Whether you’ve thought about your New Year’s resolutions or not, it is never too early to add books to your reading list. In light of a few precious weeks off that lead into a colder, drearier semester, I like to set a few titles aside on my mental night stand and try to take a crack at them before the semester starts to gear up. With that in mind, here are my top five suggestions (spanning several genres) of books to read to start the winter semester off right.
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Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
I know, I’m late to the party on this one. I was reluctant to read this book from the moment I heard about it because I was worried about what it would say about me that I was reading a book about women in the workforce. Would it attract unwanted comments on the bus? Label me as a feminist? Regardless of any previous concerns, I now would really recommend this book to any woman who intends to be in the workforce within the next five years. Sandberg makes more than a “women can do anything” statement by using personal experience and statistics to demonstrate the strength of her findings, and I found it to be useful, convincing and non-judgemental of how I view myself as a woman.
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The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
Post-Christmas blues always hit me right after the holidays, and I see no better way of cheering myself up than picking up a book that I reasonably could have read in elementary school. I discovered this series, written by yes, Kurt from Glee, a few weeks ago and LOVE it. It makes me feel like a child again, wrapped up in adventure and adoring every minute of it. These books hit my soft spot for fairy tales and provide a much needed reprieve from the real world by offering the land of stories as a vacation haven. This six-book series is focused on twins, Alex and Connor Bailey, who fall into the Land of Stories, a magical realm in which all classic fairy tale characters exist. Villains are vanquished, friendships are forged, and they learn about themselves along the way.
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Sing, Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Every so often after reading say, five teen books, I feel the need to read something important—a book that deals with the big issues and tries to make a statement. Recently, I found this book to fill that void. It mixes supernatural spirituality with the realities of drugs, unsteady family dynamics, the death of loved ones and the realities of racism in the United States in an interesting way. In terms of setting a tone for the new semester, slipping into the shoes of Jojo, Leonie, and Ritchie provided me with a startling wake-up call that two finals over three days is not as bad as I had previously imagined. This book is heart-wrenching, touching, frustrating, and even disgusting at some moments, but well worth its less than 300 page length.
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Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime by Val McDermid
From the moment I saw this book in my local library, I knew I would tear through it. Even the title contained everything I love learning about. As a true crime obsessive, McDermid’s treatment of evidence did nothing short of blow my mind. She includes testimonials, photos, and rather graphic details of several crime scenes throughout the book, and presents a whole picture of what little pieces investigators use to make their cases. Though a little technical, and definitely not a crowd pleaser, I would like to use Forensics as more of an example to encourage people to read something “educational” that will add to their knowledge bank.
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The Big Life by Ann Shoket
Initially I thought two self-help titles (including Lean In) might be too much for this list to bear, but since New Year’s falls a few days before the beginning of the semester, I figured it would be fair game to include both. I initially read Shoket’s book in the summer, and to say it inspired me would be to put it lightly. Shoket has a similar tilt as Sandberg, but presents a very different account. As Shoket is more on the creative side of the fence as former editor-in-chief of Seventeen, her experiences spoke to me in a way that Sandberg, COO of Facebook never could. Shoket bases a lot of her advice on feeling and interviews she had with women she refers to as “Badass Babes,” women who are making the most of their lives in terms of work, relationships, and play. My advice is to jump in and see what she has to offer, it might surprise you.