TTT: Best Procrastination Sites

So for about five months I’ve been meme-ing along with The Broke and the Bookish on a weekly basis – and I had no idea there were so many book blogs out there.

This week, TBTB asks about the Top Ten Blogs or Sites we visit regularly that aren’t about books. I think I’m going to like this, because I will finally get to know a little more about the bloggers behind the TTTs.

Here are some of my favourites, in no particular order:

1. Terribly Cute - I am very broody. And since I am nowhere near ready for kids, I want puppies and kitties (or anything smaller than a fully grown human, actually). But living in student dorms means that’s not really a possibility either. This site is the next best thing – and it really is terribly cute! They update several times a day. One of my favourites:

2. Street Anatomy combines anatomy and pop culture, and it is simply amazing. Anatomy is so not my strong suit AT ALL, but I’ve become more and more intrigued with it after Forensic Pathology. Be warned that some of the artsy stuff can sometimes be a little graphic – it is anatomy, after all. The picture alongside is Parisian Pole Ka‘s work. Click the image for the original post.

3. Semester at Sea does not really need introduction, but if you’re new to this blog you can check out my post about it here. It’s awesome and I keep checking it out because I’m just fascinated I guess. Also, I was in their blog the other day!

4. The Underwear Drawer is a blog by Michelle Au, about whom I have written before too. She writes about medschool, becoming a doctor (she’s an anaesthesiologist now) and motherhood. Her medschool cartoons are absolutely wonderful. You should visit them here.

5. Youth Journalism International is an organisation really close to my heart. I still write for them occasionally, and I now also focus on an “ambassadorial” role. YJI is a non-profit journalism organisation. I joined them in 2008. They offer students all over the world the opportunity to write, and students have covered things like natural disasters and the revolutions in Egypt and Syria last year. If you want to know what the future of Journalism and our world’s leadership looks like, you should visit here.

 

6. The Oatmeal – I’m not even sure how to describe this site. Part cartoon, part sarcasm, part satire. It’s good and entertaining, but be warned that there is sometimes some use of crude language and allusions to violence. Some “safe” cartoons for sensitive viewers include 15 Things About Coffee, What Your Email Address Says About You and How to Pet a Kitty.  I must admit, finding non-PG stuff on there was a little difficult. But the three above should be enjoyable if you are an oatmeal-ish person.

7. Creating Motherhood – I definitely try to stay away from those mothering blogs… It’s not that I am judging, it’s just that it’s not really me at all. There are some exceptions, like Dresden here. She writes about her long struggle with IVF, looking after her gran who had Alzheimer’s disease and now recently has a guest-blogging theme called In Times Like These, about difficult financial times (I wrote a guest post too).

 

8. PostSecret should really not be new to readers of this blog. It’s full of secrets and creativity and it’s awesome. A new set of secrets is published every Sunday. Just visit it, you will love it. You should also check out this TEDtalk byFrank Warren, who started it all.

9. New England Journal of Medicine 200th Anniversary Site – Okay, I suck at the whole medical journal, critical appraisal thing. I really don’t get why people can’t just write in normal English, so I can understand all their wonderful studies. So I don’t exactly have a favourite journal or something like that. But NEJM has this amazing site for their 200 year celebrations, and part of it has a great medical timeline as well as a library of classic clinical images that every physician should know. Yes, I guess I’m a nerd at heart.

Guess what happened here?
Click the image to be taken to the article.

10. Calcutta Kids is a NPO community health program in Kolkata, India – where I hope to do my elective soon. They’ve just launched their new website. They have done some amazing things, especially when it comes to reducing low birth weight and treating/preventing diarrhoeal disease. They also have a blog. This post about helping a little boy who was malnourished should give you an idea of the work they do.

TTT: Big Brother Author – A Bite of Reality!

Don’t you just love reality shows? Okay I don’t really, but I can’t seem to drag my eyes away from them. I’ve never watched Jersey Shore of own accord, but if it’s playing in a room I enter, I can’t help but pay attention. It’s embarrassing actually.

Authors are notoriously absent from reality shows. The Broke and the Bookish asks  for our top ten authors you’d like to see on a reality show – and which reality show.

So today we fill up a house and force completely different people to share, live and breathe each other’s personal space. Yeah, this is probably one of the most trashy and promiscuous reality shows out there, but you can’t say it’s not entertaining. Let’s meet our contestants.

