SlowReader's Kingdom

Top 5 Wednesday was created by gingerreadslainey. Check out heryoutube channel! Basically, every Wednesday there is a chosen topic to which you list your top 5. If you want to join, have a look at the goodreads page!

This week's topic is really interesting to me since I am a fantasy reader who only occasionally picks up other books. Looking at my list it's obviously those other books that make me think. 

5. Schachnovelle ("The Royal Game" or "Chess Story") by Stefan Zweig

What stayed with me the longest after I read this book was how boredom can be used as torture. Being stuck in a room with absolute nothing to occupy your mind with can make one crazy. I always imagined torture as something physical but the simplest things can be used as torture. 

4. Hiob ("Job") by Joseph Roth

Hiob stood out to me because of its sad story. I cried so much while reading this book. The errors of the father, the hardship of immigration, and the way fate turned out had my heart aching.

3. Der Vorleser ("The Reader") by Bernhard Schlink

For me, Hanna was a very interesting character. I love how Schlink wrote about this very difficult topic. I was mortified how Hanna's simple mind worked during and after Nazi-Germany. But at the same time I felt for her. We are always judging so quickly about the people in Nazi Germany but tend to forget that very smart people were fooled by this propaganda. How do we expect the more simple-minded people to not fall for it?

2. 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult

I absolutely loved this book. Jodi Picoult is my go-to author when it comes to difficult topics. She does not hold back when she writes about a school massacre and what led to it. We all know how students can be during High School and for once an author wrote about the not always oh so innocent victims.

1. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

This book left me with goosebumbs. What made me think the most though, was how this girl left the apartment while she was hold captive. Her captivity was more psychological. People saw her in these little-girl-outftits and saw her bruises but nobody did question it. It left me wondering how many abused childen I might see during my daily life and not realising it. After I finished this book I promised myself that I would be more attentive in the future.

Have you read any of these? What books made you think?