To read, or not to read? That is the question. Ok...it's not really a question- it's more of a statement considering most young people go with the latter; not to read of course. However, I have always thought that if you don't like reading- you just haven't found the right book yet. Now you book-haters may fight me on this but that is my theory which will one day become fact...hopefully. To solve this niggling issue (or try to anyway) I have devised a list of recommendations every person should read- whether you love books or despise them.
The first one everyone should read is called, ' The Kite Runner,' and is written by Khaled Hosseini. Now this book follows the journey of a young boy called Amir in Afghanistan with his Hazara best friend, Hassan who is like a brother to him. The story goes on until one day a heartbreaking tragedy befalls on them which would forever change their relationship and lives. The story is set in a country ravaged by fear, war, and no escape. It follows the experiences of a boy developing into a man while going through the fall of Afghanistan's monarchy, the Soviet Military intrusion, the suffering of refugees trying to escape to Pakistan/ the US while their country is ensnared under the sickening rule of the Taliban regime and his own heartbreak and secret that continues to haunt him even as he grows old. I can wholeheartedly say the story includes the most beautiful descriptions and writing; capturing the very essence of the suffrage of Afghans in that terrible time period and ultimately changed my views and also challenged them on so many different things. There's no surprise this book was made into a play as well as a film and was New York Times bestseller for over two years! If you're scared this is going to be a boring, historical book, think again as I guarantee you this book will leave you thinking for weeks; especially the phrase, "for you a thousand times over."
The second book you should absolutely read is called, " The Storyteller," and is written by Antonia Michaelis. This is an original German book that has been translated into English flawlessly. When I say 'shocking' is the right way to describe the book- I'm not even scratching the surface. This book is entangled inside another story, which may sound confusing but once you actually read it, it makes much more sense. The protagonist is a 17-year-old girl called Anna, who can somewhat be called naive and totally submissive in the sense that she has never faced any major struggles in life and more or less lives inside a safe bubble. However, boy is that bubble about to be shattered. This book explores some major dark topics, not for the faint-hearted and is very brutal and raw- it can be safely viewed as one of the most memorable books of my life. The book itself won the annual Latvian Literary award for best foreign literature translation into Latvian in 2016 and in my opinion truly deserved it.
The last book I will be recommending to you is not actually a book but a trilogy called 'The Chaos Walking' trilogy and is written by Patrick Ness. This is one of the best trilogies I've ever read for sure and one of the elements I like about this book is how completely unique it is. Yes, it's a sci-fi and dystopian adventure but unlike some generic YA series, this trilogy revolves around the concept that all living creatures can hear each other's thoughts either by words, sounds or a stream of images which is something that I found fascinating throughout the series. The series is named after a line from the first book that reads, " the Noise is a man unfiltered, and without a filter, a man is just chaos walking." The "Noise" that is being described here is a term in the book used for describing the thoughts of others that you can see and the story is centralized around a 12-year-old boy called Todd Hewitt, living in a man's world. Literally. Females do not exist anymore as they were wiped by a virus many years ago...so they say. The series has won almost every major children's fiction award in the UK; these consist of the Guardian award in 2008, the James Tiptree Jr. Award and the Costa Children's Book Award. 'Monsters of Men' won the Carnegie Medal in 2011. The trilogy is greatly glorified for its handling of subjects such as redemption, gender politics, the meaning of war and the ambiguous division between good and evil. Overall my thoughts on the book are that it was a series I couldn't stop recommending even though I read it a long time ago; however it does take a few chapters to get into the book but in the end I found it truly worthwhile and even now I have never encountered a series quite like it.
