Wrap Up

May 2017 | WRAP UP

Wrap Up

I can’t believe that May is almost over,  but it seems to be true so I thought it was a good time to share the books I finished this month. I have to say that this month overall was pretty average, but there were a few gems!

FIVE STARS:

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I LOVED this book. It was a perfect mixture of history, horror, and science fiction. It follows a high school teacher who is shown a portal into the past. His goal is to stop the JFK assignation. Once again Stephen King has written an amazing book. I will say this monster of a book is over 1,000 pages, but I got through it very quickly. I find him to write in a way that is easy to read and his stories are very gripping.

FOUR STARS:

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A Single Man was a very enjoyable read. I read through it very quickly and I found I was invested in the main character quite quickly. The ending had me thinking  a lot. It follows a man named George following the lost of his partner. There is also a movie adaptation and I plan on watching it very soon.

THREE STARS

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I wrote an entire review for this book you can find that here:Not Quite The Classics by Colin Mochrie. Over all I enjoyed this book and I plan on revisiting in the future. I found myself laughing and very much enjoying most of these short stories.

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This was a great read about the Russian Revolution. I read it quite quickly and I found it very informative. I will say because it is such a large topic there is a lot of facts crammed in. I wrote a review you can find it here:REVIEW: A Short History of the Russian Revolution by Geoffrey Swain

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Notorious RBG was an interesting read. I will say this is a great read about law, women’s rights, and a strong individual. I wrote a bit more about this book in my May book haul, which you can find here: Book Haul: May 2017. Over all if you are interested in law, women’s and social rights, or just want to learn about a Justice this is a good read.


I am happy to say I did not have any two or one star reads this month! I hope you reading was amazing this month!

What was your favorite read this month?


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Reviews

REVIEW: A Short History of the Russian Revolution by Geoffrey Swain

Book Review

I wanted to start off by saying that I received an ebook copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for my honest review.


A Short History of the Russian Revolution discusses the Russian Revolution that ended the Tsarist monarchy and ushers in the communist regime in Russia during 1917. Now I will 30897399say that someone can easily write a 1000 page book on this topic so when I requested this I knew that some things would be missing. When I did finally get to reading it I laughed a bit when the author himself said, “much has to be left out” because this is such a complex period of history.
I will say that Geoffrey Swain did a good job summing up such a complex event(s). For someone who does not know a lot about the Russian Revolution they will benefit a lot from reading this. Swain knows his topic well, he discusses a wide range of related events and organizations which I find important. A historical event did not happen in a vacuum, society prior to the event let to the Russian Revolution and it impacted a lot of events, policies, and individuals following it as well. I will say that this book is very academic, since this is a short history it is jammed packed with facts. So if you are looking for a non-fiction account that reads like a novel this is not for you. This is more of something you would read if you are interested in learning about the event or need a good resources for research. I wish I had read something like this years ago when I took a class dealing with this topic. On another note I really enjoyed was the short timeline in the beginning of the book. It really showed a quick summary before getting into details.

Overall, I think that this is a good book. I ended up giving it a 3.5/5 stars. This is a great book for those who are studying the Russian Revolution, have a serious interest, an introduction to the topic, and a good resource for research, but it is not something I feel many individuals will pick up a read “for the fun of it”. But, to restate what I have said, this really is a well written “short” history of the Russian Revolution.


Book Information

Publisher: I. B. Tauris & Company

Publication Date: March 30th 2017

List Price: Varies – $10.60 on Kindle $29.00 on Nook

ISBN: 9781780767925

Pages: 256 pages


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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30897399-a-short-history-of-the-russian-revolution