I read 47 books this year. Here are 17 that I recommend others to read.
Books with captivating writing:
These were the books I just couldn’t put down. As I continue to read more books, I have a growing appreciation for good writing. These books not only were written beautifully, but secretly taught me lessons through their captivating stories.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo — Who would have known that the best life advice I read this year came from a fictional book about a Shepard?
And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
Call Me By Your Name by Andrew Aciman — This book made me wish for more poetry in my life. Gave me hope that a life that was poetic and symbolic, something usually reserved for art, can actually be achieved in life. I could not get this book, movie or soundtrack out of my head for a solid month.
We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we should that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to feel nothing so as not to feel anything — what a waste!
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng — I don’t know how to explain this book except that it represents a spectrum of motherhood. I saw a little bit of myself in every female in this book.
Parents, she thought, learned to survive touching their children less and less... It was like training yourself to live on the smell of an apple alone, when what you really wanted was to devour it, to sink your teeth into it and consume it, seeds, core, and all.
Collected Poems by Emily Dickinson — Emily Dickinson has now become my favorite poet. It’s strange that her collection is the first set of poetry I’ve read that rhymes! How revolutionary.
Most Unique Reads:
These told stories that confused and frustrated me. I grew to hate protagonists of these books. Despite that, I could not stop reading them or thinking about the story after it was finished. Their repulsion captured me, and for that, they were worth recommending.
Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata — The first book I read this year written by a Nobel Laureate in Literature, and the poetic language really reflected this. This book symbolized the modernization of Japan through tea ceremony rituals, told through the story of a man who falls in love with his deceased father’s mistresses.
Had this father occasionally squeezed the birthmark between his fingers? Had he even bitten at it? Such were Kikuji’s fantasies.
The Vegetarian by Han Kang — The closet book I can compare this book to is Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Like the man magically who turns into a roach, this protagonist turns vegetarian because of a dream she can’t explain. It’s worth noting the story is never told from the POV of the protagonist.
This was the body of a beautiful young woman, conventionally an object of desire, and yet it was a body from which all desire had been eliminated.
The Idiot by Elif Batuman — A 400 page book where the protagonist is too indecisive to do anything. The Idiot is thus a perfect title for the protagonist, but I still couldn’t stop rooting for her. Batuman’s writing is worth highlighting, certainly worthy of being compared to the Russian greats that her novel is inspired by.
Hungary felt increasingly like reading War and Peace: new characters came up every five minutes, with their unusual names and distinctive locutions, and you had to pay attention to them for a time, even though you might never see them again for the whole rest of the book. I would rather have talked to Ivan, the love interest, but somehow I didn’t get to decide.
Books that changed the way I think:
The way these books were written changed the way I thought about writing. They told me stories in forms I had never experienced before, expanding my notion of what a story can be.
1Q84 by Haruki Marukami — Reading Marukami made me want to write a book. I loved the style of mixing surrealism with our world.
Wasn’t it better if they kept this desire to see each other hidden within them, and never actually got together? That way, there would always be hope in their hearts. That hope would be a small, yet vital flame that warmed them to their core — a tiny flame to cup one’s hands around and protect from the wind, a flame that the violent winds of reality might easily extinguish.
Brand New Ancients by Kate Tempest — In a world where modern poetry is dominated by short poems prime for Instagram, Kate’s modern epic was a great contrast. Writing in the style of Homer’s Oddessy, but staring the modern man, it was the perfect combination of old and new that I didn’t know I needed.
If on a Winters Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino — Every chapter is a different novel and you, as the reader, are a main character, yet somehow the book still has a coherent plot. This book is basically a love story to reading and has the most unique form of any book I’ve ever read. It actively redefined what I thought a book could be.
… you have forced your way through the shop past the thick barricade of Books You Haven’t Read, which were frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you. But you know you must never allow yourself to be awed, that among them there extend for acres and acres the Books You Needn’t Read, the Books Made For Purposes Other Than Reading, Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong To The Category Of Books Read Before Being Written. And thus you pass the outer girdle of ramparts, but then you are attacked by the infantry of the Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered.
Children of the Alley by Naguib Mahfouz — For a book that was banned from the Middle East for ‘criticizing Islam’, it certainly had the opposite effect on me. With each section representing a prophet as a modern day citizen of the alley, it made me reflect on what it takes to have a moral character worthy of God. The last section, which symbolizes our modern world, worried me with it’s accuracy yet lack of heart. To me, it was a fictional story calling for an end of injustice.
The Books I just enjoyed:
Habibi by Craig Thompson — When I first picked up this graphic novel, I thought it was written by someone from the Middle East or a woman. That is a testament to Craig Thompson for the research he took to create a whose story and art authentically portray Islamic heritage (even from a woman’s perspective). From the dense Arabic calligraphy, the parables from Islam and the symbolic story line, it was a truly beautiful read.
Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folk Tales by Nelson Mandela — The title basically speaks for itself. I had a lot of joy reading these stories, as did my young cousins (ages 12 and 4), who kept demanding I read them more stories from the book.
Books where I learned a lot:
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond — This book had been high on my reading for ~10 years. I regret not reading it sooner because I learned so much. I completely buy the argument of geological determinism. This book provided answers to questions I didn’t even know I had, like why it was the Spanish who had deadlier diseases the Native Americans and not the other way around.
Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo —As someone currently living and working in a community that is amongst the global poor, this book provided a lot of answers to the (often contradictory) psychology of life I noticed while living here. It provides a nuanced look at solutions to poverty where there are no clear answers.
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari — I wish all non-fiction books were co-written by a comedian. I was expecting this book to be another memoir from a comedian: funny but not informative. I was presently surprised to find it instead to be a book with a lot of data and science about modern romance. Basically a sociology book, but written by a comedian which made it so much more enjoyable. As someone in their 20's, I found this book to be highly relevant, informative and entertaining.
The Age of Sustainable Development by Jeffery Sachs- If you are going to read one book about all the challenges our world faces in the next 100 years, I’d read this one. It’s basically a textbook, with standalone chapters that can be read in any order. I cannot recommend this book enough.
Readers Whose Recommendations I Follow:
Just for added fun, here are 3 lists from 3 leaders I admire of books they recommend.
Leila Jannah (this list is amazing)
If you read any of these books, let me know. I love talking about books! Also, add or follow me on Goodreads! I need more friends on there and you can see all reviews I left on books this year.
