Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Favorite Books
What books would you recommend for your peers to read? For next year's sophomores? Which books really impacted you? Which books helped you think about composition or character or theme in a new way? Write back with your recommendations--and be sure to state in 2-3 sentences what the book is about and why you liked it so.
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- Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman
ReplyDeleteThis is a collection of Whitman's poems. Whitman is my absolute favorite poet in the history of ever. Song of Myself blew. my. mind.
- Anthem, Ayn Rand
Futuristic place where everything is decided for you and knowledge is limited to a certain set of people. The state is more important than you. There is no such thing as I, only us. This book really blew my mind simply because it argues FOR knowledge. It was a nice change.
- Paper Towns, John Green
This book centers around a nerdy guy and his massive misconceptions of his neighbor, who is popular, and how he finds the real Margot. John Green is my favorite young adult author cause his books have "fluffy" elements, but if you actually reflect on them, and read critically you will get soooooo much out of them. Plus, John Green is funny.
Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky- This book has one of the most impacting stories that I have ever read. It made me laugh; it made me cry. It deals with a lot of aspects that highschoolers may face especially that they may run into sophmore year. I'm kind of obsessed.
ReplyDeleteThe Shack--William P. Young
ReplyDeleteFour years after the murder of his youngest daughter, Missy, Mackenzie Allen Phillips receives a mysterious note that is supposedly from God. God requests that Phillips return to the site of Missy's murder for a weekend.
Against his better judgment, Phillips returns to 'The Shack.' What he encounters there is, essentially the Christian Holy Trinity. However, it's not the Christian Holy Trinity that you're (or at least, I was) used to--God first appears to Mackenzie as a Queen Latifah-esque black woman with a love of cooking and an even greater love of humankind; Jesus is not a white nomad with a beard, but instead an Arabian; and the Holy Ghost is a petite Asian woman with a love of gardens. Not exactly the standard way of viewing the Trinity, now is it? :) Through talking and living with these three people/entities, Mackenzie begins to truly understand God for what He/She/It truly is: an unconditionally loving God, not a God of wrath, hate, and judgment.
This book has become popular among Christian bookworms, and admittedly it does go through a man's struggle to eventually understand the Christian idea of God; however, I feel that this book speaks to everyone through its thought-provoking ideas (i.e.-'Paradigms power perceptions, perceptions power emotions'). And if the religious references aren't your thing, well, it has a great plot. :)
I'd recommend this book to anyone, regardless of their religious affiliation. This book made me laugh, cry (literally--I was sitting in my hotel room (I was on a trip at the time I read this), curled up in my bed, bawling my eyes out), and shout for joy. It's a fairly fast read with simple text, and definitely worth multiple reads. I'm kinda obsessed with it. :)
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov- This book is truly amazing. It comes in the form of a poem (there are only four cantos, so it isn't long) and words are just so perfect. The story is interesting (saying anything else might give it away) and the poem form and restrictons that correspond give everything more depth. It might be my new favorite book.
ReplyDeleteI have also been reading May Swenson and Pablo Neruda poems. So good. They will change the way you see the world.