You need to read more books.
I will defend books to my grave. I don’t care if you listen to audiobooks, if you read on a Kindle, or if you actually read paper copies of books; reading is really, really great for entertainment and just general mental sanity. They command your attention in a way that videos do not. And they’re just fun!
I’ve already read twelve books so far this year, and I have many opinions about them. So please consider my opinions about six of these books, and maybe give one or two of them a try!
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1. Looking for Alaska by John Green.
Very upsetting that this was one of the first books I read this year. I absolutely could not stand Miles; he’s a symptom of everything wrong with America. He obsessed over Alaska, the epitome of a manic pixie dream girl, despite her very clear and obvious flaws. Go ahead and read this book if you want to suffer, I guess, but personally, if I had to choose any John Green book to read, I’d stick with Turtles All the Way Down.
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2. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.
This book is an insanely wild ride. I don’t think you could totally get it until reading it several times; I’ve only read it once, and I’m sure that I missed a lot because it’s so dense with details. I have one friend who went through to find all references to Percy Shelley’s work, of which there are apparently a lot. If you like reading about time-traveling space lesbians with impeccable vocabulary, you’re in for a treat.
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3. Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles.
Del, our protagonist, has a crush on a girl from church. So he signs up for a program that she’s taking part in … only to discover that it’s a vow of abstinence. Hilarity ensues as Del becomes the de facto, underground sex-ed teacher after being the only kid taking the Purity Pledge who’s also enrolled in sex-ed at school. This book was super fun! It’s hard to feel 100% sympathetic towards Del at the beginning, but as he learns and grows, I appreciated him more.
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4. Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu.
There are witches. There’s a werewolf. There’s a cousin with a bird head. Mooncakes is an adorable graphic novel about two childhood best friends fighting evil and falling in love. It’s super Asian, super funny, and altogether just wonderful. If you really don’t have much time to read books, or if you hate the way the words swim together on a page, try reading Mooncakes; the pictures are wonderfully drawn and really add to the story.
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5. Circe by Madeline Miller.
If you’re not really into Greek mythology, skip this book. Circe is a retelling of many Greek myths that are all about the sorceress Circe, but it takes a unique angle and changes the ending quite dramatically. If you’ve read Miller’s first book, The Song of Achilles, you’ll recognize her rich prose and even bump into some of the same characters. Circe takes time to comprehend, but if you give it a chance, it’s genuinely enjoyable.
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6. Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape by Peggy Orenstein.
I have mixed feelings about this one. I read an excerpt of Orenstein’s newest book, Boys & Sex, from The Atlantic a few months ago, so I thought I’d give her books a shot. Girls & Sex talks about the effects that American culture has on teen girls’ sexuality, questioning some of the ideas we have about what it means to be a teenaged girl in today’s age. I was a little disappointed by this book; I didn’t have much to learn from it, and it doesn’t incorporate many diverse perspectives, but it’s still informative.
Got any book recommendations? Send them my way!
Ann, I’m right there with you as far as reading goes. I admire how avid of a reader you are (12 books already is awesome!), and I definitely plan on reading a ton going forward, especially in the summer. That being said, I’m always looking for good book recommendations because I feel like I always get stuck in the stereotypical YA romance rut. The books that you suggested like Not So Pure and Simple and Mooncakes are really intriguing to me. I’m not usually one to read graphic novels, so that would be a great way to break out of my typical reading mold. The characters in Not So Pure and Simple seem interesting and the plot seems kind of hilarious. I’ll definitely have to pick those up soon!
As far as book recommendations go, I don’t have many and I’m pretty sure anything I suggest you will have already read. Just in case you haven’t though, give The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern a shot. It is my absolute favorite book and I could talk your ear off about it if you wanted to. She also just released a second book called The Starless Sea that’s a little longer and more drawn out, but good. If you end up reading any of those, let me know what you think!
Ann, I’m so glad we share the same opinion on Looking For Alaska! It was so hard for me to even begin the book, because Miles was so. damn. irritating. Unfortunately, everywhere I looked online, people seemed to love it. RIP, guess we have to hate it quietly. I will definitely be checking out Circe, it sounds very interesting, especially because it is a retelling. Personally, I would recommend the Wayward Children Series to you. Go check it out on Goodreads!