Even living in a world where information and knowledge come and go in multiple ways and formats, in my perception, a book still have an unique power and characteristic: with a book it isn’t necessary a touchscreen, TVs, computers and videogames to create another reality or world. Only words and a good writing can do all of this.
Books really can leave a mark in your life, especially the good ones. Therefore, bellow you will find a list of six books that you should read.
1. Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
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My favorite book. One of the most known and touching portraits of the World War II. The life in war, as a Jew, told by a young woman. The fear along with the dramas of being a teenager. A mix of feelings and discovers. Being a Jew in Europe in this period was a synonym of danger and persecution, especially to those who were hiding from the nazis. All the experience of an entire jewish family hidden reported by a 13-year-old girl. It is certainly an exciting book that will touch and mark a different part of you.
2. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
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One of the books of the famous dystopian Trinity. The plot is certainly one of those that make you ask a lot of questions with the feeling of being lost. The criticism implicit in the plot and the way he tackles the narrative makes you read and read without noticing the time passing by. The dystopian society created by Huxley is able to shock, arouse curiosity in the reader and for the most part, strangeness. It is a book that definitely should be part of your literary baggage, both as a professional and a person.
3. The Unwomanly Face Of War, An Oral History Of Women In World War II – Svetlana Alexievich
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Another book that deals with wartime, only this time giving voice to a part of the story never before legitimately heard. For over decades, the Belarusian writer and journalist heard thousands of women from the former Soviet Union who fought and participated in the World War II. Extremely shocking reports, exciting and with a lot of humanity, without the mask of heroism, are the outcome of these talks. The book discusses how a woman felt in the front, on the battlefield. Fears, joys, sorrows, smells. It’s definitely my best reading of 2018, that added a lot in my conception of humanity and especially of the world by being a woman.
4. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban – Malala Yousafzai
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As the title shows, this is another story of a female personality extremely strong and important in your struggle and activism. Malala talks about her childhood, relationship with the family, friends and the passion and great respect for the local culture and of her people. Besides, she also tells some negative experiences as an Afghan girl in times of great crisis for extremisms. As a lover of the education and knowledge, she always looked for studying more and more and to demonstrate her interest for the fight for the women’s rights, specifically of the girls’ education. The book shows who is the youngest girl to receive the reward Nobel of the peace. I recommend a lot.
5. Animal Farm – George Orwell
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As a supporter and defender of the anarcho-syndicalist movement, Orwell created a classic allegory for totalitarian regimes. With an objective, direct and provocative writing, at this farm, with animals subjected to human domination, occurs the famous revolution and the dominated arrive to power. Personifying the animals, Orwell symbolizes the society that in your time believed in the Soviet socialism, that in his vision turned out to be another form of totalitarianism. An equal scheme in its first, ends up turning into a totalitarian regime, due to greater thirst for power of some. And the famous phrase that reflects accurately the human society emerges: “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”.
6. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
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A classic of the twentieth century that defines the thought and society in this same time. The plot revolves around the inability to recapture the past and also the difficulty of changing the future, due to great subjectivity of the subject in question, the book is packed with symbolism and implicit questions. This characteristic is, in my perception, what makes the book so intimate and somewhat nebulous. It’s a beautiful story told of a peculiar shape. If you are a lover of the twenties specifically, and thought-provoking books,The Great Gatsby is a great option.
Books for anyone, anywhere and that will surely mark you in some way. Stories with importance, relevance within each context and struggle in which they are inserted.