In the novel Emma by Jane Austen, readers follow the story of a young girl named Emma who is intelligent, beautiful, but also ignorant living in England. This is a coming of age story and does an excellent job of portraying the transition from a girl to a woman, or the growth of maturity. Along with her friends Harriet and Mr. Knightley, readers witness the fun adventure and characters Emma meets as she grows up.
The Joy Luck Club follows the story of four Chinese immigrant mothers and their daughters. Tan does an excellent job in portraying an immigrant mother and her first generation daughter relationship. She also does a great job in representing generational and cultural differences as these mothers move to America, and their daughters learn to assimilate. Each chapter talks about a different person, their story, and what they have learned from it.
This book follows two patients with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that affects the respiratory system and limits contact with other patients due to fear of cross infection. Stella gets readmitted to the hospital due to lung issues, where she meets rebellious Will. Stella is not pleased with his disregard to hospital rules. Will is awaiting his eighteenth birthday so he can break free of his mother’s control over him medically. He refused to take the medicine and do the trials his mother wanted him to. Stella then convinces Will to take his meds and that sparks their romance.
The book begins with the finding of Chris McCandless’ body by Alaskan hunters. Chris McCandless changed his name after college and traveled to Alaska to start his journey. In Alaska he gets rid of all materialistic things such as money. He goes to Alaska to explore and be present with nature. The book gets accounts from the people he met while in Alaska and his family back home. The book poses a debate about if he was suicidal going on his journey to Alaska or not.
The story is narrated by Jewish teenager, Eliezer who lives in Sighet. Later he gets captured and taken to Auschwitz and the nightmare begins. When they arrive, he gets separated from his family and gets put to work. Auschwitz gets evacuated and he goes on a brutal death march to another concentration camp. At the new camp the same torture happens and Eliezer is trying to survive so the inhumane treatment will stop. Finally when the camp gets liberated by America, Elizer is a void and has dealt with too much for being such a young boy.
This book is an autobiography about Kamala Harris. The book goes into her family and her life before she was elected to be the Vice president. The reader gets insight on the struggle and the triumphs of her education and career path. It was inspiring to hear about her mother’s story about how she became a cancer researcher despite prejudice and discrimination. It dove into how Kamala Harris worked her way up into becoming the DA, then senator, then Vice President. I recommend this book to anyone who wants some insight on the Vice President, Harris.
The United States gets replaced by the Republic of Gilead and the reproduction rates are super low. To combat this Handmaids are assigned to bear the children of elite couples. The story follows a handmaid assigned the name Offred. Her rights are heavily restricted and stripped of her old life. As the story goes on we meet the handmaids that are a part of a group to try and escape. Although escaping isn’t that easy in Gilead. There are guards and strict rules and punishments and it is too risky to be so reckless.
Yotsuba is about a small girl named, well, Yotsuba! In this book follow her as she comprehends criticism about her art, swears revenge after watching a gangster movie, and goes to buy cake! From the creator of Azumanga Daioh, Kiyohiko has done amazing work on this book.
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo is the second book in the Shadow and Bone trilogy, set in the Grishaverse. Following the actions of the Darkling, Mal and Alina are fleeing Ravka in hopes of starting a new life away from their past. But as we know, the past haunts you. This book introduces new wonderful characters into this series and Grishaverse as a whole, but unfortunately some characters do still bring bad vibes into the bo
The novel Homegoing, is an eye-opening story that depicts an unflinching portrayal of the slave trade exports in the 18th century and its contrasting impacts down the generations. Gyasi conveys these struggles by sharing the stories of two half-sisters (and their descendants), Effia and Esi, one who married a wealthy English man and the other who was sold into slavery, representing how slavery destroyed one line of the family while it cursed the other.