1. George Orwell from Nineteen Eighty-Four fame – creator of the concept, Orwell really doesn’t have a choice but to be a housemate. Although it’s been on my TBR list forever, I’m yet to read Orwell. But I shall. Also, there is no rule that states the authors have to be currently alive.

2. Cherise Sinclair from the Shadowlands novels – these BDSM books are definitely not for everyone, but every house needs a uninhibited and steamy contestant. And I always say, “Regardless of what they read: as long as they READ.”

3. Stephenie Meyer from Twilight Saga fame – she confused me by writing Twilight, which I hated, and then writing The Host, which was UH-MAY-ZING! So I need a dealbreaker. And any case, she is one of those love-hate authors. It’s always fun to have someone that will get the bets rolling.

4. John Green from The Fault in our Stars – having just recently finished this book, I’ll admit to knowing nothing of the author, except that he has a genuine and novel perception of life and is a keen observer. I think he has the surprise-factor and will keep quite a few glued to the screens.

5. Waris Dirie, renowned activist and author of Desert Flower – I’ll admit, this is a shameless publicity stunt. I want more awareness of female genital mutilation and actually just the plight of women the world over. I don’t think Dirie would consent to such frivolity, but I do think she would give some depth to the show. Also, this woman is really good looking. No sexism intended.

6. Dan Brown from The Da Vinci Code – this man is intelligent and informed, but if his books are anything to go by, he has the immense potential to seriously piss people off. And a house without some tiffs is really no fun to view at all. You know those late-night debates? Yeah, he’ll be in them.

7. Kathryn Stockett from The Help – politically correct and a fighter for what is right – really another debate-starter. I think a lot of people would try to get a reaction out of her.

8. J.R.R. Tolkien from The Lord of the Rings – this is shameless of me, really, but there are too many people who do not read but have loved LOTR movies. One needs those characters who will attract an audience. I’m sure Tolkien has many other reasons for being a compelling asset to the house too.

9. John van de Ruit, South African author of Spud – if he is anything like the characters in his books, he loves mischief; and who doesn’t like the housemate who hides the cutlery or pulls similar pranks on the already-flustered housemates?

10. William Shakespears who needs no further introduction – he will confuse everyone with his use of language. He will be confused by modern-day use of English. He will intimidate some and annoy others. And where there is Shakespeare, there is love triangles and hamartias and all-round tragicomedy.

What do you think? Who will be the first to go? Who stands in line to win a bigger paycheck they could ever have dreamed of? Who will cause drama and who will be plain annoying?

TTT: Quotes that Inspire

I think one of the biggest reasons I read is because it inspires me. It inspires me to live, to love, to be bigger than I am, to exceed life’s expectations.

I guess you could say I collect quotes – so today’s Top Ten Tuesday with The Broke and the Bookish is making me very happy. These are my memes, which I thoroughly enjoyed creating:

Dumbledore will always have a special spot in my heart. He was such a good mentor to Harry.

You didn’t anticipate a list without Dahl, did you?

Nobody thought I would enjoy this book. I’m surprised too. But the satire and ingenious angle leaves me with many a favourite quote.

I did not enjoy this book and I didn’t finish it either. But the author has a superb way with metaphors and such.

One of my favourite setwork books in high school. That little island taught me so much about this big bad world.

I think I’ve mentioned this book in a TTT before. Albom is wonderful with life lessons.

And people say Shakespeare is irrelevant to modern teens…

Another book I really didn’t enjoy, but this verse struck a cord.

Oh Atticus, this is why I’ll always crush on you.

I read this on recommendation from TBTB. Much better than the movie Contagion!

Here’s the typed-out versions of the memes for those whose internet is wonky:

1. “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
2. “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.” Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
3. “A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.” The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
4. “With passing years, a single kiss can acquire more meaning than many years of naked skin.” Chernobyl Strawberries, Vesna Goldsworthy
5. “Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us.” Lord of the Flies, William Golding
6. “But behind all your stories is always your mother’s story, because hers is where yours begin.” For one more day, Mitch Albom
7. “But he that filches from me my good name, robs me of that which not enriches him and makes me poor indeed.” Othello, William Shakespeare
8. “Roads go ever and ever on, under cloud and under star, yet feet that wandering have gone turn at last to home afar.” The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
9. “Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of another.” To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
10. “This is what we do. We make tea and read books and watch people die.” The Way We Fall, Megan Crewe

TTT: Books to Movies

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish is a little counter-intuitive for me. My first love was, and will always be, books. I always watch movies based on books, but I am more often than not disappointed. It’s great that non-readers get to enjoy these stories too, but often they don’t get the deeper meaning of the characters or the storyline. But it is an honour for the author, so here goes my top ten books I’d like to see made into a movie.

