10 Books, 10 Years (!)

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Fiction

1. Normal People - Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney! Known for breaking readers' hearts due to rampant miscommunication between her novels' love interests, I tried reading Normal People a few years ago. Unfortunately, I quickly lost patience with her aggressively straightforward writing style. However, I want to try my hand at this again in the hopes that reading about these characters' doomed relationship will help me avoid what led to their downfall in future relationships.

2. Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin

I don't really know much about this book, but I've never read something by Baldwin, so I'd love to do that. Plus, I've always dreamed of living in Paris. I know the Paris he depicts in this is probably very different (1950s and gay bars), but I love reading about relationships and I guess there's no better place to read about it then here.

3. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

This has been on my list for a long time. I've heard so much about it from TikTok and how it's mind-numbingly sad. I don't know if I'll be able to handle it, but it's too popular not to try. I think reading sad books also puts my life in a kind of context that makes me thankful for my own. How lucky I am.

4. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

I also know very little about this book, and I only really chose it because of the author. I might be completely thinking about the wrong author here, but I heard you should read Dostoevsky when you're growing up (Or after? Forgot!). Either way, it'd be a good foray into the Russian greats.


Non-Fiction

5. Mom & Me & Mom - Maya Angelou

I've never read anything by Angelou! I really want to, though, and I remember watching a Vanity Fair video of Emma Watson hiding copies of Mom & Me & Mom around the NYC subway once when I was a kid, so this is one of the first books that come to mind when I think of Angelou. I also would just like to read this to better my relationship with my mom because she's one of my life's great constants (Does Angelou allude to this by sandwiching "me" between "mom"?...).

6. My Own Words - Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I got this for Christmas a few years ago, but I've never read it because it seems so dense. I want to, though, not only for Ginsburg, but also because I want to be a lawyer and it'd be a nice experience to read about issues I'd have to make myself familiar with in a legal context (Gender equality! The Supreme Court! Law in opera!).

7. Just Kids - Patti Smith

I've also heard good things about this. Memoirs are my favorite genre and I love any novel remotely coming-of-age related. I think it's also always necessary to immerse yourself in the lives of those vastly different from your own (Smith and her husband are artists). Lastly, I just like the title because I think at heart, we're all also "just kids."

Re-Reads

8. All About Love - bell hooks

I adore bell hooks! I think this book is so necessary to read as an adult because love is a universally experienced emotion, yet probably one of the most misunderstood. And love isn't even just romantic. Love is everywhere. Sometimes I think it's what we live for, so why shouldn't I learn how to do it as best I can?

9. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

I also absolutely love Ocean Vuong. He's a poet, so his writing voice is really distinct. He talks about his experience growing up with his immigrant mother and grandmother. It's sad, funny, and moving, and a book I'll go back to in order to remind me of what growing up can feel like, and that life is made up of stolen moments of beauty that never belonged to us (made all the more beautiful for how we reclaim them as our own).

10. Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

My favorite book of all time is probably the fifth or sixth Harry Potter book. It might seem odd to include since this is a children's series, but I always go back to this series when I need a comfort read. I think re-reading this as an adult is important, though, because I hope it'll remind me of where I come from, and to never neglect the kid I once was, and always will be.💌

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