Books I Enjoyed Reading in 2021

Hello, Everyone!

Thanks for passing by. I have always wanted to write book reviews and recommendations here, but unfortunately, I didn't have enough time - or so I told myself.

Anyway, I decided to share the books that I enjoyed reading in 2021. I read a lot of wonderful, inspiring, and well-crafted books that I thought must be shared with others to read and get inspired from.

So, without any further ado, here they are:

Very Good Lives by J.K.Rowling

Very Good Lives by J.K.Rowling is the commencement speech she gave at Harvard for class 2008. And later on, she printed the speech as a book with lovely illustrations done by Joel Holland.

Instead of talking in her speech about success and the bright future waiting ahead for those bright graduates, Rowling talked about the importance of imagination and failure!

And how those two aspects shaped her life and gave her lifelong lessons. one of my favorite quotes was this:

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all- in which case, you fail by default."

The Pearl that Broke Its Shell

We all are concerned about the situation in Afghanistan and its people.

The Pearl that Broke Its Shell, a novel, by Nadia Hashimi tells you how it is like to live in such a beautiful country that is torn apart by wars and terrorism.

The story interweaves the lives of Rahima and her great grandmother, Shakiba, the heroines of the novel and the narrators of the sad story of Afghanistan.

It's a novel about how a good and powerful story can inspire us to not only endure hardships but to also change our fates.

“The human spirit, you know what they say about the human spirit? It is harder than a rock and more delicate than a flower petal.”

The Librarian of Basra

My next read was from Iraq. The Librarian of Basra is a true story written by Jeanette Winter for children.

The story talks about Aliaa Muhammad Baqer, the librarian of Basra's national library, who saved 30,000 books from burning during the Iraq War.

One of those books was a 700-year-old biography of Prophet Muhammad.

A powerful story with beautiful information and illustrations for children - and adults, too - to enjoy, discuss, and learn from.

Gaza Weddings

If you know me, then you probably know that Palestinian Literature is one of my favorites.

Gaza Weddings or (????? ????) by the Palestinian author, Ibrahim Nasrallah was one of the best novels I read in my life!

It is one of the books Nasrallah wrote under the Palestinian Comedy; a project of 11 literary works covering 250 years of modern Palestinian history.

In Gaza Weddings, Nasrallah raises these two question: How can we defeat death? How can we defeat our enemies?

Randa and Amna, the two neighbors and the narrators of the novel answer: by living and enjoying everyday of our lives. In this novel, Nasrallah delineates the everyday life of Palestinians; a life of death, yet ultimate hope.

"The ones who force us to trill at the funerals of the people we love are the ones who murdered them. We do it so as not to let them feel, even for a moment, that they've defeated us."

The Apology

"For every woman still waiting for an?apology."

We all have suffered from bullying and toxic people at some points in our lives.

But what if those toxic people were your family members?

In this autobiography, Eve Ensler shares her story with her abuser, her father, who abused her emotionally, psychologically, and even physically. And the devastating consequences of such abuse on her.

Stuck with her life and don't know how to move on after the damaged he had caused, Eve imagined that her father wrote her a letter apologizing for what he had done so that she could finally be free.

The Furnished Room

The Furnished Room is a short story by O.Henry. I did it for my Pre-Master and I couldn't forget about it.

In today's world, where successful people and their stories are celebrated, we tend to forget to tell the stories of those who weren't lucky enough to achieve theirs.

O.Henry shares with us in this devastating story the hopelessness of a lover who goes to New York to search for his beloved who left their small town to achieve her dream of becoming an actress.

"The people are homeless, yet they have a hundred homes. They go from furnished room to furnished room. They are transients, transients forever—transients in living place, transients in heart and mind."?

Those were my top favorites in 2021 but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy my other readings. However, those 6 had the greatest impact; they inspired me, made me cry, and motivated me to finally write a book review here on LinkedIn :)

Until 2022 book review, keep reading!