 

1. A Game Called Survival by Ian Douglas Reid – The story of Betty Di San Marzano and her children in Italy is a stunning tale of an American-born woman married to an Italian soldier. When Italy enters World War II against the allies, Betty’s husband joins the partisan forces. Soon, Betty and her children must flee for their lives.

I loved this biography. It’s thrilling and I have never read another book about WWII quite like it. If made into a movie, it would be a fresh look at events during WWII not well known.

2. Amazon Adventure by Willard Price – Hal and Roger are the sons of a famous naturalist. They travel to the Amazon with him to discover little-known animal species and encounter all sorts of adventure – including human deception – along the way.

Price wrote an entire Adventure series, of which this was the first. It was thrilling, and although slightly old I think it will make a stunning movie for all ages.

3. Shades by Marguerite Poland – We’ve seen now that historical romance novels can be made into breathtaking movies. This novel, set in late 19th century Eastern Cape, South Africa, can be similarly breathtaking. It’s historic value is immense, the romance unique, the insight priceless. The tragedy a final ingredient.

4. The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix – I can’t actually believe that this magical fantasy adventure has not been turned into a film. It has everything it needs to succeed with the current audience: a brave and stubborn heroine, a dashing though somewhat confused hero, talking animals, lurking evil and fantastical magic. And she is most certainly a hawt BAMF!

This image by Amanda Bills (c) 2011

5. Luna by Julie Anne Peters – I just recently read this book about a transsexual teenager and wrote a review about it for YJI here. It’s a lovely, relevant story – and it’s clean and appropriate for all ages. It would be an excellent contribution to society.

6. The BFG by Roald Dahl – Matilda and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory made excellent big screen hits and I think The BFG will be another lovable success. I would want it to be fully animated in the classic Disney style, not digitally animated. Quentin Blake is still alive, I’m sure he’d love to assist with the animation!

7. Shade’s Children by Garth Nix – an excellent dystopian/sci-fi novel with the appropriate fear and childhood bravery. Everyone would love this.

 

 

8. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins – yeah, I’m not a huge fan of chick-flicks, but this one is funny, sweet, in freaking Paris with lots of wonderful accents… yeah, I’d watch it.

9. A Dry White Season by Andre P. Brink – set in Apartheid South Africa, this novel views the darkest time in the country in the eyes of a white man who has been kept conveniently ignorant by his government. It illustrates how, through the use of censorship and intimidation, the government ensured that white South Africans would not know of the atrocities taking place right under their nose.

South African film is slowly improving and we have had a few good films about Apartheid. But white South Africans still carry the guilt of crimes committed by a government who went above their heads. This story shows a horrific side of the story rarely told – and it would translate well on film.

10. The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson (or any of Wilson’s books) – these are lovely, realistic, down-to-earth books for tweens and would translate well to the big screen, be it animation or not. I think parents would also enjoy it.

P.S: I would have put Obsidian (Jennifer Armentrout), The Hobbit (Tolkien) and Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins), but as far as I know those are all already in various stages of production.

The Unhappy Doctor

My presence in the medical community has not been lengthy, but I’ve noticed one thing: A lot of doctors are terminally unhappy. I know they think we don’t notice their scowl, their rush to get out of the hospital, their snide comments when the patient is finally subdued by the anaesthetic.

I see it. I see the way their shoulders sag and the way they hate talking about news regarding medical science. I see how rude they are to each other, to their nurses, to their students and even to their patients. And it means one thing: They are miserable.

Medscape’s Mark Crane recently revealed a study where it was found that doctors are miserable. Only 54% would choose medicine as a career if they could go back in time. It’s an American study, but I’m willing to bet that South African doctors would have similar results. Perhaps even more so.

Anycase, much of the cited reasons for the disgruntlement relates to finances. Doctors don’t “feel rich”, they earn a substantial salary but also have substantial debts to repay.

