As you can tell from My Library, I read a LOT! I guess I get through about 3 or 4 books a week most of the time, depending on the length of the book of course, and how much time I have.

Anyway, I thought it may be a good idea to start sharing with you the books that I rate most highly for the month, and why.

Oh, and if you want to buy any of them, please click through to order from Kalahari.net and support my Holiday Savings Fund 🙂

The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

This extraordinary, magical novel is the story of Clare and Henry who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. His disappearances are spontaneous and his experiences are alternately harrowing and amusing. The Time Traveler’s Wife depicts Clare and Henry’s struggle to lead normal lives in the face of a force they can neither prevent nor control.

I loved this book! Not only is the story interesting and the characters complex, but it’s brilliantly written. It’s narrated by the two main characters, who obviously age over time (backwards AND forwards) and the author has managed to capture their voices at their various ages just perfectly – from a 5 year-old boy to an 82 year-old woman. At its core, this book is a simple boy meets girl love story but the twists that time travel throw into the plot make it an engaging read and one that I highly recommend.

Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts

Greg Roberts turned to heroin when his marriage collapsed, feeding his addiction with a string of robberies. Caught and convicted, he was given a nineteen-year sentence. After two years, he escaped from a maximum- security prison and became Australia’s most wanted man. Hiding in Bombay, he established a medical clinic for slum- dwellers, worked in the Bollywood film industry and served time in the notorious Arthur Road prison. He was recruited by the Bombay mafia for whom he worked as a forger, counterfeiter, and smuggler, and fought alongside a unit of mujaheddin guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan. His debut novel, SHANTARAM, is based on this ten-year period of his life in Bombay. The result is an epic tale of slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison torture, mafia gang wars and Bollywood films.

After reading the synopsis and discovering that Shantaram was a true story, I just had to read it. The author has an incredible story to tell and I was far from disappointed. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that this is one of the best books I’ve ever read and I can’t recommend it enough. Don’t let the nearly 1000 pages put you off in any way – Gregory David Roberts is an extraordinary writer and his tale is indeed epic. This book has everything – romance, suspense, humour, mystery, and brutal truth. I know a lot people, from all walks of life, who’ve read Shantaram and every one of them agrees that this book is a “must read.”