Category 1: Young Adult Fiction
Tagline: Suspenseful, thrilling, and thought-provoking stories that will stay with you long after the last page.
Aiden - Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
Genre: Fiction
Content warnings: N/a
Rating: 5.5/5
Turtles All the Way Down, conveys the message of the true effects of mental health on people's lives. The main protagonist, 16-year-old Aza Holmes, an American high school student with OCD and anxiety, thoughts are always how the human microbiome will slowly kill her. This leads to a series of problems. This book was really good and its themes were very relevant in today's world.
Bill - Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Genre: Survival
Content warnings:
Rating: 4.5/5
If the long-winded prologue that introduces our main character, Pi, does not bore you, then you are in for an excellent adventure and survival story of the seas. If that is not enough, there also happens to be a plot twist at the end that greatly enhances the emotional quality of the book as a whole. Certainly one of the best survival/adventure books to have ever been written.
Roy - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Genre: Historical Fiction
Content warnings: Violence, gore, SA
Rating: 5/5
The Alchemist is a story about Santiago, a young shepherd who embarks on a journey to find a hidden treasure in Egypt as he learns about the importance of listening to his heart and pursuing his dreams. Along the way, the main character discovers the true meaning of life and the power of believing in oneself. Pretty good for highschoolers who aren't still sure about the path they want to step into for their future.
Category 2: Short Fiction
Tagline: Short but sweet stories that read like a great movie.
Bronwen - Three O’Clock in the Morning by Gianrico Carofiglio
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Content warnings: N/a
Rating: 4.5/5
Translated from Italian, Three O'Clock in the Morning chronicles a father and teenage son's adventures in Marseille over the course of two sleepless nights. In a mere 192 pages, the author delivers a coming-of-age story with the same emotional depth and impact as any 500-page plus novel. Carogilo's simple prose transports you to the dingy late-night clubs and restaurants where father and son gradually warm up to each other. If you are a fan of The Catcher in the Rye and movies like Before Sunrise, you will undoubtedly love Three O'Clock in the Morning.
Lucine - Stray Dogs by Rawi Hage
Genre: Literary Fiction
Content warnings: N/a
Rating: 5/5
A cosmopolitan collection of stories about restless photographers, Stray Dogs tells eleven tales of displaced artists in the cross hairs of Montréal, Beirut, Berlin and Tokyo: all hapless characters who are trying to explain modern life through the lens of a camera. Philosophically charged and caustically funny, the book is a parabolic exploration of nationhood, religion, identity and visual art.
Category 3: Nonfiction Reads
Tagline: Books to challenge your worldview, spark curiosity, and open your mind to new ideas.
Emily - Justice by Michael Sandel
Genre: Philosophy
Content warnings: N/a
Rating: 5/5
A phenomenal philosophy book that literally made me rethink my entire life. It brings up a lot of interesting moral dilemmas that force you to look inward and ask yourself: why do I believe certain things? What defines right and wrong? Genuinely, I think if everyone read Justice, the world would be a much better place - it really made me reflect on how unsubstantiated and arbitrary many of my opinions were and made me a more open-minded person. Mr. Beetlestone actually has a copy in his room (204) if you're interested. If you hate reading, there's also an audio version - a full Harvard lecture discussing the contents of this book for free on YouTube! It also goes through each moral dilemma in chronological order but is much more interactive, as students engage with the professor (Sandel) as they explore the topic.
Yu Peng - Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari
Genre: History/Philosophy
Content warnings: N/a
Rating: 5/5
For those who would like to read a more academic book over their winter break, Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari is a great option. It is a relatively new book that is within the same realm as Harari’s other books such as Sapiens. The book really dives deep on some untouched complex connections between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. Harari develops an intricate story about our information network today, in other words AI, by examining how the flow of information has shaped us and our world. This book is not a leisure read, but one that works the brain. Also, I recommend all of Harari’s books if you find Nexus interesting.
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