I hope that this reason will disappear off the radar soon. There is a perception that doctors are rich. Firstly, I’m really not sure that one should enter a field to get rich. But secondly, those days are long gone. Patients are poor. The economy sucks. Managed healthcare and medical aids are sucking the life out of healthcare professionals.

To prospective medical students: If you want to get rich, this is not for you. Medical school is one of the most expensive fields of study imaginable. It’s long, it’s painful, it’s expensive. If you want to get rich, you need to go into the stock markets, into business, into innovation. Not that you should do that to get rich, either…

Another reason is time lost on administration.

This is a sad but true reason. Life requires paperwork. Lack of paper trails are the reason doctors have managed to give the wrong patient the wrong medication. Anywhere you go, there will be paperwork. I guess here we have to grow up and learn to deal. Or get an assistant (note, “intern” should not be synonymous with “paperwork scutmonkey”!).

But again, I’m going to be a little bitter about medical aid schemes here. The amount of paperwork they require and the amount of telephone-time they want is ridiculous. And they truly leach our patients of their money.

I had to make the decision to study medicine at the tender age of 18.

It’s a harsh fact that many of us decide to go into this field when we barely know ourselves. It scares me. I have so many other passions, and yes, sometimes I wake up and I dread going to the hospital. I don’t want to be a miserable doctor. But life sucks for some people, and we don’t always get to save the world like we dreamed to do.

Are you happy in your job (even if it’s not in healthcare)?

How do you maintain job satisfaction?

Organ Donation, Unwinding and the Black Market

Organ donation is becoming more and more of an issue. It should have been a huge issue ages ago.

Nazirah wrote a great post about it here. I recently read Unwind by Neal Shusterman. You need to read it. It is a warped and really freaky story. The fictional concept of unwinding is the process of donating an entire live child for organ harvesting, because by the law’s weird rationale, the child is not killed as it “lives on”.

And here’s how it starts:

“If more people had been organ donors, unwinding never would have happened.”

South Africa had an organ scandal a few years ago. And when I went to China last year, people warned me about the black market there.

Disclaimer: I’m not an organ donor. Yet. I want to be. I think voluntary organ donation is a truly wonderful thing. If my dad could see by receiving donor corneas (he can’t, it’s a retinal problem) I would want him to do it. If my mom’s pain could be cured by a donor organ, I would tell her to go for it. But for me it’s a biggish decision that doesn’t just involve me. One I believe I’ll make, soon.

This picture on pinterest inspired me to write this post. It’s a little morbid, but it’s educational and wonderful.

Are you an organ donor? Why or why not? Do you believe the matter is being under- or overplayed?

TTT: Characters of my Heart

People that don’t read often express confusion as to the attraction of the hobby. Why read? Why not be social and have friends?

First-off, bookworms have friends. They do tend to be more picky though, in my experience. But here’s part of the real attraction in books: they introduce you to a wide array of characters you might never have met in real life. Yeah, we know they’re not REALLY real (sort-of), but that doesn’t make their quirks any less enjoyable, or their lessons any less valuable.

So today, in conjunction with The Broke and the Bookish, here are my Top Ten Favourite Characters of all time, in no particular order.

1. Matilda from Matilda (Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake) – the bookish girl with such intelligence that she can move objects with her brain? Yes please! She overcomes her horrid parents and her even more horrid headmistress, she is devious and cunning, and she’s quite the hero too. A nerdy girl with a happy ending? Yes please!

2. Arimoto from The Garden of Evening Mists (Tan Twan Eng) – this gentle Japanese gardener is so wise and wonderful, I just want to adopt him. He also says funny things like, “Your brain is just like a strip of flypaper hanging from the ceiling; every thought, however fleeting and inconsequential, sticks to it.” Read my review for it here.

3. Snowy from TinTin (Herge) – I almost forgot about these books until The Boy and I had a movie marathon one recent rainy weekend. Snowy was a legend, man! The cutest, most clever little dog ever. Just thinking about him makes me miss my doggies back home, sniff. By the way, YJI has a great TinTin review here and I found this awesome TinTin tumblr page here.

4. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling) –  Hermione is confident, super intelligent, brave, funny, bossy… not a perfect girl by anybody’s standards, but quite legit. I used to (okay, lies, I still do) get compared to her all the time. Which annoyed me at first, but it’s cool now. Remember this?

