5 Books You Need To Read

As far back as I can remember I have always been completely captivated by books. One of the main reasons for this is because, for me, reading is an escape. It takes my mind away from any stress I may be feeling, and transports me to another world. Since starting English lit A level I have been reading classic books from a reading list I was given by my teachers, and it has really helped me to open my eyes into a new genre of literature that I had never explored before. As before A level the only books I would read were teen fiction, like divergent and hunger games. At this point you may be thinking: "I don't care, I hate reading!". But i hope that this post inspires you to pick a book and read! Not only is it fun, but reading helps to improve your vocabulary, speech, and spelling. Also, its not hard to make half an hour of you're time free to read, rather then watching TV. So why wouldn't you read?

If you are looking for a book to inspire you, and make you get into reading, I have made a list of my top 5 books that I have read this school year; and  they aren't actually as boring as you would think:

5. 1984 by George Orwell

“If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”

I always looked at this book and thought that it looked completely boring! So I was shocked when I finally decided to read it, and noticed the correlations with the many things in our society that it has. Some background about the book is that it was written in 1949 as a prediction of what the world would be like in 1984. It is a dystopian novel about a man called Winston Smith who has the secret desire of breaking free from the totalitarian state. This novel is full of secrecy, action and deception so is really intriguing. This book inspired many things in our society such as the TV programme 'Big brother' which takes its name from the communist leader in the book. And also 'Room 101' which takes its name from a secret room where citizens are forced to face their worst fear. Furthermore, whilst I was reading it I couldn't stop noticing parallels with the style of writing and events that were similar to the divergent series. So its a great book if you are trying to start progressing from teen fiction to adult fiction.

4. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

“Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece” 

This novel is extremely controversial so if you are looking for a book that addresses a previously ignored concept, which can be quite disturbing at times, then chose this book! It's story centres around the unreliable narrator Humbert Humbert who is a pedophile, and becomes obsessed with a 12 year old girl called Dolores Hayes (AKA Lolita); who he later becomes step father to. At many points I found this book quite hard to read because of the subject matter, but at the same time due to its controversial nature I was completely absorbed into Humbert's mind and world. Additionally, this book inspired many things in pop culture such as some songs by Lana Del Ray, and the image of a young girl in red heart shaped glasses.

3. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

“Looking at me, you'd never guess I'd killed three people. It isn't fair.”

When I first read this book I went into it knowing completely nothing about the plot, other then it was supposed to be a 'good' book. But I can tell you that when the Irish Times called it "a work of unparalleled depravity." they were completely correct. The book is about a psychopathic teenager called Frank, living on a remote Scottish island. The book soon reveals that before the age of 10 Frank had made numerous killings, and is part of a strange cult that involves a contraption called the wasp factory. If you enjoy gruesome and psychotic books then you have to read this!

2. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

"I fell very still and very empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of a surrounding hullaballoo."

The Bell Jar is a semi-autobiographical, coming of age story about a girl called Esther and her downward spiral of depression which leads to her attempting suicide numerous times. The reason that I love this book is because of the depth of emotions that you can feel from Esther whilst reading the book. It opened my eyes to the trapped nature of women in the 1960s. Moreover, I find it extremely interesting because of its links to Sylvia's life not including her suicide a month after the book was published in the UK. Since Plath was married to the old poet laureate Ted Hughes it also gives you some insight into their strained relationship. I have now read this book twice, and still haven't grown bored of it!

1. The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

"Everything want to be loved. Us sing and dance and holler, just trying to be loved.” 

On reading the first page of the novel I immediately couldn't put the book down, and ended up reading it in a day. This is because of the daunting subject matter that the book faced. The story focuses on the life of African-American women in the US in the 1930s, and both the lack of freedom and abuse they faced. The main character Celie is raped by her father as a child, and then sold to her husband who she is repeatedly abused by. However, even though Celie starts off as a run down and abused character, by the end of the novel you see her transformation... In the end I found this book very uplifting and a really easy and enjoyable read because of its epistolary form (diary entry). Definitely a must read!

Happy reading! 

Hannah x 
(if you have read any of these books please leave your opinions in the comments!)