Summer is in full swing and from the beach, to the pool, and on the road there always seems to be some free-time to sit down and pick up a great book. But with the millions of books out there today, you never know just which ones are right for you! So take a look at my list below and I’m sure you’ll find something you love!
1//Jesus Calling
This first book is actually a devotional, but it’s the best one I have come across and so many others agree with me. It’s a page a day, something that even someone with the busiest schedule can read each day, but allows you to explore further with additional verses to look up with each devotion.
you’ll like this if you:
are looking for a short devotional
are a Christian
need a pick-me-up
2//Looking For Alaska
This was the first John Green book I ever read, and it literally altered my life. I’m not even exaggerating. Once you read it you will understand. It changes your viewpoint on life. It focuses on a boy going to a boarding school and his journey on making friends and finding his own “Great Perhaps” when something goes wrong one night. I will warn you that’s it’s not a happy-go-lucky book, so don’t expect butterflies and roses.
you’ll like this if you:
love John Green
like realistic fiction
are a thinker
are in any sort of school
enjoy thinking about things bigger than yourself
enjoy a sad book
3//Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
I was assigned this book for an AP Literature and Composition class my senior year and high school, and it has been my ultimate, hands-down, favorite book of all time. It’s such a different read than anything I’ve ever read before or after it. On the surface it’s a book about September 11 and a boy trying to find his dad, but once you start reading it, you realize it’s so much more. Jonathan Safran Foer is a genius. His play with words, symbolism, and presentation is riveting and thought-provoking to a level that I didn’t even know existed. Definitely a must-read.
you’ll like this if you:
like John Green like a sad book
like reading about September 11
liked the movie, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
enjoy something out of the ordinary
4//The Fault In Our Stars
John Green does it again in The Fault In Our Stars.The Fault in Our Stars is the story of two 16-year-olds who meet at a cancer support group. Hazel Lancaster, the narrator, is afflicted with terminal thyroid cancer which has ravaged her lungs enough to necessitate the use of an oxygen tank wherever she goes. It is during a support meeting that she is introduced to Augustus Waters, whose leg was claimed by a malignant bone tumor and who soon becomes the object of her affection.
you’ll like this book if you:
love John Green
Cancer fascinates you
you like love-stories
you like to laugh and cry
need to put your world in perspective
like Young Adult Fiction
5//Nineteen Minutes
Jodi Picoult is another one of my favorite authors. Although some of them just get too cheesy, for me, this book definitely was not. This story focuses on a school shooting and the events leading upto, in addition to the after effects and the trial. This jaw-dropping and heart-breaking story will surely have you in tears at some point.
you’ll like this if you:
are fascinated with serial killers or murders
are prepared to cry
like books that make you think and feel
6//Q&A 5-Year Journal
Different than the rest of the books in this series, this isn’t a finished book. It’s a book that you’ll write. Technically, it’s a journal, a 5 year one at that. It prompts you with a question a day and gives you room for 5 years of answers. That way you can see how your answers change and evolve as you grow up. Some of them are silly like “If you were the weather what would you be?” but some are more thought provoking like, “Who is the biggest influence on your life right now?” Definitely something that I will cherish in the years to come.
you’ll like this if you:
love to journal
love reminiscing on old memories
are nostalgic
love to write