5. Pumpkin from Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) – yeah yeah, the underdog and all that. She’s not the nicest person I guess, but I think she was good underneath it all and just forced into all that nonsense. She was a sweet little thing.

6. The Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll) – truthfully, for my little-girl life Alice was my favourite and I yearned for her adventures. The Cat annoyed me, he was cryptic and that smile was just creepier than the Queen of Hearts. But he grew on me. I appreciate him now.

7. Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) – I had a huge crush on Atticus when we read this in school. He was an intelligent (do we see a trend here) and compassionate man. And a great lawyer. And a great father! Plus no wife to upset.

8. Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne) – Winnie the Pooh did not really feature in my non-English childhood, so I got acquainted with the characters at a much older age. And Eeyore is adorable.

9. Klara from Heidi (Johanna Spyri) – When my mom was pregnant with my little sister, I tried convincing them to call her Heidi and to rename me as Klara. I’m not sure why I preferred pale Klara while I clearly had a desire for adventure.

10. Rue from The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) – I’m willing to bet just about everyone will have a THG character on their list. Rue was the sweetest, the most gentle, and actually one of the best-developed characters. I cried for her in the book and the movie.

I think this was definitely my favourite (yes, that’s how I spell it) TTT so far. I would have liked to add Scout (Mockingbird), Amelia (Handle With Care), St Clair (Anna) and Pippy Longstocking too, but rules are rules

TTT: How to be a Great Blogger of Books

The blogosphere is weird. I’m still not sure how I feel about it, but here I am another week. I had a blog once before, it didn’t work out too well. Then I moved to this blog, and it hasn’t exactly skyrocketed, but I enjoy it.

This week, The Broke and the Bookish talks about tips for new book bloggers. I think my tips are kind of for any bloggers –  does one decide from the get-go to blog about books? I don’t know. But here goes.

1. Appeal to the laziness – yeah, some of us are total nerds and will read your long essay extricating the philosophies in the latest chick-lit, but even I have my limits. If you really have so much to say, divide it into a series of posts. This way you have people actually reading to the end of a post, and they come back for more. (I am also very bad at this.)

2. Your readers are kids (at heart) – and we all like pictures. If you’re reviewing a book, at least post a picture of the cover. With the rising popularity of fan art and pinterest you really don’t have an excuse for forgetting the visuals.

3. …but don’t be silly now – pictures should at least be a little relevant. And not pixelated. And don’t rely on a picture to tell a thousand words, unless it’s Wordless Wednesday or unless the picture really is THAT GOOD.

4. CAPTCHA – is bad. Say it with me. I hate CAPTCHA, and sometimes when the prompt jumps up I get too annoyed to comment. And by the way, Blogger CAPTCHAs have become crazy difficult. Take away the damn prompts.

5. Reply to comments – seriously, I think the whole “follow back” thing is lame. BUT it’s common courtesy to reply to comments. Also, visit the person’s blog. Manners are important.

6. Don’t limit yourself – so you want to blog about books. That’s cool. But I know and you know that there is more to you than books. So it’s okay to write about things other than (but relating to) books. Just like I don’t ALWAYS write about being a medical student. Ellie once wrote about annoying customers at her bookshop, and check this cute picture I found at TBTB.

7. Participate in challenges or memes – it keeps you from stagnating, it helps when you’re feeling like a dead weight, and it introduces to entire new circles on the blogosphere.

8. It’s okay to have a negative review – Negative reviews have stopped me from reading crappy books. Then again, so have over-enthusiastic positive reviews. ’nuff said.

9. Join Goodreads – if you’re going to be a book blogger, you want to be on this site. This is not me putting you into a box, this is a great tool (and procrastination method).

10. Get off your bum – go out and live. Blogging is fun, and great, and creative (and so is reading). But some places you can visit in real life too. And there are some things you will only truly understand once you have lived. Your writing and also your reading will change as you gain more life experience.

TTT: Totally Deceiving Books

The saying goes that people will deceive you, but books never will. But sometimes, books do (whether in a good or a bad way).

Today, The Broke and the Bookish talks about those situations where a book was not what you thought it would be. Sometimes this happens because you misread the blurp, or sometimes it’s just plain blatantly deceiving.

