Nerd alert: You are entering a Book-Lover Zone!
It’s a slippery slope for me, and I am rapidly losing resistance to my chronic addiction: books! I suppose as far as vices go, mine appears pretty harmless– at least for now. So far I’m only at risk for burning food, over-brushing my teeth, and missing my tram stop due to being engrossed in my reading. You may be wondering how a medical student has time to read books for fun. All I can say is after syncing my novels to the Kindle app on my phone, there are plenty of moments during the day when I can squeeze in a few minutes of reading! And I’m a big fan of multi-tasking-reading.
Lately, I’ve been on a winning streak of finding AMAZING books to read. This is due, in part, to the fact that there are 226 books (and counting!) on my To Read list on Goodreads.com. Having lots of contenders means I increase the odds of finding the right book. What I read next depends on mood, what else I’m doing at the time, and what kind of book I’ve just finished. I believe that choosing a book is a science and an art; deciding what to read next is as fun as actually reading it!
I recently discovered a fabulous podcast called All the Books, hosted by Liberty Hardy and Rebecca Schinsky of Book Riot. Every week they talk about new releases of all genres, and after reading several of their recommendations I find that I trust their judgment!
When I read good books I can’t help but rant and rave about them to the nearest unsuspecting person– usually this ends up being my wonderful, patient boyfriend who is a great listener. But even he has a limit to how many times he can sit and nod as I recount the excitement and thoughts provoked by the same book. And I do tend to talk about the same book more than once… to be exact, every day until I finish it!
I thought I would take this opportunity to share some of my latest favourite books. And if you happen to pick one up, I’d love to hear what you think! (Unless you hated it, in which case my feelings will just be hurt and I’d rather you keep those thoughts to yourself. But tell me if you loved it, which I hope you will!)
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1. Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty
This book won the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction last year, so I thought I’d check it out. I was caught by surprised– it was so much better than I thought it would be! The description on the cover does not do the book justice whatsoever.
Truly Madly Guilty is about an ordinary summer day when six adults, two kids, and a dog are enjoying a backyard barbecue. But something horrible happens at the barbecue; this event is so unspeakable that we, as readers, are not told what it is until near the end. The timeline alternates between the day of the barbecue with the events leading up to the incident, and the aftermath of how the characters react post-barbecue.
I was absolutely RIVETED. The author does an incredible job of sparking the curiosity of the reader. In my case, I was literally yelling with anticipation, “Ahh! What happened? What happened?!” as the details developed and I still could not figure out what went wrong. Besides this hook, the character development is perfect. Every character was believable, from their desires to their reactions and how their past explains who they are today. To top it all off, the writing style was effortless and concise, which made it a real pleasure to read. If you want to read an amazing book which is absolutely engrossing and extremely satisfying, I strongly recommend Truly Madly Guilty!
P.S. A friend of mine also loved it. So consider the recommendation doubled!
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2. Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson
This book was recommended on the All the Books podcast, and I definitely second that motion! It’s about a man named Preston Grind whose parents are both psychologists, and they raised him using their own experimental parenting technique. Their “Constant Friction Method” is based on the premise that if parents should continuously and unexpectedly throw terrible experiences at their child, then teach him techniques to deal with the pain and negative emotions he feels. This way, they hypothesize, he will be prepared for anything and everything he may encounter in life. Obviously, this method has its flaws. Now Dr. Grind is a psychologist himself, with a new parenting method in mind. He wants to create an environment which is so utterly full of support, trust, and love that the child has every opportunity to thrive.
When Dr. Grind gets funding from a very rich elderly woman, they start up a program called the Infinite Family Project where ten pregnant couples will raise their children with this alternative family model. One of the participants is Izzy, who is fresh out of high school and pregnant with her art teacher’s baby. The book follows Dr. Grind’s perspective as well as Izzy’s, switching between the two.
I was fascinated by this concept! It was well-thought out and had enough allusions to an Intro to Psychology course I took years ago that I felt it was believably “realistic.” Granted, a trained psychologist may find it less realistic, but this is a fictional story after all. I was intrigued by the idea of shared parenting within their community, where all the babies slept in one room and parents took shifts caring for each of the ten babies as if they were their own. I thought the characters’ reactions to this bizarre experience was interesting to read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was different from anything I’ve ever read before, which for me is always a huge selling point. There were elements of psychology, relationships, and the writing style evoked a nice balance of sympathy and humour. It was a very easy book to read and I really loved disappearing into this world!
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3. A Planet for Rent by Yoss (and translated by David Frye)
If you are interested in aliens, politics, great books, or all of the above, then this is one for you! This book was also recommended on the All the Books podcast, and it caught my interest because I have never read anything remotely like it before.
A Planet for Rent takes place in a time when humans have completely destroyed the planet, forcing the aliens of superior intelligence to intervene. These aliens, referred to as xenoids, have been observing Earth for some time. However, humans finally take things too far, and the xenoids arrive to reverse the destruction. They do so successfully, but as a result they have also taken control of the planet. Earth is converted into a holiday tourist destination for xenoids.
