Compelling Reads: 6 Books Covering Love, War, and Injustice

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only once.  George R.R.Martin, A Dance with Dragons

I cannot fathom a life without books. Books open doors to our minds and hearts, allowing us to live an entire lifetime and travel the whole world within the comfort of our chairs. Books allow us to step into a character's shoes, see the world through someone else  eyes, experience all sorts of emotions at one moment. Books teach us about love, heartbreak, friendship, war, social injustice, terrorism and so on. If you're on the hunt for something to read, I'd recommend any of the books below.

1. The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion

An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by Don Tillman, an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love. I asked you here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. 

2. All The Bright Places - Jennifer Niven

The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die. Violet Markey and Theodore Finch meet on the ledge of the bell tower of their school, both contemplating suicide. The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it's the small things that count. 

3. I Am Malala

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. I Am Malala is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons. We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced. 

 4. In The Skin Of A Jihadist - Anna Erelle

Anna Erelle, an American Journalist developed an online identity to gather info for freelance articles on ISIS. After several years of presence, her online avatar Melodie catches the eye of, perhaps, an ISIS recruiter. This man, Bilel, is more than a recruiter though- he turns out to be a French-speaking confidant of ISIS leader, Abu Baker al-Baghdadi.

Como fizeste, assim te ser? feito.? Which translates to, ?How hast done, it will be done to you.?  

5. Love Letters To The Dead - Ava Dellaira

Laurel, a 15-year-old girl writes letters to dead artists to deal with the death of her older sister, May. After a teacher assigns her students to write a letter to a deceased person, Laurel finds the exercise is the only outlet for her to express her feelings about May's death and the role she played in it. She writes to Kurt Cobain and Janis Joplin (among many others), relating her emotional turmoil to theirs. Truth is beautiful, no matter what the truth is. Even if it's scary or bad. It is beauty simply because it's true. And the truth is bright. Truth makes you more you. 

6. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

You can't go wrong with a Khaled Hosseini book. This book is destined to be a classic. The book talks about the modern history of Afghanistan from the end of the monarchy to the invasion of the Soviets to the chaos of rule by the warlords to the tight-fisted maniacal rule of the Taliban to the post-9/11 return to some semblance of relative normalcy. The author narrates the stories of two main characters of differing backgrounds, this time women. The first, Mariam, is the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman in Herat. Second, Laila, a beautiful young girl who grows up as a neighbor of Rasheed and Mariam in Kabul. She has a childhood friend, Tariq, a young man who lost a leg to a Soviet land mine. As these children mature, they fall in love.

A man's heart is a wretched, wretched thing. It isn't like a mother's womb. It won't bleed. It won't stretch to make room for you. Liked these? Tell us in the comments about the books that you love!