I recommend these books. Find out why

Discover the difference between books and anti-books.

I have been reading a lot my entire life. It’s hard to imagine life without books. I mean books that make you wise, observant, smart, kind, and intelligent. I am talking about those books that inspire your imagination, creativity, and analytical thinking, and that shape your understanding of the beauty of this world and human nature. I have read tons of books in my life written by various authors from different countries and from different times.

The best books that I read in my life were written years, decades, and oftentimes even centuries ago. Which is fine, considering that we can learn wisdom from these writers and understand the times they lived in, the culture that formed their talent, and the nature of people whom they describe in their writings.

These books immerse us in the times when they were written and within seconds bring us into a past that is intriguing, interesting, and complex.

I must admit that recently it’s more and more difficult to find valuable books written by contemporary writers. Certainly, it’s not impossible, and there are great and extremely talented contemporary writers out there, but the topics that some writers choose don’t always make you think, advance, and learn, or demonstrate the depth of the inner world of a human being.

More than that, some of the books that are sold at stores now, I would call anti-books. Although they look like books – have beautiful covers, colorful images, and letters that form words. That’s all.

The last couple trips to major American bookstores left me shocked and disappointed. I don’t even want to describe what I saw and some of the lines that I read. You know what I am talking about. Those anti-books don’t teach people anything good. More than that, the idea behind creating and publishing these anti-books is to make us and our children fall into the process of regression. They concentrate on people’s instincts, sometimes the worst of them. Which is sad.

But it’s fixable. Don’t buy those anti-books!!! And especially if they are located close to books that you think are good and valuable, avoid being too close to those sections with anti-books, and PLEASE don’t let your kids come close to them.

And here is the good news. I want to start sharing with you information about some of the best books I have read in my life. These writings by these great authors left great feelings in my soul, they made me think, and they made me a better person. They made me smarter and wiser. Please, consider reading this article further, and tell me if you find some of these books, read them, and like them. I am interested in your opinion. One little remark – I mostly will be talking about books for adults and young people, although some of these books I read when I was still a child, and I understood them even at that age and was able to learn from them.

The first book on my list is The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo. Victor-Marie Hugo was a French Romantic writer and politician who was born on February 26, 1802, and died on May 22, 1885. His literary career lasted more than sixty years, and he is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time.

In his gothic novel Hugo tells us a heartbreaking story of Quasimodo, a bell-ringer of the Notre-Dame cathedral, his love for Esmeralda, the beautiful gypsy dancer, and also includes many other interesting characters and situations that catch your attention and make you think even when you are doing other things. That’s how the author touches the strings of a reader’s soul and applies his talent to a reader’s heart and mind.

Here are some conclusions that I made while reading this book. Those who are beautiful outside are not always beautiful inside. Those who are ugly outside can be extremely nice and attractive inside. Beauty can lead all involved parties to tragedy. Sometimes love can push a person to hurt those whom he loves. Society is oftentimes unfair and even rude to some people. A person who finds calmness and peace of mind in nature and in the harmony of this world is the happiest person on Earth. I can write a paper about this book, which I might do someday, but now I just want to tell you that The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo is one of the best books I have ever read, and I strongly recommend you read it.

The second book that is on my list is Sister Carrie written by the great American author Theodore Dreiser. Generally talking, I love this writer and recommend all his books. Dreiser was born on August 27, 1871, in Terre Haute, Indiana, and died on December 28, 1945, in Hollywood, California.

The first time I read this book was many years ago when I was a teenager. I remember being impressed by his detailed description of the main heroine’s life, feelings, relationships, and her progress in life. From being a poor girl who comes to Chicago from Columbia City and who at first manages only to depend on men, Carrie eventually matures and grows to become a successful woman and a famous actress in New York.

That amazing change in her life didn’t just happen by itself; she went through tremendous personal growth and worked hard on developing her personality to get there. She was also very consistent and persevering. Carrie was always a smart girl as well, even when she was very poor, and that also contributed to her success a lot, she just needed a little bit of luck and to meet the right people to be able to succeed.

The language that the author uses in this book is catching and interesting, and recently I was excited to re-read this book, but now in its first, unedited edition, just the way Dreiser wrote it in the first place.

Because I don’t want to take too much of your time, I have to stop this article right here and will tell you in my future articles about other books that caught my attention.

Please, tell me what you think about these two books after you read them. I will be happy to hear from you! Books open new worlds for us, and it’s up to us to decide whether we want to visit those new worlds by simply opening a book and reading it, or not. I am sure your answer is Yes, and you are ready to immerse yourself in the beautiful world of reading real literature!

Natalia Dagenhart

10/01/23