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I bet you never thought I'd make this list because I don't have emotions. I enjoy a good story, but it's rare that I feel anything while reading. That's why these books are special. They reminded me that I'm not dead.
Not all of these books are sad! Some of them are tense, or scary, or shocking, or completely traumatizing. I picked a variety for you. You're welcome.
Best Emotional Books
Home by Toni Morrison
Adult Historical Fiction
Frank Money is an angry, self-loathing veteran of the Korean War who, after traumatic experiences on the front lines, finds himself back in racist America with more than just physical scars. His home may seem alien to him, but he is shocked out of his crippling apathy by the need to rescue his medically abused younger sister and take her back to the small Georgia town they come from and that he's hated all his life. As Frank revisits his memories from childhood and the war that have left him questioning his sense of self, he discovers a profound courage he had thought he could never possess again.
Why I recommend it: How did I make it through 12 years of college without having this book forced upon me? If you want to learn how to write, you have to read Home. The author is able to accomplish so much with so few words. This is a tiny book that feels huge. There's no fluff or filler. My copy is only 150 pages, but I feel like I know these characters. I badly wanted them to overcome their problems. I was scared and frustrated by their ignorance. They're so real that you love them and hate them at the same time.
Home doesn't have much of a plot, but the characters and writing style make it worth reading. Parts of it are extremely bleak. It's a book about racism, poverty, war, and mental illness. Not happy subjects. The characters knowingly and unknowingly get themselves into a lot of trouble. If you can handle depressing, character-driven literature, please read it! It's worth your time, especially if you want to be a writer.Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Adult Literary Fiction
People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.
Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.
Why I recommend it: I’ve loved all of Fredrik Backman’s books. He has quickly become one of my all-time-favorite authors because he’s great at creating realistic characters with memorable, quirky personalities. Beartown is about the fallout after a star hockey player rapes a teenage girl. It’s heartbreakingly realistic, but it has enough humor, hope, and hockey to keep it from getting too bleak.
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HOMEGOING BY YAA GYASI
Adult Historical Fiction
Homegoing follows the parallel paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem.
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Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Young Adult Science Fiction
Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Middle Grade Dystopia
One of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community.
Why I recommend it: This book has lived inside my head since I was 12 years old. It stuck with me because it's about growing up. I think every child has the (somewhat terrifying) realization that the world isn't perfect, and adults are flawed. It shows the stress of stepping outside your bubble and really seeing the world for the first time. How are you going to respond to that stress?
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Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Middle Grade Fiction
Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him. The two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie's house, where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia. One morning, Leslie goes to Terabithia without Jess and a tragedy occurs. It will take the love of his family and the strength that Leslie has given him for Jess to be able to deal with his grief.
Why I recommend it: That ending. It destroyed me as a child. I was not prepared! This is one of my favorite books of all time. It's an entertaining story for children, but it also has a lot for adult readers to think about. It explores the issues surrounding poverty vs wealth and change vs tradition. The book shows how some parents relate differently to female children and male children. It shows the difficulties of male/female friendship in elementary school. It confronts issues about gender and how society believes that boys and girls should behave. Best of all, it shows that imagination is important, fears can be conquered, and belief in yourself is essential.
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The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Middle Grade Fiction
The novel tells the story of Ponyboy Curtis and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider. According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for "social") has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers—until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser.
Why I recommend it: This book was forced upon me by my middle school English teacher, and I didn't hate it! Even though the book was first published in the 1960s, I think it'll always be relatable because it's about loyalty, friendship, poverty, and kids attempting to do the right thing.
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Flowers In The Attic by V.C. Andrews
Adult Horror
They were a perfect and beautiful family—until a heartbreaking tragedy shattered their happiness. Now, for the sake of an inheritance that will ensure their future, the children must be hidden away out of sight, as if they never existed. They are kept in the attic of their grandmother’s labyrinthine mansion, isolated and alone. As the visits from their seemingly unconcerned mother slowly dwindle, the four children grow ever closer and depend upon one another to survive both this cramped world and their cruel grandmother.
Why I recommend it: I now understand why so many people were traumatized by this book when they were children. This novel is nasty! Young people need to stay away from their parents' bookshelves.
I'm not even sure how to talk about the plot because everything is a spoiler. Before I started reading, I knew this book was a modern classic and very scandalous. I'm glad I didn't know more. I got to be shocked by each disturbing development. (And there are a lot of disturbing developments.) The book is weirdly addictive. I even downloaded the audiobook so I could listen at work. It's a tense, high-stakes story for sure.
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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Young Adult Historical Fiction
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.
By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.
But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.
Why I recommend it: It's the kind of book that makes you sit in stunned silence for a few seconds after finishing it. The story is a familiar one, but the writing is poetic. There were several times where I stopped and reread sentences or whole paragraphs because I liked them so much. This is some of the most interesting writing I've ever seen. The strangeness of the language totally fits Death, the odd, nonhuman narrator.
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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Young Adult Dystopia
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
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Which book reminded you that you're not dead?
Bridge to Terabithia should come with a warning label.
ReplyDeleteBridge to Terabithia was a gut punch!
ReplyDeleteI may be crying right now thinking about Terabithia. That friendship was everything. Backman always manages to gut me, too.
ReplyDeleteYour summaries are really enjoyable to read in themselves. These are very well-known books, but I have only read a few of them, and mostly not the YA ones.
ReplyDeleteI have read several of these! Fredrik Backman is my favorite author; I loved his Beartown series.
ReplyDeleteBeartown is amazing and My Friends is as good too AJ!
ReplyDeleteI have read The Hunger Games and The Book Thief, and The Giver, and I definitely agree! Oh yeah Scythe too!
ReplyDeleteBridge to Terabithia wrecked me when I was a kid. I loved it. LOL!
ReplyDelete