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

[Shalu1707]

Just finished 'McDowell by William H. Coles. would rate it 2 out of 4 for its slow pace, lack of editing and monotonous narrative.

[dianaterrado]

Talon by Julie Kagawa. I gave it 3 out of 5. I did not expect I wouldn't love it as much.

[Dayanda]

The Easter make believers. I had to just give it up at 4 out of 4 stars. The author, Finn Bell, did an excellent job at that.

[_a_reads_]

The Easter Make Believers by Finn Bell. I liked it, but some parts had been left unfinished so I gave it 3/4. It's a nice read.

[gali]

I finished "Lair of Dreams" (The Diviners, #2) by Libba Bray and rated it 2 our of 4 stars. It was less good than the first one, but I still enjoyed it.

[Charlyt]

My last read was White Jaguar by Preben Ormen and I rated it 3 out of 4 stars. The plot was intriguing but I thought the execution could have been better.

[Redlegs]

Monash: the Man Who Shaped Australia by Grantlee Kieza is a well-researched, engagingly presented biography of a flawed but brilliant man who may well be Australia's greatest military leader.

Of German Jewish extraction (originally Monasch), John is the son of migrants Louis and Bertha who came to Australia to try their luck in gold-crazy Victoria.

When the Great War erupts in 1914, Monash is well placed for a leadership position, and he is at Gallipoli for the ANZAC campaign. His reputation continues to rise, although he is not popular with everyone, especially war correspondent Charles Bean.

Eventually Monash finds himself on the front lines in France, where his reputation is enhanced to almost hero status. His planning and execution of the Battle for Hamel is part of Australian military folklore. Monash's continued attacks on the German lines are mostly decisive and successful, and it is arguable that his actions may have shortened the war by up to one year.

Throughout his excellent biography, Kieza maintains a balance in his portrayal of Monash - as a successful, heroic, generous and well-regarded man, as well as a flawed, often arrogant, opinionated and self-promoting man, who was distrusted by some because of his German Jewish heritage and by others for his 'spin' on facts that always portrayed himself in a better light than his colleagues.

I knew something of Monash and his famous WWI exploits before reading this biography, but I now feel I have a much better appreciation of the man in the context of history and the world events of the early 20th century. Monash is undoubtedly a great Australian.

4 stars out of 5

[Gigareads]

The last book I read was What Light by Jay Asher and I rate it 3/4 stars. It is about a girl who lives on a Christmas tree farm in Oregon and travels to California over the holiday period to sell the trees. It was a really quick read and only took me one day to finish. I really enjoyed reading it as it was the perfect book to read for this time of year.

[Anna Maria 86]

The cartel crusher by Dan E. Hendrickson. I rated it 3 out of 4. Fast-paced action and a bit of a mystery, would like to read the third book (it's a series). It never really surprised me though, and some details I didn't find accurate. But in general, a good read.

[Theresa Moffitt]

I just finished murder in memory I thought it was very well written and gave it 4 out of 4 stars

[Gravy]

I finished Black by Ted Dekker and rated it a 3

[subhamkar mishra]

I just finished reading stormlight archives: the way of kings by brandon sanderson. It is an amazing work of high fantasy with all the elements of a good book! I rate it 4.8/5 stars!!!

[Redlegs]

It is unusual for a young female Australian writer to set her debut novel in Russia in the second half of the 20th century, but Katherine Brabon, with her 2016 Australian/Vogel's award winning novel, The Memory Artist, has done just that.

I really wanted to love this novel - much of the prose was lyrical, elegant, intelligent and evocative, and the author's grasp of the subject matter was sublime.

But, I found the novel confusing at times due to its unusual structure and shifts between time and location. It seemed to drift and lose narrative focus and direction, and I found my mind wandering and losing connection several times.

Brabon has written mainly about the post-glasnost period in Russia, from the late 1980s into the 90s and touching on the end of the century. It is a time of major social and political change in Russia, with new freedoms, new consumerism and even McDonalds in Moscow.

But, through the principal character, Pasha, a writer, Brabon maintains a connection with a dark past, a time of disappearances, shootings, the gulags and the restrictions of dogmatic communism.

It covers the arrival of glasnost, the fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the Russian Federation, all of which was a time of massive upheaval, not always positive, and often confusing for Russian citizens.

I couldn't quite give this novel 4 stars, but it a solid 3.5 out of 5

[Maddi_0720]

I just finished reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

It was pretty good. Very thrilling as well as sad but it I liked it.

[Charlyt]

The last book I read was Rowan Wood Legends by Olivia Wildenstein and I gave it 4 out 4 stars. It's the 2nd book of The Lost Clan Series and it made me want to read the rest of the series.