5 books I highly recommend

As I was thinking about what to share for today’s blog post. An idea came to me to share books I would recommend. As I am an avid reader trying to find books I recommend was a bit difficult because I wanted to branch out of my preferred genre of romance. So I thought long and hard and while I didn’t steer completely away from romance I was able to incorporate books that are not totally centered around it.

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1. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë

I read this book in one of my English classes in high school. For some reason  I was drawn by the complexity of the plot. Jane is an orphan who later becomes a governess and she encounters the dark and mysterious Mr Rochester who is her employer. Slowly life at Thornfield unfolds and Jane is faced with challenges she wasn’t expecting. This book gives complicated a whole knew meaning but wrapped up with a pretty little bow. I guess this is where my draws to dark and broody book guys began. Jane Eyre is definitely a roller coaster of a reading that’s unlike any other. 

2. Pride & Prejudice – Jane Austen 

Pride and Prejudice became my all time favorite book. Again, I read this in my AP English class and could not get enough! I remember my grandma encouraging me to read it and I put it off for a while. Having to read for school and being able to dissect it changed my mind. Pride and Prejudice follows the life of Elizabeth Bennet who is the second daughter of five. Perhaps she is the most open minded of her sisters and very strong willed. Elizabeth is unafraid of how society (in the time of the book) pushes certain attributes on women. She basically walks to the beat of her own drums and that is what connected me to her. She meets Mr Darcy who comes off arrogant and snobbish but he is intrigued by her intelligence. Through this book we see that things aren’t always as they seem. But also to the wrong man, being strong willed will be intimidating. But it will be everything to the right one.

3. Me Before You – Jojo Moyes

Heartbreaking. Infuriating. Absolutely beautiful. I did this one a little backwards and watched the movie before reading the book. It was great for visual referencing but the book was so much more. If you need a book that gives you soft and sweet, light hearted and funny, and devastatingly amazing this is a great one. Me Before You gives you all the feels of the life Louisa Clarke experiences with the one and only Will Trainor. Their worlds collide in an unexpected way and they are both changed by the journey. If there is anything I’ve learned from this book it’s that the love you have for others should never be change ld but be nourished into something more. I must add in that in some of our experiences in life help us take the risks we are often too scared to take yet they give us the biggest rewards. 

4. The Boys in The Boat- Daniel James Brown

This book I read in one of my college classes and I took a liking to it immediately. I love history and this book takes place during the Great Depression and proceeds during the 1936 Berlin Germany Olympics. The book is centered around Joe Rantz and the University of Washington’s Crew team. Joe faced a lot of hardships growing up and he became heavily independent and self reliant. This story offers a very interesting take at Hitler’s rise to power and the effects it had on the Olympics. It’s inspiring that the hard work of this rowing team that went head to head with the best of teams in the US ends up on the biggest stage of the sports world to defeat a country that hid its true colors that were revealed in years to come. 

5. Beloved – Toni Morrison 

I also read this book in my AP English class and it stuck with me in a way I couldn’t shake. It’s not a particular great story in the sense of a happy ending but it’s story telling is very complex and very vivid. Beloved follows the life of Sethe who is a former slave. There is nothing beautiful about slavery and this book shows us some tame actions of what’s African American slaves endured during this time. It may be because I felt a deeper connection being half African American myself, this book showed me a glimpse of history that is of very  white washed in US History. This book was an absolute game changer for me and because of the imagery I do advise a viewers discretion. 

These are just some of the books I highly recommend because of their impact on me in one way or another. It also may give you something to do during this time where most of us are at home. Do you have any books you recommend reading? Let me know! – Ness?

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