Books I've Read Recently...

... AKA over Christmas break. 

I was a reading machine during that glorious 3-week vacation! 

I love reading books of my own choosing, but during the semester I somehow can't even manage to find time to read my assigned reading out of my text books so leisure reading is kind of out of the question. 

But I thought I would share some of the books I read over the break in case anyone out there is looking for a new read! 

Keep in mind, these books are easy-to-read, entertaining, etc. My brain needed a vacation too so I wasn't looking for something to really heavy or deep haha. 

1 The "Matched" Trilogy by Ally Condie. I had been hearing about these books for a year or so and decided to see what all the hype was about. I really enjoyed them! It's a story about a future society, one that occurs after our society today self implodes (sort of hunger games-esque, without the killing of small children).   I think the first book is the best one, and then the following two aren't quite as enthralling, but I've recommended it to a few people so far, and they haven't been disappointed!

2 The Racketeer by John Grisham. Because what is better to read on a beach than a good crime drama? Haha. Just kidding. Kind of. This was already on the kindle (which I borrowed from my father for the trip, thanks dad!) and it was a very entertaining read. If you like Grisham novels, you'll like this one haha. 

3 The Rent Collector by Camron Wright. By far, this was my favorite book of all the ones I read! Such an inspiring story -- fictional, but based on true events and real places in Cambodia and even real people. I couldn't put it down.

4 The Spirit Catches You & You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. I'm only about halfway through with this one, so I don't feel I can comment on it properly! But I found via a recommendation on this blog, so thanks guys! I'm looking forward to finishing it come April ;)

5 The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling. So this infamous first-post-potter-series-novel of JK Rowling's has received extremely mixed reviews, and I can definitely see why. It's full of adult content, so I haven't recommended it to anyone quite yet ha, but I enjoy her writing style, the story is unique, and it's completely different from Harry Potter, so you've got to give her some credit for that!