sometimes, all i want to do is curl up with a good book, allowing the words to transport me to a new world. i thought i'd share some of my favorite books with you. i picked a few from each genre so there's something here for everyone. i'd love to hear what your favorite books are! feel free to let me know in the comments.
extremely loud and incredibly close, jonathan safran foer: nine-year-old oskar schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, great explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and collector of butterflies. when his father is killed in the september 11th attacks on the world trade centre, oskar sets out to solve the mystery of a key he discovers in his father's closet. it is a search which leads him into the lives of strangers, through the five boroughs of new york, into history, to the bombings of dresden and hiroshima, and on an inward journey which brings him ever closer to some kind of peace.
to kill a mockingbird, harper lee: through the young eyes of scout finch, harper lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the deep south of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man's struggle for justice—but the weight of history will only tolerate so much.
the foretelling, alice hoffman: a coming-of-age story that pierces the soul and heals the spirit, this is the tale of the future leader of the amazon women warriors. the daughter of an amazon queen who shuns her, rain must hold fast to her inner warrior. startled and mystified by the first stirrings of mercy towards the enemy, rain rebels against the ways of her tribe through her sister-like relationship with io and her feelings for a boy from a tribe of wanderers.
the beach, alex garland: the khi san road, bangkok -- first stop for the hordes of rootless young westerners traveling in southeast asia. on richard's first night there, in a low-budget guest house, a fellow traveler slashes his wrists, bequeathing to Richard a meticulously drawn map to "the beach." the beach, as richard has come to learn, is the subject of a legend among young travelers in asia: a lagoon hidden from the sea, with white sand and coral gardens, freshwater falls surrounded by jungle, plants untouched for a thousand years. richard sets off with a young french couple in search of the beach. their journey is filled with unexpected, occasionally deadly, twists and turns.
miss peregrine's home for peculiar children, ransom riggs: a horrific family tragedy sends jacob 16 to a remote island off wales, to the crumbling ruins of miss peregrine's home for peculiar children, where he finds unusual old photographs. the children, one his grandfather, were more than peculiar, perhaps dangerous, quarantined for good reason - and maybe still alive.
the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, mark haddon: christopher john francis boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. he relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. he cannot stand to be touched. and he detests the color yellow. he lives on patterns, rules, and a diagram kept in his pocket. then one day, a neighbor's dog, wellington, is killed and his carefully constructive universe is threatened. christopher sets out to solve the murder in the style of his favorite (logical) detective, sherlock holes. what follows makes for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing are a mind that perceives the world entirely literally.
eat, pray, love, elizabeth gilbert: elizabeth gilbert had everything a modern american woman was supposed to want--husband, country home, successful career--but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. this book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place. gilbert set out to examine three different aspects of her nature in three different countries: pleasure in italy, devotion in india, and on the indonesian island of bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.
disclaimer: this book received mixed reviews. i think the trick is to read it as one woman's travel diary, not as one woman's spiritual journey to personal enlightenment.
the catcher in the rye, j.d. salinger: holden caulfield narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today. holden's cynical, wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies, to prostitutes, little sisters, and an almost girlfriend capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.
eating animals, jonathan safran foer: jonathan saffron foer spent much of his teenage and college years oscillating between carnivore and vegetarian. as he became a husband and a father, he kept returning to two questions: why do we eat animals? and would we eat them if we knew how they got on our dinner plates? brilliantly synthesizing philosophy, literature, science, and his own undercover detective work, eating animals explores the many fictions we use to justify our eating habits-from folklore to pop culture to family traditions and national myth-and how such tales justify a brutal ignorance. marked by foer's profound moral ferocity and unvarying generosity, eating animals is a celebration and a reckoning, a story about the stories we've told--and the stories we now need to tell.
the house of the spirits, isabel allende: iabel allende weaves a luminous tapestry of three generations of the latin american trueba family, revealing both triumphs and tragedies. here is patriarch esteban, whose wild desires and political machinations are tempered only by his love for his ethereal wife, clara, a woman touched by an otherworldly hand. their daughter, blanca, whose forbidden love for a man esteban has deemed unworthy infuriates her father, yet will produce his greatest joy: his granddaughter alba, a beautiful, ambitious girl who will lead the family and their country into a revolutionary future.
