These are some of my favorite books that I’ve read so far this year. I’m usually a non-fiction reader, but I found myself picking up and thoroughly enjoying a few fiction books this year.
1. Quiet by susan cain
This book is about introverts living in an extraverted world, and contains summaries of very interesting psychological experiments that have to do with figuring out why people are introverted or extraverted. As an introvert myself, this book taught me so much about being introverted and left me feeling empowered and confident about introversion. I would recommend this book to any introvert out there and it is the perfect gift for your introverted friend as well.
2. Long Bright River by Liz Moore
I borrowed this book from a friend when I left the book I was reading in Costa Rica. After the first chapter, I fell in love with the plot. Two sisters named Mickey and Kacey live in the Philadelphia, but they live completely different lives. Mickey is a police officer and her sister Kacey is on and off the streets and a drug addict. Mickey hasn’t been in contact with her sister for a while, but she always worries when she responds to overdoses or murders. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mild murder mystery books with an emotional attachment.
3. Just mercy by Bryan SteveNson
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson is a very real and touching book. Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer who covers cases about death row inmates who were wrongfully convicted. This book follows the story of Walter McMillan, a black man who was framed as the killer of a white girl named Ronda Morrison. Stevenson took on this case and helped Walter as well as his family. In between every chapter is a reflection about the way black people are treated in the criminal justice system. There are some very emotional and touching chapters in this book, some very hard to read, but it is worth reading because it is very informational and also a harsh reality in American courts.
4. My Own Words By Ruth Bader Ginsburg
This memoir of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is one of the best out there. It was written by her and two other authors and dives deep into her childhood and her career. Learning about her childhood is a very important aspect of her life, because it showed the way she was raised as well as the conditions she was raised in. I learned so much about Ginsburg from this book and how strong of a woman she was. An inspiration to so many, long live RBG!
5. Beartown by fredrik backman
This book is another one of the fiction books that I fell in love with this year. It is about a boy who plays hockey and is really good at it, and lives in a very small town where hockey is the only major thing there. Every member from the town knows one another, and they all love to come together for hockey events. The star of the hockey team ends up finding himself in a lot of trouble, and the town is split over what to do. He is arrested on the day of one of his biggest games, and people believe that the accusation against him is fake and someone made it up.
6. Humankind by Rutger Bregman
This book was on track to being my favorite book that I read this year. It is so interesting to learn about why the homo sapiens species truly survived through all the other homo species, and includes many psychological experiments to reveal why humans are actually decent. This book provides a different and optimistic look on the future for humans. Unfortunately I only got about 150 pages into this book and then I forgot it in the homestay I stayed at in Costa Rica and my local libraries don’t have the book. I hope to finish it soon.