"Night"- Elie Wiesel
This book in particular is by far one of my all time favorites. This magnificent piece of work is about the author's experience with his father at Auschwitz, a Nazi German concentration camp, in the height of the Second World War. Wiesel's style of writing was so specific in detail that I was able to imagine the events he had to go through, which consisted of horror and heart-breaking tragedies. This was the first book I cried to when reading, as well as the first book for me to finish in less than twenty-four hours. I couldn't resist not knowing what would happen next. I just simply couldn't put this book down.
Night (Amazon Link)
"Girl in Translation"- Jean Kwok
This book completely changed my perspective on immigrants who come to America and wish to obtain citizenship. Kimberly Chang, the book's main protagonist, emigrates to America with her mother from Hong King to Brooklyn and faces many challenging situations that she can't get out of. She is a Chinatown sweatshop worker who speaks barely any English and is forced by her mother to exceed in school and obtain a scholarship from a prestigious college to save her and her mother out of the misery they are living in. Because sweatshops are illegal in America, she is forced to tell no one about her "other life". The books story line is absolutely amazing. This book was so inspirational to me and it will forever be one of my favorites because of how the author portrayed her life through a very compelling story. This book too was one where I couldn't put down. The story was just too "juicy".
Girl in Translation (Amazon Link)
'A Child Called "It"'- Dave Pelzer
This book was another one of my favorites that has left a very bittersweet effect on me. It was hard for me to read only because the heart-breaking situations the author had to go through: being abused by his mother as a child. He was tormented and treated as a worthless human being, as if he were a slave to his mother. This book was such an eye-opener to me that I feared what many other children, like Dave Pelzer, have to endure at home with psychotic parents. I furthered my research on child abuse and was astounded by how so many are faced with mental problems after they grow up and live on their own. I loved and hated this book at the same time.
A Child Called "It" (Amazon Link)
This book in particular is by far one of my all time favorites. This magnificent piece of work is about the author's experience with his father at Auschwitz, a Nazi German concentration camp, in the height of the Second World War. Wiesel's style of writing was so specific in detail that I was able to imagine the events he had to go through, which consisted of horror and heart-breaking tragedies. This was the first book I cried to when reading, as well as the first book for me to finish in less than twenty-four hours. I couldn't resist not knowing what would happen next. I just simply couldn't put this book down.
Night (Amazon Link)
"Girl in Translation"- Jean Kwok
This book completely changed my perspective on immigrants who come to America and wish to obtain citizenship. Kimberly Chang, the book's main protagonist, emigrates to America with her mother from Hong King to Brooklyn and faces many challenging situations that she can't get out of. She is a Chinatown sweatshop worker who speaks barely any English and is forced by her mother to exceed in school and obtain a scholarship from a prestigious college to save her and her mother out of the misery they are living in. Because sweatshops are illegal in America, she is forced to tell no one about her "other life". The books story line is absolutely amazing. This book was so inspirational to me and it will forever be one of my favorites because of how the author portrayed her life through a very compelling story. This book too was one where I couldn't put down. The story was just too "juicy".
Girl in Translation (Amazon Link)
'A Child Called "It"'- Dave Pelzer
This book was another one of my favorites that has left a very bittersweet effect on me. It was hard for me to read only because the heart-breaking situations the author had to go through: being abused by his mother as a child. He was tormented and treated as a worthless human being, as if he were a slave to his mother. This book was such an eye-opener to me that I feared what many other children, like Dave Pelzer, have to endure at home with psychotic parents. I furthered my research on child abuse and was astounded by how so many are faced with mental problems after they grow up and live on their own. I loved and hated this book at the same time.
A Child Called "It" (Amazon Link)
Wow! These books all seem like great reads!! I also find myself reading books that are hard to stomach, and end up loving and hating them equally. It can be so difficult to read horrific stories about children, and really opened my eyes to how privileged I was in my childhood upbringing. I'm DEFINITELY going to be picking one of these up soon.
ReplyDeleteYour choices show how fiction books can educate people about history and the world around them, while engaging people who aren't going to read the history or non-fiction books about the same topics anyway. That's me, too.
ReplyDeleteI don't read any fiction based story books;However, now i'll go to the library and find these books and at least read one of those. As our Professor mentioned that these are educational type of books...Hence I'll go and read them.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading "A Child Called 'It'" when i was younger! you said it well, bittersweet is a good way to describe it. I have "Night" at home on a bookshelf collecting dust, your powerful support of the book inspired me to read it. Plus i love WW2 stuff. My list of books to read is getting longer and longer after reading each blog.
ReplyDeleteBooks are really great for learning even though so many people are resistant to them! After hearing you mention "Night" in class and now reading about it here I will have to check it out soon. Fiction is great for really getting away from everyday life, and it's great that you enjoy ones that involve history.
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