There is only so much we can learn from the our immediate surroundings and the people around us, and when we grow up in one neighborhood our entire life we have a very limited and often biased view of the world outside our bubble. Since traveling internationally can be very expensive, a perfect way to broaden your horizons is through reading. Here are some of my top picks of books that will change the way you look at the world!
1 and 2. "Persepolis" and "Persepolis 2" by Marjane Satrapi
This graphic novel serves to tell the author's personal story of what it was like growing up in Iran amidst the Islamic Revolution, she saw the overthrow of the Shah, the purge of anything reminiscent of Western culture, and the horrors of the war with Iraq. This pair of books shifts the perspective of how you see the world. It takes off our "Americanized glasses" and reveals what it was like to grow up in the Middle East during a period of war and political revolution. It takes a commonly known impersonal foreign conflict, and makes it personal and real to every reader regardless of their background.
3. "Tweak" by Nic Sheff
Most people associate addiction with a negative stigma. Sheff's memoir of his personal struggle with addiction, trying to get clean, relapse and what it took to overcome his addiction is honest and raw and teaches the reader what it means to be an addict.
4. "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
This book is a little dated, it discusses the fight for environmental justice in the 1960s and what happened in the United States because of the government's lack of awareness. As Carson puts it in her book, "Nothing comes between a man and his spray gun." It is often cited as what sparked the modern environmental movement in the United States and still holds relevance to today's fight for environmental justice.
5."The Thing Around Your Neck" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This novel is a collection of short stories gives a fresh and honest perspective on what it means to be an immigrant, what it means to face preconceived notions about where we come from, and what the American culture looks like to an outsider.
6. "We Should All be Feminists" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
How many of us loved Beyonce's song "Flawless"? I know I did. Now, do you remember the spoken part towards the middle of the song? That was Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie giving an excerpt from her TEDx talk "We Should All Be Feminists" which was later adapted into her novel which gives a definition to feminism is the modern era.
Check out Beyonce's video here:
7. "Women Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story" by Peter Bagge
"Who's Margaret Sanger?" I learned a little bit about her in my AP United States history class. Margaret Sanger: early advocate for women's reproductive rights, birth control, and clinics like Planned Parenthood. But isn't it sad that someone so significant and important to the history of women's health care is reduced to a sentence or a paragraph in a textbook? This graphic novel explores Margaret Sanger's life and how she served as a foundation of the long history in defining the history of what it means to fight for women's health and women's reproductive rights. You will definitely feel inspired to pick up a cause and start advocating for it!
8. "A People's History of American Empire" by Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki, and Paul Buhle
Some people slept through history, others found it interesting, some took anything written in their textbook as the truth. But of course it has bias. If you were taking American (United States) History, it paints the U.S. in the best light possible. But that isn't always the case. This graphic novel removes the notion that the United States is a perfect nation surrounded by a world full of corruption. This book looks at the good and the bad that America has done throughout much of the history of the United States and looks at it from a more personal approach.
9. "If I Ever Get Out of Here" by Eric Gansworth
I love this book for a couple reasons. First, when I read it in my English class my freshman year of college I learned a little bit about the history of Western New York. Second, it exemplifies the power of music in making a person feel more at home. Third, it gives an honest perspective about what it means to be a racial minority in school as well as not financially well off compared to classmates. It also emphasizes feeling trapped where you come from but realizing that where you come from isn't a bad place.
10. "None of the Above" by I. W. Gregorio
This novel explores what it means to be born intersex and one person's discovery of this in high school (an already tough time for anyone). She faces bullying, prejudice, social ostracism and questioning her own identity. I love books like this because they make the statement to people: "You aren't the only one struggling with this" and as a public acknowledgment that this is something completely normal.
11. "We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out"
This book is a compilation of different people's stories. They are broken up into sections so the reader can see who the person was before, how it happened, the aftermath and resources. It takes people willing to share their story from all kinds of different backgrounds and all different types of schools and makes the statement that no matter who you are or where you are, you are not alone and we believe you. Sometimes knowing you aren't alone and that someone believes you is all that matters.
What are you waiting for? Go learn something from a new perspective!!!
