I have been in love with reading since a young age. Like I believe many of us, as a teen, I’ve read tons of books and was probably caught up in a book most of the time. But, growing up, responsibilities and distractions came in the way and I couldn’t read as much. Last year, though, I got back into reading more and, most importantly, enjoying it.
That’s the thing about reading: the most important is to take pleasure in it and learn from the different perspectives that are presented to us. It doesn’t matter how many books you read or the genres you like, as long as it keeps you motivated to read and makes you learn something. A good book will always have an impact on you.
So here are some of the best books I read last year I recommend you reading as well:
1 – Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austin
This book is probably my favorite one, so I’ve read it once again last year. The story of Pride and Prejudice is set in England in the 19th century and it is focused on the Bennet sisters, mainly Elizabeth Bennet. In a time when the greatest expectation of a woman was to marry rich, the protagonist refuses to accept this social imposition and only wants to get married for love. Then, it comes Mr. Darcy, a brooding and proud man that Elizabeth despised at first because of a series of misconceptions. But with time they discover their first impressions of each other were wrong and they have more in common than they had realized.
Jane Austen’s writing is full of humor and wit and that makes a book that was written in the 1800s really enjoyable. She criticizes the society of that time and makes such interesting remarks about the characters that you feel connected to the story. As for the name of the book, pride and prejudice are the reasons for the conflict between the characters, but they slowly acknowledge their wrongs and overcome their misconceived notions of each other. One thing that impacted me in this book is the character development of both Elizabeth and Darcy: they admit their faults and try to become better people.
Here is one of my favorite quotes from this book:
“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”
2 – The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
This is another well-known story I’ve read once more last year. The Little Prince is often referred to as a children’s book, but the message of it is really important to adults. It tells the story of a pilot that got stranded in the desert fixing his plane and how one day he meets this boy – who he starts calling Little Prince. While staying with the pilot, the boy tells him about his journey: he used to live on a small planet with a rose as his only friend, but he decided to go on an adventure to different planets, before falling on Earth. The encounters of the Little Prince with many characters throughout his narrative show how adults are focused on things of little importance, like money and power.
The book is a great reminder of what we should really cherish in life: friendship, love and the beauty of simplicity. Through the eyes of a little boy, the author makes us realize that, as we grow up, we start to actually forget about the things that matter the most and we can be caught up in a meaningless routine. It made me recognize it is important to see life as a kid again, finding happiness in the small things and being close to those we love.
Here is one of my favorite quotes from this book:
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
3 – The Accidental Text, by Becky Monson
The Accidental Text was actually a happy surprise. I picked it up thinking it would be a light-hearted rom-com, but it turned out to be a beautiful story about the process of grief and healing. The book tells the story of Maggie, a woman who just lost her mother, and how, as a way of trying to cope with her loss, she starts texting her mom’s number, talking about her feelings and everything that’s happening in her life. But soon, Maggie discovers that the number had been already reassigned to another person and she’s been texting a stranger this whole time. When this person texts her back, she is mortified, but they start developing a great connection through their shared experiences and become important to each other.
Although the book is about a rather tough topic, it’s not dealt with in a depressing way. It focuses on the process of the characters trying to deal with the experience of losing a loved one and the ways they find to continue with their lives while everyone seems to be doing the same and that stood out for me: how everyone deals with hardships differently and how losing someone so close can make you feel disconnected to who you are.
Here is one of my favorite quotes from this book:
“Life is short, this I do know. You have to find happiness where you can. That’s all we really have in the end”
4 – Illuminae, by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Illuminae is the first book in the Illuminae Files series and it tells the story of Ezra and Kady, two teenagers – and exes – that had their planet attacked by a big corporation. This first book focuses on the invasion and how they manage to escape it. After that, they have to get used to new roles and responsibilities in the ships they are now in. But the problems are far from over: they are still being followed by the megacorporation responsible for the invasion and there seems to be something wrong within their ships, especially with the AI responsible for guiding them safely through space.
One of the most amusing things about this whole series of books is the way it was written: the story is told through a dossier of hacked documents. Emails, medical reports, interviews, security camera footage reports – it’s all put together to create the book. Even though it can look a little intimidating and confusing at first, the authors managed to make the story flow easily. It also talks about what’s right and wrong and how these concepts are defined, which was really interesting to me.
Here is one of my favorite quotes from this book:
“Part of being alive is having life change us. The people around us, the events we live through, all of them shape us.”
If you haven’t read them yet, I recommend you give them a go and if you have, well, why not read them again?
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Feature image by Gulfer ERGIN on Unsplash.