Reading is one of my go-to ways to relax and spend leisure time, as you may have noticed from all my reading-oriented posts. After posting the first part of my ultimate book recommendations, which are essentially my favourite books of all time, it is only appropriate that I follow up with a part two! Check out part one here.
6. The Glass Castle
“The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a family. The Walls children learned to take care of themselves.”
— Amazon
After hearing about the rave reviews this memoir got, I decided to check it out to confirm the validity of the reports. Unlike any other memoir you’ve ever read and will be likely to read again, The Glass Castle offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of an eccentric family whose loyalty will move you, make you laugh, and leave you thinking about them long after you put down the book.
7. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
“The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo. A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84—“Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.” Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled. As Aomame’s and Tengo’s narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer.”
— Amazon
1Q84 is definitely on my re-read list, though I may have to set that desire aside until the summer since it’s a trilogy that totals at 925 pages. If you’re looking for a novel that will not lose your attention, this is it. A combination of interesting characters and an interesting plot make it a catalyst for an all-nighter. A mystery and a love story all in one, uncovering the secrets of this book was truly a pleasure.
8. Night by Elie Wiesel
“Night is Elie Wiesel’s masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. This new translation by Marion Wiesel, Elie’s wife and frequent translator, presents this seminal memoir in the language and spirit truest to the author’s original intent. And in a substantive new preface, Elie reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man’s capacity for inhumanity to man.”
— Amazon
At just over 100 pages, you have no excuse not to read this touching narrative from Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel. When I first picked this book up from the library, I sat down to read it and found I couldn’t stop. After two hours of absorbed reading, I can say that it is an honest and poignant account of the horrific events that happened at Nazi camps. Though you may think you know about the hopelessness of those times, Wiesel’s writing will make you understand how it feels like to lose all hope and to essentially witness the death of your God.
9. The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman
“On September 23, 1939, Wladyslaw Szpilman played Chopin’s Nocturne in C-sharp minor live on the radio as shells exploded outside—so loudly that he couldn’t hear his piano. It was the last live music broadcast from Warsaw: That day, a German bomb hit the station, and Polish Radio went off the air. Though he lost his entire family, Szpilman survived in hiding. In the end, his life was saved by a German officer who heard him play the same Chopin Nocturne on a piano found among the rubble. Written immediately after the war and suppressed for decades, The Pianist is a stunning testament to human endurance and the redemptive power of fellow feeling.”
— Amazon
Another first-hand account of a man’s struggle during the Nazi internment of Jews during WWII, The Pianist combines a few of my favourites things, history and music, into one unforgettable tale of Wladyslaw Szpilman’s survival. This is a book that will make you lose faith in the human condition, then regain it.
10. An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth
“Chris Hadfield decided to become an astronaut after watching the Apollo moon landing with his family on Stag Island, Ontario, when he was nine years old, and it was impossible for Canadians to be astronauts. In 2013, he served as Commander of the International Space Station orbiting the Earth during a five-month mission. Fulfilling this lifelong dream required intense focus, natural ability and a singular commitment to “thinking like an astronaut.” In An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, Chris gives us a rare insider’s perspective on just what that kind of thinking involves, and how earthbound humans can use it to achieve success and happiness in their lives.”
— Amazon
One of my favourite non-fiction books that has made my respect and admiration of Chris Hadfield even stronger. My personal fixation with space and astronomy was satisfied and may questions about life on the ISS were answered (yes, that includes how to go to the bathroom in zero-gravity). Astronauts are taught to have a different outlook when going about their lives (sweat the small stuff, etc), and the advice Hadfield gives about applying these values to our own, though not out-of-this-world, lives, is inspirational and witty.
That’s all for my top book recommendations. Let me know if you have read any of these books and what you think in the comments or tweet me @hui_wen_zheng
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