I am not a huge reader, so a good book always sticks out to me. Here are my top ten favorite books that you should read.
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a story I’m sure everyone has either read or seen. The book is so much better than the movies though. I won’t go into full detail, but if you haven’t seen the movie or read the book, it’s about Jay Gatsby. He throws extravagant parties to impress the woman he loves. In the end, things don’t end up well for him.
Hamlet
Hamlet is my all time favorite of Shakespeare’s tragedies. Almost all the characters have beef with someone else. A lot of backstabbing others and going behind backs to benefits oneself occurs throughout the play. Basically, everyone dies and it’s seriously tragic, but also beautiful at the same time. I would recommend the translated version, unless you just love old English.
After
After is a beautiful love story written by Anna Todd. Starting out on Wattpad, After soon exploded on the app and Todd released an official book. It’s basically girl meets boy. Girl doesn’t like boy because she has a boyfriend. Girl cheats on boyfriend with boy. Girl and Boy grow closer. Truth comes out about boy and secrets are exposed. Girl is devastated. A must read.
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
The Boys in the Boat is a fiction book based during World War II. It’s not about the war, but about college boys who join the crew team while the war is going on. They make their way to the Berlin Olympics while the rest of Europe is at War. Basically at the Berlin Olympics, Hitler wanted Germany to win everything, yet boys crew team from America are determined to win.
Symphony for the City of the Dead
Symphony for the City of the Dead is another World War II book written in perspective of someone from Russia. It’s about Dmitri Shostakovich and how he writes a symphony to help himself and his fellow citizens lose focus on what is happening outside during the war, and to actually enjoy themselves during this tragic time.
The Things They Carried
The Things They Carried is an emotional book written about the soldiers during the Vietnam War. Author Tim O’Brien really shows the triumphs and defeats that these soldiers faced while at war. O’Brien blurs between fact and fiction throughout the book, but it still gives an accurate representation of what these men were facing while in Vietnam.
Brave New World
Brave New World was written in 1931 and was published in 1932. Though, if you read it nowadays, you’d think that it was written recently. Author Aldous Huxley does an amazing job with this utopian/dystopian future. He predicts things without even realizing what he is doing. If you’ve read The Giver, it’s kinda like that, but better.
After We Fell
After We Fell is the third of four books in the After series. Tessa, the girl, and Hardin, the boy, have had a lot of ups and downs in their somewhat love story. The third book is by far the most interesting in terms of drama between the two. Fighting and making up seemed easy in the first two books, yet, their love gets tested at every corner in this book.
13 Gifts
13 Gifts is the third book of a series written by Wendy Mass. It was my favorite book in my late years of elementary school and all throughout middle school. Tara gets in a bit of trouble and her parents send her off to a small town to stay with relatives. Tara meets this old lady and tells her that if she doesn’t get 13 certain items by her 13th birthday, there will be serious consequences.
Milk and Vine
Milk and Vine is a take on the poetry book, Milk and Honey, but with a twist to it. As you can tell from the title, it’s full of iconic Vines that everyone should know. A must read for those of you who still love Vine. (R.I.P. Janurary 24th, 2014-December 16th, 2016)