On the Bookshelf Pt. 2

Here is part 2 of the list of books that everyone should read. These were curated with the help of friends, so some of these, I haven’t read, but do intend to.

1. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
   • This deeply personal novel follows the struggles of abandonment and sexual assault. It conveys the extreme struggles that a person can overcome, even when forced to deal with them at a young age. This novel also sheds light on societal issues, such as racism, that we should be actively learning more about. It is a strongly affecting novel that leaves the reader a different person after completing it. This slot also stands for other Maya Angelou works, such as her poetry or Letter to My Daughter.
2. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
   • This novel constructs a narrative in which the protagonist stand on the wrong side until convinced his convictions are wrong, something that we all can learn from. Taking pages from both Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World, we are introduced to a dystopia were comforts rules all, but a tyrranical government enforces the comfort. From this, we can learn what it means to change and how censorship can influence us all.
3. God of Small Things by Arhundati Roy
   • In this piece, we follow the lives and relationships of a single family as they struggle to grow into new people. This is the only novel by Arhundati Roy, but its universal themes catapulted her into literary history. Throughout the novel, we are wretched back and forth from present to past as we learn that family is the strongest influencer we have and how the past does truly affect who we are as people.
4. One Hundred of Solitude
   • This novel is based in a genre that is potentially alienating to most american audiences, magical realism. It follows the rise and fall of a single town. It has a great protrayal of love and how it can be corrupted. It also uses the cyclical nature of history to show us how mistakes can be repeated and how they can affect us. In addition, we can all learn from its use of literary devices and its amazing word play.
5. The Giver Lois Lowry
   • Seeing a theme with this list, this is yet another coming-of-age story. Also this is another one within the dystopia genre. We follow the protagonist as he comes to slowly learn that his society is not what is was always presented to him as. From this novel, we can learn that it can be beneficial to question our society and the rules that are set in place. We can grow and change and leave behind the places in the world that hold us back.