range of characters drawn to watch or sit, while dealing with their own life issues outside of MoMA.

The principal character is Arky Levin, a musician and composer who write film scores, whose wife Lydia is severely ill, and probably dying in hospital, and whose relationship with his daughter Alice is somewhat fraught.

He finds himself drawn repeatedly to the Abramovic exhibition at at time in his life when he is struggling to wrangle with events and circumstances.

There are several other interesting characters peripheral to the life and career of Arky Levin, some of whom are also drawn into the MOMA exhibition, who add colour and interest to the narrative.

Rose has written an elegant, thoughtful and respectful novel that provokes reflection on the nature and purpose of art in society and how it fits more broadly into lives and relationships.

4 stars out of 5

[Azrevread]

The last book I read was Ten Directions by Samuel Winburn.
It's a saga of science fiction and fantasy about an apocalyptic event
that forces the survivors to enforce unique efforts in order to protect
their environment and preserve their economy.
I rated the book 3 out of 4 stars.

[Tef007]

I just finished the book Vox by Christina Dalcher. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. It was good and engaging at the beginning, then became a little more unbelievable towards the end.

[Rissathegreat1]

Bound to her Desert Captor By Michelle Cinder and a rating of 4

[Redlegs]

Tuvalu may seem to be a misleading title for Andrew O'Connor's 2005 Australian Vogel's Award winning debut novel, given that all of the action takes place in Japan and Australia. And whether any of the characters in the novel ever go there remains an open question.

The story is narrated by Noah Tuttle, a young Australian man working in Japan teaching English and struggling to find his way in life. In the cheap apartment where he lives, he meets an Australian girl, Tilly, and the two form a relationship and cohabit.

When Tilly returns to Australia to help her father bring in the crop on his lavender farm in Victoria, Noah meets Mami Kaketa, who is the real 'star' of this yarn.

Mami is a spoiled young Japanese woman, with a wealthy father, who has little regard for the rules and standards of society. She makes a habit of stealing and scamming despite her wealth, and treats relationships in a casual and careless fashion.

Noah drifts along in Japan, and is led on a dangerous path by his male friends, until Tilly eventually disappears irrevocably from his life.

Another trip home to Australia enables Noah to find out what became of Tilly, and he decides to return to Japan to seek out Mami.

O'Connor has written his novel in an easy to read, witty and frequently amusing style, and yet there is an underlying sadness and pathos in this tale.

This is a really fine debut effort, one that I enjoyed very much from beginning to end. I can only hope that Noah and Mami find their Tuvalu some day.

4 stars out of 5

[Dee_218]

We are Voulhire: Someone Else's End.

It was a good book with great engagement. I gave it a 3/4 stars

[Gabriel Merêncio]

I've just read Moral, Immoral, Amoral: What Is Right and What Is Wrong? by Osho (also known as Rajneesh). It's an interesting book I could recommend to anyone, religious or otherwise, but it can get kind of annoying to read. The entire thing is just questions and answers, with a few short stories here and there that relate to the main point of each discussion, and many of them touch on the same topics over and over again. I also have problems with the book's simplistic view on the sufficient conditions for morality and its occasional dismissal of philosophy and other academic fields.

Still, it has a coherent message, valuable insights, and it makes you think, which is more than I could say for most of these self-help/spiritual books. A very good for people frustrated with or coming out of religion, but maybe a bit too hesitant to fully embrace secular thought. I would rate it 2 out of 4.

[Karen Crumley]

The Cult Next Door was a really enjoyable read, I give it 4 out of 4 stars.

ANd, I absolutely LOVED MC Beaton's Death of a Gossip and fell in love with Hamish Macbeth! 4 out of 4 stars.

[Kister Bless]

I read We are Voulhire: The Fires of Virko and I gave it 4 out of 4 stars because the book had well-developed and memorable characters and its plot was great and intriguing.

[Mehereen_reads]

I just finished reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and it's an amazing book. I rate it 4 out of 4

[Robyn_original]

I last read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, and it was beautiful. It's sad but also sweet and touching. I would give it a 4 out of 4

[MatereF]

I just finished reading Who Told You That You Are Naked by William E Combs. I gave it a rating of 4 out of 4. It's truly a refreshing look on the events that happened in the Garden of Eden.