New Year, New Books

As we welcome the New Year, new book goals are made to replace the old. I read 60 books this year, with the goal to read 60 books. The books I read ranged from poetry, verse, fiction, nonfiction, and autobiography. My top five reads for 2023 are I fell in love with hope, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Flamer, We Are All So Good at Smiling, and The Summer of Broken Rules. Keep reading for what makes them so special to earn a 5 star rating or a 4.5 star rating.

I fell in love with hope

By Lancali

I rated this book a 5/5 for the thematic impact and outlook on grief and hope. This book takes place in a hospital with five teenagers, Sam, Neo, Hikari, Sony, and Coeur, who live there due to their terminal diseases. Throughout the book we follow the narrator, Sam, and are shown what it is like to deal with these diseases while still trying to make the best out of a “normal life.” It is written like no other book I have ever read with a poetic prose style in a fiction chapter format. Besides grief and hope, there is found family, romance, friendship, and mental health. As a warning, it is a very sad book, but it’s well worth reading.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

By Stephen Chbosky

I rated this book a 5/5 for the teenage relatability and the hard topics that are discussed fluently. This book is written in letters penned by a boy named Charlie. It starts during his freshman year of high school. During this year he makes and loses friends, experiments with drugs and his sexuality, and comes to terms with his past that is revealed at the end of the book. This book promotes developing yourself to the fullest capacity and suggests it is only possible if you take charge of your life and learn how to stand up for yourself. This book is a beautiful journey that I wish everyone would read.

Flamer

By Mike Curato

I rated this book a 5/5 for its emotionally driven dialogue, thoughts, and illustrations that connected everything coherently. I am not one for a graphic novel, but this one was so well done; it had me stunned. This book is one of the most banned books in America; so, of course, it should be read! It begins in 1995 in a Boy Scouts summer camp and follows the main character, Aiden, who is bullied for different parts of his identity and has lots of self-hate for himself. He is half-Filipino, a little overweight, and gay, which causes lots of bullying at a “manly” Boy Scout camp. I found myself tied to the story and taking twice as much time to read every word and look at every picture. It’s definitely a book worth reading!

We Are All So Good at Smiling

By Amber McBride

I rated this book a 4.5/5 for the unique demonstration of dealing with trauma and clinical depression in verse-style writing. The story follows a character named Whimsy, who struggles with her mental health after a two-week stay in a hospital for suicidal thoughts. The other main character, Faerry, also deals with many mental health issues due to the same stimulating event that is revealed in the end. They venture into the forest that they had feared ever since they were kids and end up traveling through fairy tales, metaphorically, to heal from the trauma that swarms them. It was an interesting telling of processing grief and had me intrigued throughout the whole book.

The Summer of Broken Rules

By K. L. Walther

I rated this book a 5/5 for the creative plot of a game of water gun assassins and the hidden Taylor Swift easter eggs throughout. This book is not just a plain romance with any other plot, it also dives into family and grief. Meredith’s family has an annual game of assassins at Martha’s Vineyard and she decides it is a perfect way to honor her sister’s passing as she ventures her way back into the world again. She teams up with a groomsman to help her win the game and begins to fall for him while expressing her process of grief. It is a modern romance with humorous dialogue that I couldn’t put down during the summer.