If you are a lover of a well-written heartfelt story, these books are for you!
1. "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult
Summary: Anna Fitzgerald was born to keep her sister, who is sick with leukemia, alive. At the age of thirteen, she decides that she is fed up and files a lawsuit against her family for the rights to her own body. This books makes readers question their basic views on morality while evoking a range of emotions.
Review: "This beautifully crafted novel will grab readers with its stunning topic." People
Quote: “You don't love someone because they're perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they're not.”
2. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn
Summary: On the morning of Nick and Amy's fifth wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing! Amy left behind the annual anniversary scavenger hunt and her diary. The diary contains hints that her marriage was not as perfect as everybody thought it was. Nick remains aloof during the investigation, causing people to believe that he was the one to commit the crime. But is Nick capable of killing his wife?
Review: “Ice-pick-sharp… Spectacularly sneaky… Impressively cagey… Gone Girl is Ms. Flynn’s dazzling breakthrough. It is wily, mercurial, subtly layered and populated by characters so well imagined that they’re hard to part with — even if, as in Amy’s case, they are already departed. And if you have any doubts about whether Ms. Flynn measures up to Patricia Highsmith’s level of discreet malice, go back and look at the small details. Whatever you raced past on a first reading will look completely different the second time around.” New York Times
Quote: “Love makes you want to be a better man—right, right. But maybe love, real love, also gives you permission to just be the man you are.”
3. "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger
Summary: Holden Caulfield is a sixteen year old filled with angst. He has been kicked out of his school, which is a common theme in his life. He failed every class except for English. Even though Holden has a few days before he officially has to leave the school, he decides to leave anyways. Holden has many adventures in New York. In the end, it is revealed that Holden is in a mental facility.
Review: "I personally thoroughly enjoyed every part of this book. I felt very close to Holden Caulfield, the main character in the story, as I read it." Goodreads
Quote: “What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.”
4. "The Tenth Circle" by Jodi Picoult
Summary: High school freshman Trixie, accuses her ex-boyfriend Jason of rape. Unfortunately for Trixie, everybody believes Jason when he claims that the sex was consensual. Soon after this incident, Jason dies. Everybody either assumes that it was suicide or accuses Trixie. The town fights to solve the mystery of Jason's death.
Review: "Another gripping, nuanced tale of a family in crisis from bestseller Picoult." People
Quote: “Change is a funny thing. We never are quite sure what we are becoming or even why. Then one day we look at ourselves and wonder who we are and how we got that way. Only one thing about change remains constant...it is always painful”
5. "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Summary: Blind Marie-Laure lives in France with her father during World War II. Werner is an orphan who lives in Nazi Germany. Their paths cross during the end of the war.
Review: "Incandescent…Mellifluous and unhurried…Characters as noble as they are enthralling. Doerr looms myriad strains into a luminous work of strife and transcendence." Oprah Magazine
Quote: “So how, children, does the brain, which lives without a spark of light, build for us a world full of light?”
