Perspective. My older self would have frowned at that particular word because it sounded corny and straight out of some bad motivational speech/video. But now I know better, and that is partly due to the books I have had the opportunity to read. "A reader lives a thousand lives" said George R. R. Martin, and going by that, it is crucial to know the kinds of lives a reader chooses to live because they will often influence how somebody sees the world and their surroundings. Here goes a personal recommendation of the 'lives' that have helped me get a perspective of things.
1. Feed by M. T. Anderson
© Munira Mutmainna
Mainly a sci-fi YA novel portraying a dystopian world where technology has taken its place inside the human head, literally. Starting from texting to checking the news, getting ads/offers, shopping, entertainment--it's all the technologies we have at our service rolled into one. When we have everything one thought away, who needs to be well-articulated, or learn to write, or be able to think critically because that would be pointless? Called "satire at its finest" by the Kirkus Reviews, Feed shows us a time where "thought is supplemented by advertising banners, and language has gone into a steep decline" (from Anderson's website). In this age where we would often resort to emojis/stickers/gifs more than words because of our convenience of expression, what strikes me the most here is how eerily accurate this book is.
2. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Are you planning to binge The New Legends of Monkey on Netflix? Well, even if you are not, you should try this graphic novel that has the Monkey King in all his glory. This year, I realized how unbelievably remarkable graphic novels can be. Yang's novel revolves around a second-generation Asian-American kid Jin Wang, who constantly struggles to fit into a white-dominated society and fights hard to not come off as an F.O.B. The book consists of three tales based on three separate ideas Yang initially had that converge toward the end. If you are from a dominant culture, or if you do not share the same culture as Jin, this book is a great read to have a perspective on how it is to be on that side.
3. Glitter Series by Aprilynne Pike
Which books are the most relatable? To me, it's the ones where the characters seem real: characters that are flawed, who do not always make the right choices and resort to questionable actions to get what they need. The series is like historical fiction combined immaculately with contemporary fiction and one of the strongest aspects here is the characters. As the female protagonist, Danica, fights to escape her fate, her drastic steps result in a series of events with catastrophic consequences for everyone including herself. Danica exhibits anti-heroic qualities: she feels guilty, sad and heartbroken, but she never lets those emotions get in the way of achieving her goal. She is flawed and that's what makes her so intriguing as a character. Book 2, Shatter, reveals other shocking truths which are likely to compel one to think if the series is closer to the reality of the world we live in.
4. Saints and Misfits by S. K. Ali
This has been one of my most favorite diverse reads ever. There are countless books highlighting how adolescence is a difficult phase in an individual's life because it decides so much about shaping one's identity as they grow up. Ali's book is a splendid example of the same experience for a Person of Color. The story revolves around Janna, a Muslim-American teenage 'misfit', who is constantly trying to find herself and come to terms with her culture and religious background, and while doing so, has to face and fight the monsters in her life--internal and external. The book deals with the crucial issue of sexual harassment and the mental harassment that follows afterward, while highlighting the overarching theme of not only finding oneself but also acknowledging and owning every part of one's identity.
5. The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu
This is a typical high-school story, and also way more than that. Through multiple narrators, the story unfolds as they all share their parts of the 'truth' about Alice, the-almost-popular-girl-turned-recent-social-pariah of the school. One of the best things? None of the characters is demonized or turned into the Wicked Witch of West. Another reason why the story seems so hard-hitting is that one way or another, we've all been at the receiving or the giving end of the things that happen here, thereby making all the characters/events relatable to an extent. The themes and treatment of these themes make this recommended read appropriate, applicable and relatable for people of all ages.
Do you have any such perspective-giving recommendations?
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