Some books I've enjoyed recently

Over the summer I didn't read as much as I usually do. I reached almost the bottom of my to be read pile which was great, but then left me feeling a bit unmotivated when it came to reading! I spent a while browsing the Amazon Prime Reading library and free Kindle books which filled up my Kindle, but most of the books that I read were a little bit uninspiring and repetitive, books read to pass the time rather than to make me think.

Luckily a friend has lent me some books and the ones that I've read so far have been brilliant! The first was The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan. It was described on the cover by India Knight as "A Handmaid's Tale for the 21st Century" which instantly appealed, as The Handmaid's Tale is one of my favourite books. I wasn't disappointed. It's a dystopian tale about women who have been deemed bad mothers and unable to care for their children properly. They are removed from their families and sent to a special institution to see whether they are able to learn the skills that they need to be good mothers and have their children returned to them. It's a gripping story, and one which stayed in my mind long after I'd finished it.

The second was Lullaby by Leila Slimani. Once I started reading I realised that I had read it before, but it was good enough that I wanted to re-read it! Another one about mothers, this is the story of a nanny to a wealthy Parisian family. You already know the outcome from the first few pages, and it's chilling how the story turns from perfection to horror. 

One of the free Kindle books that I did quite enjoy was Woke Up Like This by Amy Lea. It was one of this month's Amazon First Reads, so if you have an Amazon Prime account and a Kindle you can currently download it for free. It's about two 17 year old high school arch-enemies who wake up to find themselves flung into a future when they are 30 and about to get married. It's a very easy light-hearted read in the vein of the film 30 Going On 30, perhaps a little more Young Adult than the books I usually go for but it really entertained me for a little while!

Photo credit César Viteri via Unsplash

Finally I'm going to cheat a bit and add a book that I'm currently reading. Last night I started the new biography Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson. We recently bought a Tesla and we are interested in following the progress of SpaceX but I don't really know much about Elon Musk or his personal story, apart from all the Twitter controversies! I read an excerpt from the biography over the weekend and found it really interesting so I ordered the book, thinking that probably the rest of the family would enjoy reading it too. It's really good! I was reading it for almost three hours solid last night and it's very well written. I'm currently up to around 2007 and learning about the argumentative early days of Tesla and the first unsuccessful rocket launches and I've learned so much about Musk and his companies. I'm not normally a reader of biographies but I'd definitely recommend this one so far. 

What have you been reading lately? I'd love to hear some recommendations!