1. Boy by Roald Dahl – at the very peak of my Dahl frenzy, I picked up this book and in my excitement didn’t pay much attention to the blurb or the cover art. A few pages in I realised that a) the book was not a story and b) I wasn’t enjoying it. I was little. My mother explained to me that it was a real story about Dahl. I wasn’t interested and promptly returned the book. I should probably   attempt it again now that I am older and wiser.
2. Feed by Mira Grant – well, I kind of thought it would focus more on the virus itself and finding a cure, and things like that. Medical ethics, even. Instead it focused very much on the blogging world and the concept of truth. Which wasn’t bad, just different than I expected.
3. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson – yeah… the cover is of Steve Jobs, and the book claims to be a biography of Steve Jobs, but really… it’s a biography of Apple. ’nuff said.
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – when I was very little, I always used to eye the huge book with some trepidation. I always wondered why people would want a guide to the galaxy, why it was filed under the kids’ books and not under “science”, and why it used such absurd language (English was new to me, ‘kay?). I was much older when I finally realised it was more satirical than weird, and more novel than science.
5. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld – this book was supposed to be amazing. It was supposed to satirise society’s notion to conform and it was supposed to look at the dark future of plastics. Instead it was kind of lame. Sort-of enjoyable, but a little shallow.
6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – you think you’re going to read an awesome crime thriller. And you do, and you love it, but you also read an excellent analysis of the treatment of women in our so-called progressive society.
7. The Hobbit by J.R.R, Tolkien – my, but I am harsh today. The Hobbit promises to be a story of fantasy and adventure. Instead it is rather slow and rather annoying. It took me so long to read this, and in the end I had to push myself in order to complete it. Tolkien is great at setting the scene, painting a picture… but I just did not consider this to be the book it was hyped up to be.
8. Life of Pi by Yann Martel – I thought this was going to be a book about survival on a boat, but that’s really just the face of it. I loved this. Super philosophical and amazing.
9. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins – I thought this was going to be a shallow bit of chick-lit and was planning to just get it over and done with for my reading challenge. Well, it wasn’t the deepest or most intense book I had ever read, but it was so much more than I expected.
10. Chernobyl Strawberries by Vesna Goldsworthy – I knew this was a memoir, but apart from that the description was kind of… well, nondescript. So I expected it to be about life during or after Chernobyl, or something like that. It wasn’t, really. It was kind of an unremarkable memoir. Vesna does have a way with words, but she just couldn’t hook me.

TTT: Books to Read in a Day

When I was little(r), I used to pack a backpack full of books and cycle to our local library. I would replenish my stock and return the next day (or the next), having finished several books in a single day.

Things are a little different now – we read thicker books, more complicated books, books that exhaust us. But there is still value in those short books you can read in a day – and that’s The Broke and the Bookish‘s question this week.

I’m not sure if the intention is to read all of these books in a day, or just one of them – but if you had the time, you could finish most books in one day, so I’m sticking to the shorties.

Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes – an excellent (and short) YA novel about a teacher changing the  lives of his students at a struggling school in Bronx, New York. I’m pretty sure the MTV movie Freedom Writers is based on this.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery – short, insightful and simply wonderful. This book was
my first encounter with philosophy.

Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers – this is probably the third or fourth time I write about this book (I should get royalties, seriously). Easily read, powerful. One of the few books I read more than once.

The Twits by Roald Dahl – possible one of the shortest Dahl books, and maybe one of the most undervalued too. It’s fun and enjoyable.

The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler – oh wow, I remember checking this out from the library when I was 15 and being so worried about what anybody would think if they saw me reading it. But then I devoured it, and it was perhaps one of the most formative books of my teenage years.

The Road to Mecca by Athol Fugard – a play by one of South Africa’s most excellent playwrights. Set in a small conservative town in one of the darker times of the Republic, it will shock you and entice you. And again – it is short.

For One More Day by Mitch Albom – or any Mitch Albom book actually. Having a little more time to mull over the content is useful, though. TBTB recently wrote a review for it here.

Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume – one of those books on the edge between kids’ and YA, and I think the first book where I finally started understanding romance. I would read it again, more than ten years later. I would actually suggest any of Blume’s books – she is a true master of her craft. Kids should read it because it might be helpful to them, and adults should read it to be brought back down to earth.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – a good book, a quick read.

Unwind by Neil Shusterman – the longest book on this list – one that was so gripping that I couldn’t put it down. It’s not for the sensitive though. You should read the description before considering it.