Listicles: Book Recommendations

Written by Habiba Sulliman and Lamia Gamil

Edited by Ahmed Ashry

There is nothing more ravishing than a good-read right? I mean what else would a reader need of this ever-changing world. Only a book and maybe a cup of exquisitely refreshing iced-coffee. Book after book after book, it gets harder by every beginning and every end; every opener and every last full-stop. Yet, I assure you that book recommendations will never cease to exist or end. Because every day, a new author is born and every time they hold their pen and write down, you’ll have another entertaining book to read and lose yourself in. Writing is a chain that will never end, that’s why we will always have a book in hand!

Here are some book recommendations for when you’re lost and in mass need of some words:

Crime/ Mystery:  A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a standalone series, which means you can read each book alone yet it’s better to ravish the whole series. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is an enthralling story, one that reveals lots of secrets as well as people’s other faces. It revolves around a group of teenagers of whom some were murdered, some were involved, and others were the ones who unraveled it all.

A captivating story that will test friendship, family bonds, and so many more whilst revealing the darkest of emotions of people.

Fantasy series: A Court of Thorns and Roses.

If you love parallel universes and gifts that are beyond this world, then I’m sure you’ll embrace this series deeply. A human turned high-fae, bearing all 7 gifts from the 7 courts- day court, night court, spring court, winter court, summer court, autumn court, dawn court. How will she adapt to heightened senses and an immortalized body? Not only that but two high faes fighting for her heart. An enchanted world that will make you wish you were a part of it just because of how lovely it is.

Romance: From Lukov, with Love.

A story about two ice-figure skaters who “hate each other” yet when he needs a partner, he runs straight to her and writes a contract of partnership for a whole year. She will learn to trust him more and more but not only that: the enormous hidden secret that he locks up in his heart will soon unravel and everything will change.

Maybe bullying one another was the safest option to hide what was really deep in the heart.

Young adult fiction: Turtles All The Way Down- John Green.  

This book is very influential and inspiring, it deals with a severe psychological problem that might touch anyone in this world. Anxiety, fear, and living in uncertainty are all factors that can lead to one’s misery in life. Once a person enters into this loop, it never ends. Negative thoughts make a person so distant and isolated from anything and everyone around. Throughout the story Aza was trying to defeat her inner fears, but she couldn’t. She unintentionally empowered them by just allowing them to grow and become real. Aza always thought that she is not real and this is what made her pinch her finger until it bleeds to make sure she is real. She only felt alive when she was in pain. Fear and anxiety can manipulate the way you think. It can turn you into a sick person, even if you are the healthiest.  It can make a person miss all beautiful things, as Aza felt all the time. She felt as if she was not part of her life, and that her whole story was written by someone else. Too much worry made her fail to make decisions, start a relationship with Daivis, the only person she had real feelings towards, it kept her away from her best friend, and above all it even controlled the way she thinks about her future and college. Fear is really paralyzing her to move forward in her life.

Historical Fiction: The Great Gatsby

Human nature is profoundly complex. Doing the right thing is easier said than done. It takes one balanced mental state to untangle such interrelated emotions. It is hard to acknowledge one’s state of emotional entrapment, and it takes a whole lot of practice to learn emotional control and reconciliation. The past is part of one’s journey; it’s not the whole story or the end of it. It should be limited to the context and used as an immunity booster to any similar encountered situation. In other words, past experience should not haunt you; on the contrary, it should make you much stronger and wiser. If a person came out of an experience obsessed about it, and came out of it more fragile than before, then this person suffers from psychological imbalances that needs support and attention to be dealt with. This was evident in the “Great Gatsby” Novel by F.Scott Fitzgerald, when Gatsby kept looking at the “Green light”, which was a symbol of how a person should always look forward in life. A dusk is a new start and a new chapter. Let go of the past to discover the mystery of tomorrow.

Philosophy: Tao Te Ching

ReadingTao Te Ching feels as if I was being guided by a Holy Spirit rather than just simply reading words in a normal book. The most appealing thing about the book was its acceptance of mystery. At first, I had a misconception that I should fear mystery, however reading this book made me more allured towards the notion of mystery. Accepting Mystery is the key to the Tao. Although the chapters were short, every chapter held so much wisdom in every word written. The thematic messages of the book were the power of having a balanced life, finding inner peace, love and discovering your true nature.  The book also focuses on how everything in life originates as a whole but then separates into duality. An example would be the Yin Yang symbol, everything in life has its smooth and light phases, but there are also hardships and dark phases in life  and none of them can exist without the other half. We will only blossom in life when we find the source of existence which is our inner self. Lao Tzu keeps talking about the TAO (Way), he explains that the way to unleash our inner self is by letting go of fear and desires. He urges us to live life with an open mind, to listen with our hearts and hear with our soul.