Studying for assignments and tests during the year can be time-consuming, and I know I havenāt gotten the time to read as much as I hoped during the academic year. But the summer is here, and it’s the perfect time to dive into those books that have been slowly piling up on your to-be-read list. If you canāt figure out where to start, here are a few ideas for having your book girl summer and indulging in these beautifully resonating stories.Ā
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, a deeply poignant tale shortlisted for the 2005 Booker Prize and later adapted into a film, will stir your emotions. It’s a story that will make you question the boundaries of humanity and the ethics of science. Three students, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy, attend an English boarding school where they are isolated from the reality of the natural world as they know it. Ishiguro’s careful depiction of human arrogance and its societal implications will profoundly move you.Ā
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, a powerful historical fiction, takes you on a thought-provoking journey through three hundred years of Ghana’s history, shedding light on the heartbreaking events that bind a family and nation together. Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, were born into different fates in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia, married off to an Englishman who lives in the comfort of Cape Coast Castle, unaware that the cries that haunt her carry her sisterās imprisoned voice, along with thousands of others sold into Americaās slave trade. This story follows these charactersā descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, offering a profound insight into the struggle of these nations through the slave trade and British colonization.
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
A contemporary romance novel, Open Water is a beautifully written love story that explores themes of race, masculinity, and identity. The story begins in South East London, where two African-British artists meet and follow their struggles to belong in a world that fails to see these characters as more than a black body. This novel is an introspection of race and masculinity. Even when two people seem so perfectly aligned with each other, fear and violence manage to tear their souls apart.Ā
I hope these summer recommendations pull you out of your reading slump after exams and make you fall in love with reading again.Ā