My last 5 star read was about 23 books ago. SUGGEST some of your five star reads.

I recently read “The Housemaid Secret” and its writing is diabolical. This is the worst piece of writing I have ever read.

The Safekeep

That’s Not My Name by Megan Lally (not the absolute best writing imo, but better than McFadden) 

Have you read Gone Girl or any of that authors other books? 

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt 

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver 

I just had a bunch of 4 and 5 star reads in a row.

* Haunting of Hill house 

* Thursday Murder Club #4 – murder mystery 

* Shadow of the Leviathan #2 – murder mystery but fantasy 

* Will of the many – orphan goes to magic school lol

* Sharp Objects – no one does thrillers better

* Small Sacrifices – no one does true crime better. Reads like a thriller 

* The thief – Thief gets bailed out of jail to do a heist for the king 

Nonfiction: The Lonely City by Olivia Laing; The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd; The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli; This House of Grief by Helen Garner

Fiction: The Hours by Michael Cunningham; Gilead by Marilynne Robinson; Sula by Toni Morrison; The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst

any specific fiction tropes you like? I read mainly romance but also have read some thrillers (pop fictionish), a bit of historical fiction, self-help and a few biography like books.

Pride and Prejudice

Gone With the Wind

The Hunger Games series

Friday Night Lights

Gone Girl

Song of the Dodo; Island Biogeography in the Age of Extinction by David Quammen

Some of my favorites over the last few years

Non-Fiction

**The Indifferent Stars Above** by Daniel James Brown

**Midnight in Chernobyl** by Adam Higginbotham

**The Billion Dollar Spy** by David Hoffman

Fiction:
**The Good Earth** by Pearl S. Buck

**A Thousand Splendid Suns** by Khaled Hosseini

**The Kite Runner** by Khaled Hosseini

**Watership Down** by Richard Adams

**The Remains of the Day** by Kazuo Ishaguro

Some of my 5 stars:-

*first three books of Infected city series by Boris Bacic (Yet to read the rest

*Broker by John Grisham

*Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell

*Spider’s web by Mike Omer

*The expectation effect by David Robson

*Watch me die by Bill Kimberlin

*The Fall by Albert Camus

*Dead List by Helen H. Durrant

*The not to do list by Rolf Dobelli

Etc..

I’m reading Ministry of Time right now. For anyone who has worked in defense, it’s a load of horseshit how situations are handled, and the sex scenes are kind of weird like out of place given the situation at hand, but the overall story and the writing are good, imo. The language is awesome and gives the characters depth, which I love.

The last book I read that I felt was worthy of 5 stars was “What Storm, What Thunder”

5⭐️ reads of 2025 for me:

The Reformatory

The Color Purple

Atmosphere

The Nightingale

The Four Winds

I Who Have Never Known Men

Wild Dark Shore

Kindred

North Woods by Daniel Mason

True Grit by Charles Portis

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard

The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage

The Cuckoo’s Calling by
Robert Galbraith (cormoran strike series)

The writing is so good

Most recent (I’m very picky!): History of the Rain, by Niall Williams.