BOOKS | READING | RECOMMENDATIONS
What Books Could Be On a 15-year-old’s Top 5 Reads of the Month?
Some of them might not be what you’re expecting...
It feels as if it New Year were only yesterday. Only god knows how this fast has January came to an end. Nevertheless, it was a pretty exciting month for me—this is my 31st story of this month. (On an average, one story a day, yaay!) Pretty good start of a year, right?
Luckily, I’ve read some fabulous books this month. Both fiction and non-fiction.
In this blog let me share with you my top 5 reads of the month. Are you ready for some cool book recommendations? 😎✨☺️ Okay, let’s get into this.
FICTION
1. The Kissing Booth 3: One Last Time
by Beth Reekles
It’s like Twilight or Harry Potter or Vampire Diaries—a classic or must-read in teenage.
After binge-watching all the movies of this title—there are three—in one night, I thought to read this book. In all the excitement, I read this book from start to finish within 24 hours.
I’ve never, ever, even attempted something like that before. Not to mention, it was a hell lot of fun.
Here’s an excerpt from the blurb:
Summer is here, and Elle’s plans are shaken up when she hears from a university she never thought she’d get into. She only has a few days to make a big decision: go to Harvard with hotter-than-hot boyfriend, Noah, or go to Berkeley with best friend, Lee, just like they’d always planned.
Meanwhile at the Flynn family beach house Elle and Lee find a bucket list they wrote as kids, and decide to complete it. Elle is determined to make this the best they’ve ever had—before everything has to change.
Now she just has to balance the bucket list, her relationship with Noah and a potentially life-changing decision about her future…. Should she choose love, or friendship?
2. The Nine-chambered Heart
by Janice Pariat
It was a different kind of read for me. Unlike any other fiction book I’ve ever read, this book has not even a single name—of character or location. It’s interesting. It’s different.
It’s basically a story told in pieces by nine of the lovers of a young woman—from their perspective. It’s like the whole story of her life—but the only difference is that it’s not told by her, she doesn’t have any words, and is totally dependent on someone else’s perception of how she is.
Here’s an excerpt from the blurb:
“Set in familiar, nameless cities, moving between east and west, The Nine-Chambered Heart is a compendium of shifting perspectives that follows one woman’s life, making her dazzlingly real in one moment, and obscuring her in the very next.”
Non-fiction
1. The Communication Book: 44 Ideas for Better Conversations Everyday
by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschäppeler
It’s one of those books you’d want to read with a sip of chai. There are 44 quick chapters—two pages of illustration and two pages of text in each one.
It has got some very beautiful and practical chapters on how to improve our casual conversations.
For instance, there’s one chapter about “keeping it brief whatever you’re saying.” Here’s an except from that chapter that explains and exemplifies how powerful brief description can be:
“No one knows whether the story’s true, but it is a good one anyway. Ernest Hemingway was sitting having a drink with some writer friends at Lüchow’s restaurant in New York.
They were talking about this and that, and eventually moved on to what the ideal length of a good novel might be. Hemingway claimed that he could write a novel in six words: the others each bet $10 that he couldn’t.
Whereupon Hemingway wrote: ‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn’ on a napkin. Six words, behind which lies a tragedy. Those who don’t gulp when they read this must have hearts of stone.”
2. Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide To Better English
by Patricia T. O’Conner
As is made clear by the book’s name it’s about grammar.
It’s funny. It’s witty. It’s interesting. Simply put, unlike any other grammar book I’ve ever read. (I know it’s the second time I say that in a single post but there’s no better way to put it.)
For instance, there’s a chapter on comma that’s titled ‘Comma Sutra,’ a topic clarifying the difference between the use of ‘which’ and ‘that’ that’s titled ‘Which Craft,’ and a topic named ‘Where there’s a will; there’s a would’ (you can easily guess what this topic might be about).
Even if you know all the rules and everything in this book, you’re still gonna enjoy this read. “How can a mundane thing as grammar be so interesting?!” you might think, as did I.
3. The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant
by Eric Jorgenson (illustrated by Jack Butcher)
Most of you who read my articles know that how big of a fan I am of Naval Ravikant. It’s the one I re-read in January. I’ve previously read it in eBook format and in January decided to buy a paperback version.
By the way, it’s available for free on this book’s official website, Navalmanack.com, as it’s created for public service.
It’s a compilation and breakdown of basically all the things Naval—his tweets, podcasts, interviews—and then making sense of it all. If you haven’t read his popular Twitter thread “How to get rich (without getting lucky)?”, you need to go read it ASAP here.
Here are some quotes that I loved from the book:
“Inspiration is perishable, act on it immediately.” —Naval
“Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true.” —Naval
Final Thoughts
So, those were my best reads of January. I’m so proud that I took some time out and read those fabulous books.
It’s true said that books are one of the cheapest things that has the power to change you.
Did any book above spark your interest, hold your attention? If yes, go grab it and give it a read. No one knows which book can proof itself life-changing. If you’ve got some book recommendations for me, or have a book that you just cannot stop recommending, then please share them in the comments below.
“Read what you love until you love to read.” —Naval
On that note, bye! ❤️❤️❤️
