Beyond the Kitchen: Well Said. Well read.

I’ve gotten to the point where I’m not even writing reviews of books that I rate less than 4 stars. There’s just too many of them and I feel like all my reviews start to sound the same.

Perfectly good books, but not amazing books.

These, on the other hand, are the rare ones.

The books that grab you from page 1 and keep you turning until the final period of the final page, and even then refuses to leave you alone.

The books whose characters invade your dreams.

The books whose morals make you want to become better than yourself.

The books that drag you into the story whether you like it or not and then teach you a little something too once you’re there.

The books that make your decision to cancel cable once and for all not even a hesitation in your mind; because if one book like this exists, how many others are out there yet to discover? There’s simply no time for TV if I want a chance at reading all the books that have found their way onto my list.

That’s the kind of book that gets 5 stars from me.

God bless the book people for their boundless knowledge absorbed from having words instead of friends. – The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

While all these books are worthy reads, technically only the first 2 warranted that coveted 5 star rating (Are my standards too high? Maybe they’re too high…) The others I gave 4.5 stars (if goodreads allowed such things as half stars, that is). Still truly great books worth sharing, but just not quite enough to warrant the 5 star rating. Most of the time I can’t even pinpoint exactly what was lacking that caused the loss of half a star.

If you don’t already, follow me on Goodreads where I’m trying to be better about posting reviews of things as I finish them.

(As always, there are affiliate links in this post but all opinions are entirely my own).

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from Love and Olive Oil http://ift.tt/2FKD2Xe