Hello!
(click here for the first edition of book recs)
It’s been a few months while since I’ve written much, but I’ve come across an extremely exciting development: libraries (in Oklahoma) are open for curbside pickup.
I’ve had a long and sporadic relationship with reading. In one of my earliest memories, my chubby index finger traces over rich red hues and unreasonably friendly smiles. Clifford, the Big Red Dog. Over time, Clifford became the Magic Tree House, then Percy Jackson. But sometime between football games and college applications, I washed my hands of the fiction section. Instead, I pressed pencils into ACT prep books. Flipped SAT vocabulary flashcards. Assigned reading was different, too. Reading was no longer an adventure I’d explore until 2AM – instead, it was a chore to be dodged through Sparknotes and Schmoop. By junior year, I’d slip into American Literature, name-drop a few events from the Grapes of Wrath, and, after class, victoriously crow, “I didn’t even read it!”
Over freshman year, away from the ever-shrinking walls of AP prep and continuous classes, my inner 7-year-old started to run free again. Along with advocating cereal for every meal, she pressed, “What happened to all the books?” I told her, “I don’t have time.”
And then... well, you know the rest of the story.
So without further ado, here are my latest favorites and their guiding themes.
1. Paper Menagerie, Ken Liu.
A collection of short stories for anyone who’s interested in tech x images x humanity. It's the type of work that changes when you read it a second time. The titular short story is also outstanding on its own, and you can read it (here)
2. Educated, Tara Westover.
For themes on family, loyalty, religion, and character growth. Tara Westover was raised in a religious extremist household, barred from attending school. Her memoir details her path through university and beyond.
3. When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi.
“You can’t ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which you are ceaselessly striving.” - Paul Kalanithi
A pre-med favorite. Kalanithi’s memoir dissects his journey, first through medical training and then terminal lung cancer. It grips you in swaths of morality and asks what it means to live and die, as a patient and as a doctor.
4. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf.
A picture of a family through their inner thoughts. Floral writing decorates introspectionn, framed by waves lapping in the background.
5. Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino.
Tolentino’s essays - on the Internet, optimization, ecstasy - are all laced with this doubt: I don’t know what I don’t know or if I’m telling the truth. Recommended by an enthusiastic professor, I procrastinated this book for nearly a year. But I’m glad I did. Her uncertainty creates a refreshing, yet familiar tone for quarantine. If you only read one book from this list, read this one.
And of course, an honorable mention to Moonwalking With Einstein, by Joshua Foer, which I already recommended in a previous post but is too good to ever let go of.
Even if it's not on this list, I hope you find a book that keeps you reading late at night.