Unfortunately, humans have now been demoted to second class citizens, at the very bottom of the universe’s hierarchy. Humans are limited to work in black market dealings and prostitution. One of the worst jobs is being a Body Spare: Xenoids whose organisms are not compatible with Earth’s atmosphere can possess a human’s body as an avatar and explore Earth remotely. Humans dream of leaving Earth, but they lack the intelligence, money, not to mention rights to access the required technology to flee.
THIS BOOK WAS SO CREATIVE! So, so cool! The descriptions at the beginning took a little while to get through because the images in my mind of all the different types of xenoids were being drawn up from scratch. After the first few pages, though, I was lost in the stories of the different human perspectives. The book jumps between different characters without really a single continuous plot, although there is a thread of a recurring character we meet near the end. The details are exquisite. I was blown away!
But I haven’t gotten to the most fascinating part yet! Yoss is a Cuban author who wrote A Planet for Rent as a critique of Cuban politics in the 1990s. I myself am not a political expert, but the parallels are so distinctive that anyone can find some meaning if you give it a bit of thought. Whether you read it as an entertaining sci-fi fiction, or as an allegory of Cuba in the nineties, this was a really awesome book and I really recommend it!
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4. The Circle by Dave Eggers
This YA (young adult) novel has been adapted as a movie which is due to be released on April 28, 2017. I decided to read it because the movie starrs Emma Watson so I knew I would have to see it, and because as a general principle if I know a movie is based on a book I like to read the book first.
The story is set in the not-so-distant future when all our internet profiles have been synchronized into one account with a mega-company called the Circle. Things have become much simpler now that we only need one account, one login and password to access social media, banking, media, shopping– everything. We follow Mae as she starts her new job at the Circle, slowly becoming pulled deeper and deeper into a world where technology is pushing ethical limits. The Circle functions on the premise that everyone has the right to access all information about everything, anytime.
The path of technological developments in the book raised serious issues about privacy for me. Why should everyone know my location 24/7? Why should I be forced to share my health data which is being continuously monitored? Why can’t I keep some of my emotions to myself, rather than share everything with the community? The characters, meanwhile, are earnestly oblivious the alarming encroachments of privacy, and believe they are part of a better and brighter future.
The ideas for technology are comprehensive and I was fascinated by the compelling arguments made by the Circle. For being a Young Adult genre novel, the content was extremely thought-provoking and had me hooked from the start.
I give this book 5.0 stars out of five for content, plot, and creativity. However, the writing style left something to be desired. This is a book to be read for the storyline, not as beautiful literary prose. There was a bit of forced symbolism and some brief scenes of bizarre eroticism (also possibly an unnecessary attempt at symbolism?). Overall, though I found this book to be totally addicting. I couldn’t put it down, and when it ended, I was nearly spontaneously combusting with the need to talk with someone about it! Please, please read this book so I can rant and rave with you about the ending! Ahhh!
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5. Uprooted by Naomi Novik
This book was also recommended on the All the Books podcast, and rightly so! IT IS AWESOME! It is a fairy tale mixed with fantasy, which is a genre a used to read a lot of when I was young. For some reason, as I got older, I had a hard time finding my style of fantasy in adult fiction. So when I heard the rave reviews, I decided it was worth checking out!
The story is about a girl named Agnieszka who lives in a small village on the outskirts of an evil forest alive with dark magic. Every fairy tale needs a dragon, and Uprooted is no exception. In this case, the Dragon is actually a wizard who protects the village from the forest. However, in exchange for his protection, every ten years the wizard selects a seventeen-year-old girl who must live with him in his distant tower for the next decade. Besides being super creepy, this ritual is a big mystery to the villagers. Upon their release, the young women insist the Dragon never lays a finger on them, yet they do not speak of what goes on in the tower.
When Agnieszka turns seventeen, the Dragon is due to select a new girl. However, everyone already knows that the Dragon will choose Kasia, Agnieszka’s best friend. Kasia is the smartest, the kindest, and the most beautiful. Thus, it comes as a great surprise when the Dragon chooses Agnieszka to take to his tower! As Agnieszka learns what her role is with the Dragon, we also learn more about the world they live in and the evil that is growing stronger everyday.
This book was everything I wanted it to be. There’s magic, there’s friendship, there’s love in many relationships, there’s action, and there’s a lot of suspense! Not to mention that the magic is absolutely beautifully described. Throughout the novel, I had no idea what was going to happen next; this is a great accomplishment by the writer and a delight for me. I really liked the Dragon’s character, particularly his melodramatic and exasperated speaking style.
Also, if you’re thinking to yourself, Hey, those names sound Polish, you’re right! I felt like I was in on a secret as soon as I realized this fairy tale takes place in a fictional fantasy version of Poland (so-called “Polnya”). According to a Polish friend of mine, it turns out Uprooted is actually based on a Polish fairy tale! I was also pleased to recognize some references to Polish legends, like the rumours of a beast that used to live under Wawel Castle in Krakow. It was cool to know that I’ve visited the sites of inspiration for this fairy tale.
This book took me on a whirlwind adventure which had my heart racing with excitement at all the right moments. It covered all the bases of what I look for in a fun, high-quality read! I really enjoyed this book and I want to read more like it! I can’t recommend it enough!
Those are just a handful of the best books I’ve read so far this year. If you decide to check them out, I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did. I am always looking for more good books to add to my list, so send your recommendations my way!
The Life of All Sorts 