reading tips
5 books that will stay with you long after you’ve read them
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Are you looking for your new favorite book that will change something deep inside you? Maybe one of these five novels is something for you.
Books can entertain us, inform us or just be fun. However, some works keep us busy long after we have read them and trigger completely new trains of thought. They can change our view of the world – or at least parts of it – and completely reorient our perspective. These five novels are such works.
These 5 books will make you think
1. “To Paradise” by Hanya Yanagihara
In 2015, Hanya Yanagihara made her big breakthrough with her novel “A Little Life” about four friends and their stories. her new novel “To Paradise” is in no way inferior to the US author’s first major success. The story takes place in three sections over three centuries and explores the question of how a social utopia can develop.
In this parallel world, people can get same-sex marriages as early as 1893—at least in part of America. It’s divided into several states, some of which are liberal and allow everyone to marry, others don’t. But that does not mean that there is no discrimination at all – unfortunately, this also applies to the liberal areas. Over the centuries, this utopian version of the USA evolves into a totalitarian controlled state plagued by plagues. Exciting: Hanya Yanagihara started this book before the corona pandemic, so the idea for it came to her long before lockdowns and mandatory vaccinations were discussed.
“To Paradise” raises many exciting questions: How free can we really be, and do the promised utopian paradises keep what they promise? Can a society, especially the American one with its history, be free from racism and discrimination at all? And what is a government allowed to do?
2. “Me and the People” by Matt Haig
Matt Haig writes smart, funny, and sometimes sad books, often about mental health and being human. So also in the novel “me and the people”, in which an alien is sent to earth on a dark mission and is initially anything but enthusiastic about the human species. He finds them primitive, stupid and selfish. But little by little he gets to know the good sides of people and becomes friends with them. Matt Haig succeeds in an entertaining and very wise look at us and our way of life.
The novel makes you think – about what makes us human, what is going wrong on earth and what still makes life worth living.
3. “The Disappearing Half” by Brit Bennett
In “The Vanishing Half” Brit Bennett tells the story of twins Stella and Desiree, who are born in a peculiar little town in the US state of Louisiana in the 1950s. Only black people with a light complexion live in Mallard. Stella and Desiree see no future for themselves in Mallard and flee to the big city, where they ultimately part ways. While Desiree marries a black man with a dark complexion and thus only reaps a lack of understanding from her family and in Mallard, Stella pretends to be a white woman, marries a white man and lives unnoticed in a middle-class settlement.
This multi-layered book explores the themes of racism, belonging, and loyalty in a way that will stay with readers long after the last page.
4. “If I Had Your Face” by Frances Cha
“If I Had Your Face” by Frances Cha is set in Seoul – in exclusive “room salons” where young, attractive women entertain men, in cosmetic surgeon’s offices where these young women try to become more beautiful through operation after operation, and in the limelight of the glittering K- Pop world whose stars everyone adores. The focus is on four young women trying to assert themselves in Seoul society.
Frances Cha’s debut novel provides insights into a world obsessed with beauty and youth while unsentimentally showing how important values such as friendship and solidarity are.
5. “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini
“kite runner” was published in 2003, but is no less relevant today than it was then. In the novel, Afghan-born Khaled Hosseini tells the story of a friendship between two dissimilar boys in his homeland. Amir wants to win a kite-flying competition with Hassan’s help. But after Amir betrays his friend in a cruel way, their paths separate. While fleeing the war in Afghanistan in the USA, Amir suffers from what he did to Hassan. When he returns to his homeland after many years, he wants to pay off his debt.
This epic work speaks about big themes of friendship, betrayal and hope against the backdrop of Afghanistan’s bleak recent history. A sad book that is difficult to put down despite the difficult subject matter.