Books make people travel to places and explore new things and ideas without having to move their feet. They help open people’s minds about different concepts and learn new knowledge by simply reading. They teach people so many things about love, friendship, society, war, and many more. Books allow people to see the world from someone else’s perspective- and maybe, that is the best thing about them.
Being a book lover means you enjoy reading books even with a variety of genres and different authors. It also means enjoying every book that comes your way, regardless of its plot.
Here are the top 10 books every bookworm must read at least once in their life.
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is a classic American novel about the narrator’s interactions with Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire devoted to reuniting with Daisy Buchanan, his former lover. This novel of Fitzgerald shows how decadence and greed are relevant 100 years ago just as it is today. Every bookworm would feel inclined to every beautifully written prose in this novel, including the famous last lines: “And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini, this novel is a story of a young lad from the Wazir Akbar Khan. This story is about the complicated friendship of a wealthy merchant’s son, Amir, and Hassan, his friend, son of his father’s servant. Cultural and class differences because of the changing political view of Afghanistan from the year 1970 until the turmoil of war from the period following 9/11 tore their friendship apart. This book shows the readers the lives of ordinary human beings who eat, pray, live, die, dream, and love, how enduring the love between friends is, and how powerful forgiveness can be.
The Aeneid
It is a Latin epic poem that was written by Virgil. The Aeneid is about a Trojan Man who became a heroic Roman ancestor. Following the journey of Aeneas and his constituents from their home city Troy finally ending in Italy, this epic is full of fun and thrilling adventures, difficulties and obstacles, and heroic deeds that book lovers will definitely grow to love.
Pride and Prejudice
This book is another one of the classics. Pride and Prejudice is a classic romance-comedy novel that was written by Jane Austen. This is where the famous saying “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” originated. The love and hate relationship between Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy is a story worth reading. Many readers loved this novel because of how Jane Austen captured human character with all of its beauty and imperfections. It is about rising above class differences, learning to laugh and be happy with your life even if everything seems so unfair, and about acknowledging that loving sometimes means accepting the person “in spite of” more than because of who they are.
The Lord of the Rings
This book series was originally a sequel to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, but it eventually developed into a larger fantasy novel. The setting of this book was in middle-earth during some time in the past. The Lord of the Rings is about a group of misfit heroes who aim to destroy a ring to save the world from evil. The best thing about this book is that Tolkien magnificently drew the middle-earth, and the story has its own language, which book lovers would probably enjoy learning.
The Handmaid’s Tale
The author of this dystopian novel, Margaret Atwood, explored the hardships and struggles of those under the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian and a theocratic government. It is a story about Offred, a handmaid who they consistently use for reproductive purposes. She has no say regarding her body and life, and she isn’t even allowed to read. This brilliant and endearing work is a total must-read for bookworms.
The Shining
It’s always a great refresher to read books with a horror genre. The Shining, a top work by Stephen King, is about the isolated and snowy winter in the Overlook Hotel in the remote mountaintop of Colorado. It is the story of a caretaker and his scary adventures as he delves into the hotel’s dark and terror corners and the frightening human psyche.
Little Women
Little Women is a richly written classic novel by Louisa May Alcott. It is the story of the March sisters, who possess distinct and unique character traits. It is a great coming-of-age story that shows readers the harsh realities of illness, death, poverty, reaching your dreams, and love. Little Women is a story with memorable characters that shows how important and comforting being a family is.
The Da Vinci Code
This book is a historical mystery novel by Dan Brown. The Da Vinci Code is a story about Robert Langdon, a “symbologist,” who encountered a murder in the Louvre Museum in Paris, which caused him to be involved in a fight between Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion. This story is a highly intellectual book filled with thrilling conspiracies that readers will enjoy reading. It contains real-life places and people and stories about religion and faith that will leave the readers in awe at the end.
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre is a novel with a combination of moral realism and Gothic elements written by Charlotte Brontë. It is a classic novel that tells the story of a young and independent girl who struggles to be successful despite living under the roof of her cruel and oppressive aunt. This novel shows the independence and resiliency of Jane Eyre in overcoming the hardships she faces while remaining true to her principles. This tale is a perfect example of a woman’s courage and determination to make something out of herself amidst hardships and ridicule.