To Live Your Best Life, You Have To Read!
Listen up, folks! To live your best life, you must work on being the best you. That means striving for self-mastery and developing a balanced life philosophy that you can live by. And hey, if you need help figuring out where to start, try reading a book. It sounds crazy, but trust me, it's a major stepping stone toward success and happiness.
Now, I'm not saying you gotta become a bookworm overnight. But you gotta admit, reading does have its perks. For one, it helps you expand your mind and get new perspectives on life. Plus, it's a great way to escape reality for a little bit (hello, Robert Langdon marathon).
So if you're feeling a little lost, pick up a book and start reading. Who knows, you might find the answers you've been looking for. And if all else fails, you'll have something to discuss at your next brunch, all-white party, hell, maybe even the strip club.
To get you started, here are five books that everyone should read in no particular order. These are short summaries. If you want something more detailed, Amazon, Wikipedia, and Google are your friends!
The Judas Factor, by Karl Evanzz- This book is about the conspiracy to kill Malcolm X, but after reading it 3X, for me, it is a story about the human condition (I don't know if the author intended it to be that, but good works of writing, should transcend what it is explicitly about). You got love, hate, conspiracy, jealousy, redemption, and much more, in an actual historical event that I don't think the best writers could have made.
Blindness, by Jose Saramago- What happens if everyone in your city starts to go blind, but no one knows the cause? Well, in this novel, Saramago explores what happens through the characters' eyes (get it). This, again, is a fantastic tale about the human condition. It was later made into a movie, but it does not do this book justice (I know, I know, everyone says that about movies based on books!).
Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman- This book was my most recommended book for about five years (it has been replaced by "The Judas Factor). This is a book about thinking and how our inputs influence us, for "fast" and "slow" thinking.
Beloved, by Toni Morrison- I must admit, this is not the easiest book to get through for multiple reasons but, who said life is supposed to be easy? In even more transparency, you may need to read some literal criticism and read the book more than once to "get it." Overall, it will be well worth it. In fact, I will go on record and say this is the best American novel in history, excluding nobody...yeah, I said it; it needed to be said!
To Kill A Mockingbird- by Harper Lee- I think most of Gen X (I can't speak about those that came before or after Gen X) were assigned to read this book in high school. I get why, but I also don't get why. Indeed, the themes in this book are way too advanced for a high schooler to really "get." In fact, I wonder if anyone below 30 can grasp the literary genius of this book. If you are over 30 and have yet to read this book, do it today!
Oh..after writing and editing this piece, I think I lied. The #1 book to read is #1...beyond that...there is no particular order.
Please read, and tell me your top 5 books that everyone should read. Please don't comment "The Bible"...not that I have anything against "The Bible", but it is technically a series of books, AND more importantly, it is a super generic response!
