13 Books Everyone Must Read Before They Turn 30
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The sound of the parchment and their warmth inducing fragrance, the feeling of holding and savoring our favorite works of literature, are possibly the most reassuring experiences in the drudgery that life is. Books are an escape, a guiding light through life, our constant companions in the discovery of our own selves and the beauty that our world holds.
While it is absolutely impossible to list down all the enthralling novels that have been penned by the thousands of brilliant minds that have come before us, this is an attempt to enlist some of the most essential works of literature that we have been graced with, in no particular order of preference.
1. The Kite Runner
Set in Afghanistan, Khaled Hosseini's debut novel is bound to leave you deeply affected. The rawness with which Hosseini deals with abuse, violence, neglect, suicide, and terrorism will leave you with a hole in your heart, in the best possible way. It is a beautiful, haunting and powerful tale of friendship; one that you won't forget in a lifetime.
2. To Kill A Mockingbird
Hailed as 'The American Novel' To Kill A Mockingbird is about having the courage to stand by your convictions. Narrated through the ingenuous eyes of a child, this novel explores the importance of integrity and duty when faced with intolerance and injustice. With a message of anti-racism at its core, Harper Lee breaks down stereotypes with finesse and teaches a thing or two about being respectful to our fellow human beings.
3. One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of six generations of the Buendia family, inhabiting the fictional and magical town of Macondo, somewhere in South America. An enthralling concoction of quirks, ancient mysteries, family secrets and peculiar contradictions culminates into one of Marquez's best works, and as you soak yourself in the vivid imagery that unfolds with every page, you realize that this fantastic piece of literature is magic realism at it's finest.
4. The Diary of a Young Girl
A very unusual document in the field of Holocaust literature, Anne Frank's diary depicts an oddly optimistic tale of one of the darkest periods of history. Filled with quiet moments of happiness, the thirteen year old girl's diary documents the budding of a precious life. It is fascinating and equally heartbreaking to read about the unfolding of events in her life, and we are indeed fortunate to have been privy to a perfectly intimate record of youth.
5. 1984
This brilliant novel is one that dwells on dystopia and is startlingly original and haunting. George Orwell creates an imaginary world with his prophetic, nightmarish vision of where the world is headed. Orwell's writing is so visceral, it will leave you feeling intrigued and disturbed at the same time, in the best possible way.
6. The Bell jar
The Bell Jar is a key text of Anglo-American feminism and focuses on a woman's struggles with her identity in the face of social pressure. This powerful semi-autobiographical novel by Sylvia Plath is the only novel she wrote during her lifetime. It is an intensely emotional and palpably real narration of Esther Greenwood's downward spiral into the grips of insanity.
7. Midnight's Children
In Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie deals with the portrayal of India's vast cultural identity in the post-colonial times laced with magic realism, and he does so with elan. The narrative traces the course of Saleem's life which is inextricably linked with that of his motherland, and every act of his is mirrored in the events that shape the newborn nation of India. The beautiful and complex language that Rushdie employs in his novel brings to life the curious characters and lush imagery.
8. Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi's autobiography is a timeless story of growing up amidst an oppressive misogynistic extremist regime during the Islamic Revolution. It is a humorous and haunting memoir and the brilliant graphics capture the myriad of emotions and experiences she goes through in her tryst with a world where all children are forced to grow up.
9. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The first of Maya Angelou's series of autobiographies, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a social record of a young black female growing up in America in the 1930s. It is a raw and powerful coming of age story with the backdrop of racism, violence against women and the problem of identity.
10. Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest is a philosophical quest with a just the right amount of funny. Uniquely American, this book is about how our desires are moderated and mediated by culture. It explores the passions that make us human and the extent to which entertainment has come to dominate our lives.
11. The Brothers Karamazov
Dostoyevsky's genius shines through in this dense work of philosophy disguised as a simple murder mystery. The plot revolves around the lives of three brothers and how they evolve and deal with their struggles based on their differing world views.The enthralling prose of The Brothers Karamazov captures a spiritual drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, and reason, set against a modernizing Russia.
12. Three Men in a Boat
What was intended to be a travel guide to a boat trip on the river Thames, Three Men in a Boat is an amusing account of three friends, and their dog, on a boating expedition. Narrated in a Wodehouse-esque style, Jerome K Jerome's classic is replete with misadventures and sheer silliness and will leave you pleasantly happy by the end of it.
13. The Trial
In this haunting novel, Franz Kafka presents a bleak world where a once respectable bank clerk is suddenly prosecuted for apparently no reason at all, and does not even have the benefit of an effective lawyer to represent him. The Trial is deeply thought-provoking in its uncomfortable presentation of a world where people are observed by the secret police and suddenly arrested, reflecting the social turmoil in Europe around the time Kafka wrote it in 1914.
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