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10 Books To Read Before You Die
If you’re a bookworm like me, you’ve probably seen lots of those books to read before you die lists. I’ve seen plenty, and they always seem to focus on the classics. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good classic, but I think there are a lot of contemporary books that deserve a spot on those lists too. These books cover a wide range of themes and take us on emotional journeys. So, I’ve put together a list of 10 contemporary books that I think everyone should read before they die. These are some of my all-time favorites, and I hope you’ll love them as much as I do.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Follow the lives of four friends—Willem, JB, Malcolm, and Jude—as they navigate their post-college years in New York. Their bonds are tested by success, addiction, and dark secrets, especially Jude’s traumatic past. This is one of the saddest books I have ever read. The themes of friendship, pain, and resilience were incredibly heartbreaking.
When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they’re broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity.
Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.
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Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Set in a quiet village, the story revolves around Kya, the mysterious “Marsh Girl.” When a local man is found dead, Kya is suspected. This book beautifully blends a murder mystery with Kya’s coming-of-age story and her connection to nature.
For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life’s lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.
In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.
The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.
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The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Nora Seed finds herself in a magical library where she can explore different versions of her life. With each book, she sees how her choices could have led her down various paths. This story feels almost like non-fiction, filled with nuggets of wisdom and life lessons.
Between life and death there is a library.
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.
The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren’t always what she imagined they’d be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.
Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?
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Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
In the 1960s, chemist Elizabeth Zott battles sexism at her research institute. After a series of events, she becomes the star of a cooking show, where she teaches women more than just recipes. his is one of the saddest and most humorous books I have ever read. I really loved the setting and characters too
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.
Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.
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Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
June Hayward, a struggling author, steals a manuscript from her deceased friend, Athena Liu, and publishes it under a new identity. As June’s success grows, she must deal with the moral and legal consequences of her actions. It’s a sharp, satirical look at identity and ambition. This book was such a surprise! I didn’t expect it to be so good. The satire, ambition, and the life of a writer were all really well done. It’s a fantastic read with a great mix of mystery and thriller.
White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences… Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American—in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel.
Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.
So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.
But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.
With its totally immersive first-person voice.
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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
This novel follows the lives of Sam and Sadie, who start as friends and become successful video game designers. Their partnership faces highs and lows, personal challenges, and creative disputes over decades. What I loved most is the friendship and the life of gamers. There’s a sense of melancholy throughout the book that I really enjoyed. It’s not a happy and feel good novel. You will not forget about this for a long time.
In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.
On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn’t heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won’t protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.
Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.
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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Hollywood legend Evelyn Hugo opens up about her glamorous and scandalous life to an unknown reporter, Monique. As Evelyn recounts her journey through seven marriages, Monique discovers unexpected connections between their lives. It’s a captivating tale of love, fame, and secrets. If you ever want to find out what it takes to be a Hollywood icon, this book is what you need. I absolutely love it. Reid is an amazing storyteller, and I really enjoyed her fast-paced yet descriptive style. Not many authors can write so quickly without missing details, but she nails it. There are so many characters, but you never feel like you’re missing out on any of them. You get to know each one so well, and it feels like you’ve known Evelyn Hugo from her teenage years to adulthood.
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.
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The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Set in 1970s Alaska, this story follows the Allbright family as they move to a remote area to escape their troubles. Leni, the teenage daughter, deals with her father’s volatility and the harsh Alaskan wilderness. It’s a powerful tale of survival, love, and the wild beauty of Alaska.Kristin Hannah is fantastic at drawing you into her characters’ lives, making you feel everything they experience. You’ll find yourself constantly feeling sad, happy, and joyful for them. She really makes you fall in love with the setting, plot, and her writing. Even though the book is long, it never felt slow to me. I loved the pace.
Alaska, 1974.
Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.
Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.
Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.
At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.
But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.
In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.
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Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Nora Stephens, a successful literary agent, goes on a trip to a small town with her sister. There, she keeps running into Charlie Lastra, a brooding editor she knows from the city. Their repeated encounters lead to unexpected sparks and self-discovery. It’s a charming romance about finding love and oneself. I wasn’t sure why everyone was so obsessive over Emily Henry, but this book is the answer. I really loved her writing; the smart, funny, and emotional elements are combined so seamlessly and make it super fun to read.
One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn’t see coming….
Nora Stephens’ life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.
Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.
If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.
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The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Alicia Berenson, a famous painter, shoots her husband and then stops speaking. Her silence and the mystery of her actions captivate the public. Theo Faber, a determined psychotherapist, tries to unravel her secrets, leading to a gripping psychological thriller full of twists. This book will forever be one of the best that helped me fall in love with psychological thrillers.
Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.
Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.
Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him….
The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.
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