What better way to procrastinate studying for finals than starting a new book! Here are three titles for braving the home stretch of the semester.
Sparrow by Sarah Moon
Jacket Illustration by Maeve Norton
How beautiful is that cover? Sparrow follows a lonely, shy fourteen-year-old girl named Sparrow who suffers from social anxiety. The story chronicles her experiences after her favorite teacher dies, from her relationship with her mom to her time in therapy to finding rock n roll music. Early reviews praise Sarah Moon’s prose and characterization, and I found myself drawn to this book for the amazing cover art.
Read if: You like emotional coming-of-age stories, John Green, personal journeys
All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater
From Mashable
Slowly but surely I am making my way through Maggie Stiefvater’s extensive body of work, including her latest, All the Crooked Saints. Set in the dark, mysterious town of Bicho Raro, Colorado, this book follows three talented cousins from the Soria family, who are capable of performing unusual miracles.
According to an interview with Mashable, the idea for the book came to Stiefvater after years of giving her fans “dubious advice”:
“I wanted to explore the thoughts I’d had over the years about the dubious wisdom of asking obviously flawed people like myself for dubious life advice, and how giving advice changes the advice giver, and how changing yourself for the better sometimes can be done alone and sometimes requires other people.”
Read if: You like the dark and mysterious, Renegades by Marissa Meyer, or the Diviners series by Libba Bray.
You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life by Eleanor Roosevelt
“Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each new thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
Fiction takes up the majority of space on my book shelf, but every now and then I try to read a biography or something written by someone I admire. Eleanor Roosevelt, former first lady and strident activist, was a fearless leader championing women’s rights and fighting for the marginalized. Numerous biographies detail her life and work, but few of them are in her own words. You Learn by Living contains her personal philosophies if you’re looking for inspiration or a means of direction in your life.
Read if: You like biographies, Eleanor Roosevelt, self-help from people who made it
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