You Need To Read These Books!| My 5-Star Favorites of the Year So Far

With June quickly approaching, we’re almost halfway through 2021, which seems insane, but at least so far it’s been slightly better than 2020. Right?

Anyway, I decided it’d be fun to write a post about all the 5-star books I read so far this year. (And yes, I know this isn’t technically halfway through the year, but I’m going to post what I’m going to post. It’s the end of spring at least… that counts for something!)

The following list is in chronological order of when I read the books, and I’ll link each title to its Goodreads page.

1) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Genre: classics, mystery/thriller/detective

Read: January

“Always bear in mind that the person who speaks may be lying.”

Why it got 5 stars: I am a sucker for plot twists and creepy-but-not-too-creepy mysteries, and this book hit the nail on the head! It is Agatha Christie, after all. This is one of her most famous books, and it’s my current favorite.

Full review here!

2) Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Genre: adult, contemporary

Read: January

“If someone asks you how you are, you are meant to say FINE. You are not meant to say that you cried yourself to sleep last night because you hadn’t spoken to another person for two consecutive days. FINE is what you say.“

Why it got 5 stars: Well, in short, I cried at the end of it, which is kind of embarrassing… I was in an emotional mood, I guess. The way Eleanor’s story unfolded through the course of the book, her character development, and the not-romance just made this one really good. I haven’t talked about this book enough on here, so read it please. (Though it is one of the stereotypical mom-book-club books and decently popular)

3) The Martian by Andy Weir

Genre: adult, sci-fi/survival

Read: February

“To them, equipment failure is terrifying. To me, it’s ‘Tuesday.'”

Why it got 5 stars: I learned a lot from this book, including that I like “hard sci-fi” and am actually really really interested in space travel. What pushed it over the edge into 5-star territory was the sheer dedication and technical accuracy of everything in the book.

4) The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Genre: adult, mystery/thriller

Read: March

“How lost do you have to be to let the devil lead you home? This lost, I decide. Precisely this lost.”

Why it got 5 stars: I thought the whole concept of this book was extremely creative, and it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I also loved one of the twists at the end and how it turned the book on its head and introduced an almost philosophical perspective– something you don’t see much in your stereotypical thriller.

5) The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron

Note- I’m not sure why the Goodreads blurb is in French, but this book is written in English

Genre: YA, historical fiction

Read: April

“Mr. Diamant shook his head. ‘Di velt iz sheyn nor di mentshn makhn zi mies,’ he said. ‘The world is beautiful, but people make it ugly.’”

Why it got 5 stars: I still can’t get over the fact that this was about a real person. The writing was immersive and I cried at the end of this one too, at one in the morning after I couldn’t put it down to go to sleep. I can’t remember feeling so empathetic towards characters like this; probably because it was a true story, but it was a great book and I hope more people read it.

6) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Genre: classics, Gothic/horror/fantasy

Read: April

“Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one’s mistakes.”

Why it got 5 stars: Managing to achieve the balancing act of keeping up gorgeous and flowery writing while achieving peak page-turnability

(page-turnability (n): new word, trademarked by me today)

Full review here!

7) Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Genre: classics, mystery/thriller/horror

Read: April

“I had build up false pictures in my mind and sat before them. I had never had the courage to demand the truth.”

Why it got 5 stars: Again, this book had gorgeous writing and such a strong, immersive atmosphere of unease and perfectly eerie and mysterious vibes. Perfect for this kind of story. Every time I opened the book, I felt like I was returning to the world of the story. I’ll probably write a review for this one soon.

Those are the seven 5-star books I’ve read so far this year. Have you read any of these? What’s your favorite book of 2021 so far? Let me know in the comments!

As always, thanks for stopping by my blog today. Also, I tried out using Canva to make my post image today, hopefully it doesn’t look too bad. I’m trying to decide whether to start using Canva more or just keep using good old stock photos.