Books You Should Read Before You Die

By Cynthia Loh 

Harry Potter Series

This fictitious book series follows the journey and adventure of Harry Potter, a young wizard, and his friends Ron and Hermione. The characters attend the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and while enhancing their magical skills, they overcome enemies and obstacles along the way. The story mainly revolves around Harry's fight against Lord Voldemort, a wizard who tries to displace the Ministry of Magic, the governing body for wizards.

Falling under many genres, such as fantasy, drama, coming-of-age, mystery, thriller, fiction, and young adult, Harry Potter is on of the most widely known novels and one of the most successful. The Harry Potter franchise is valued at about $25 million. The seven books in the series were turned into an eight-part film series which is the second highest-grossing film series of all time.

The Harry Potter books in order:

1. The Philosopher's Stone
2. The Chamber of Secrets
3. The Prisoner of Azkaban
4. The Goblet of Fire
5. The Oder of the Phoenix
6. The Half-Blood Prince
7. The Deathly Hallows

Caitlin Scarpa- "Harry Potter has a lot of childish adventures and you grow up with the books as you read them."

Claire Riley- "Its good" 

Of Mice and Men 

A greatly distinguished novel written by John Steinbeck and often regarded as a classic. The main characters are George Milton and Lennie Small, an odd and seemingly incompatible characters. George is small and smart but is uneducated, on the other hand, Lennie is big and lumbering but had a mental disability. They are migrant workers with the American Dream of settling their own land. However, Lennie's mental disability leads commit many blunders, some more consequential than the others, and George takes his role as Lennie's guardian and does his best to keep Lennie safe. 

Of Mice and Men is a required piece of reading in many schools but is often challenged and argued that it should not be required to be read in schools. Contested for it's vulgar and offensive language, this book falls into the American Library Association's  list of the Most Challenged Books in the 21st Century.

Caitlin Scarpa- " It's an amazing classic that will be enjoyed for many more generations to come."

The Notebook 

Written by Nicholas Sparks, a novselist, screenwriter, and producer, most famously known as being a romanctic novelist. The Notebook is described as a story of miracles and an aching story about the power of love. Narrated by an elderly man in a nursing home who tells this story to another patient from his notebook. The main characters Noah and Allie who spend a summer together and fall in love. However, Allie's parents disagreed with her seeing a lower-class man and ban her from seeing him. 14 years later, Noah has returned from fighting in the war and Allie is know engaged to a rich lawyer. These two are able to rekindle their love and end up together in the end. 

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee published in 1960 is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel and a classic in modern literature. The novel is in the perspective of a young girl, called Scout, and follows her as she grows up and the plot unfolds. As a young child, Scout, her brother Jem, and their friend Dill, had a fascination with Arthur "Boo" Radley but were terrified of him at the same time. Boo has never been seen by anyone for year and the rumor and stories of Boo made him out as a wild animal. Atticus, Scout's father, defends a black man, who is innocent, from a rape allegation on a white girl. This being the climax of the novel discusses the issue of rape and racial inequality. 

The characters and the plot of this novel was based off the author's own observations of living in her hometown and her family and her neighbors. Although the book's lesson denounces prejudice and racism, it is challenged to be taken out of public schools due to it's racist epithets. It was even ranked, by British librarians, above the Bible in the list of books "every adult should read before they die".  

Ender's Game

A futuristic, military science novel written by Orson Scott Card presents a conflict between humans and aliens known as "buggers". Ender Wiggen, a genius-like boy is recruited to go to Battle School, a facility in space that prepares kids to fight in an appending war against the buggers and to protect humanity. The teachers at Battle School see Ender as their last chance for a commander who can defeat the buggers and push him through the school process leaving Ender mentally and socially strained. Disguised as a battle simulation, a game, Ender battles against Mazer Rackham in what is thought to be a simulated fight that gets progressively harder with each battle. What Ender doesn't know is that he is actually in control of human lives and is actually fighting the war. 

Ender's Game is a series with sequels: Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind, and Ender in Exile. There are later novels that come out that take place in the same time period as Ender's Game. I recommend Ender's Shadow.    

The Song of Achilles 

Madeline Miller spent ten years writing her debut novel novel, The Song of Achilles. Set in Greece, the novel tells the story of Achilles, the demi-god and Greek hero of the Trojan War, and Patroclus, Achilles best friend. These characters were take from Homer's Iliad and told as a love affair between Achilles and Patroclus. Like many others, Miller wondered what the relationship between these two friends actually was and tells how she interprets their relationship in her book. Miller saw their relationship not as best friends b, but rather as lovers.

The Song of Achilles is a winner of the Orange Prize for fiction and was shortlisted for the 2013 Chautauqua Prize.  

The Five People You Meet In Heaven 

The Five People You Meet In Heaven, a novel by Mitch Albom, shows the life and death of Eddie, a maintenance man. After dying trying to save a girl from a failing amusement park ride, Eddie is sent to heaven. From there he meets five people who had a significant impact on Eddie when he was alive, the Blue Man, The Captain, Ruby, Marguerite, and Tala. Each person he meets becomes a theme for the book. The Blue man shows that everything happens for a reason, the Captain explains how sacrifices are a part of life, Ruby teaches the importance of forgiveness and that there are two sides to every story, Marguerite shows the power of love after death, and Tala expresses that there is a purpose life.     

And A Bunch More...