May 2018 Reading Wrap-Up
Ugh, I can’t believe it’s almost June. This year is flying by. This month was a slow reading months for me, what with finals, my trip to Charleston, and now preparing to leave for Washington, D.C., but I did get through a couple of great reads!
Books Read: 2
Favorite of the Month: The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison
1) Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder
Genre: Nonfiction
Rating: ⅗
“Americans call the Second World War “The Good War.” But before it even began, America’s wartime ally Josef Stalin had killed millions of his own citizens—and kept killing them during and after the war. Before Hitler was finally defeated, he had murdered six million Jews and nearly as many other Europeans. At war’s end, both the German and the Soviet killing sites fell behind the iron curtain, leaving the history of mass killing in darkness. Bloodlands is a new kind of European history, presenting the mass murders committed by the Nazi and Stalinist regimes as two aspects of a single history, in the time and place where they occurred: between Germany and Russia, when Hitler and Stalin both held power. Assiduously researched, deeply humane, and utterly definitive, Bloodlands will be required reading for anyone seeking to understand the central tragedy of modern history.” --Goodreads
This book is packed full of information, so it got a little daunting sometimes, but overall, I thought it was fantastic. Snyder organized the book in the way that made all the information more manageable--but no easier to digest. Bloodlands is a hard read simply because of the horrific subject matter. Real life is chilling, and Snyder provided plenty of examples to prove that. I think it is a must read for any history buff, but be prepared to commit to it for a while.
2) The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison
Genre: Crime Fiction
Rating ⅘
"Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden. In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens. When the garden is discovered, a survivor is brought in for questioning. FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison are tasked with piecing together one of the most stomach-churning cases of their careers. But the girl, known only as Maya, proves to be a puzzle herself. As her story twists and turns, slowly shedding light on life in the Butterfly Garden, Maya reveals old grudges, new saviors, and horrific tales of a man who’d go to any length to hold beauty captive. But the more she shares, the more the agents have to wonder what she’s still hiding…” --Goodreads
On Instagram, I compared this book to a dark and twisted Lolita, and that definitely holds true. Like any good crime novel, The Butterfly Garden delivers on the suffering psychological intrigue, but it also puts a spotlight on the moral conflict and emotional confusion experienced by people held in captivity. Maya, the narrator, is an incredibly well-written protagonist who demonstrates the effects of trauma. This was a very unique crime novel that I’d highly recommend to every fan of the genre.
What did you read throughout the month?
