Reading a book feels like following the white rabbit and falling into its rabbit hole.
Hello, Hive friends! It's Abby, unraveling another layer of my sphere. Aside from making art, another thing I hold close dearly to my heart is books.
My love for reading might have begun from reading stories from Wattpad when I was younger until I transitioned to exploring varieties of novels. In fact, my love for books led me to my chosen major in university.
I thought to myself, "Oh! I'll choose English as my major since I love reading; I would probably survive this course."
And I was doomed! It was so dumb of me to think that way. Well, I did somehow survive the course, but not without suffering haha. But still, my horror days as an English major never made me hate reading.
At home, I have a bookshelf in my room. At the top section are my unfinished/untouched books; in the second section is a collection of my current finished reads; in the lower section are my Filipino Wattpad books from high school years.
Among my collection of books, I specifically picked my top four novels, which I am going to share tidbits of, as I would love to recommend them to you all.
The first novel is Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Neil Gaiman is an English novelist who is known for his unique way of writing children's books. His novels delve into the magical realm and are somehow on the darker side, which I really like.
The book Coraline focuses on its main character, whose name is the same as the title of the book, who moved with her parents into this flat called the Pink Palace. Coraline was so sad about it as she had to leave her friends and the place she treated as her home.
Coraline's parents were so occupied with their work most of the time, making Coraline lonely. When Coraline explored the house, she discovered a hidden door, which little did she know would lead her to a different dimension that looked exactly the same as their new place and met the same people, with the only difference being that everything was all way better than the real one. As she continues to visit the place, she slowly discovers the darkness that lies behind the button eyes of her other mother.
My favorite part about this book, aside from its story, is Coraline's interaction with the black cat. In fact, the book was adapted into a stop-motion animation directed by Henry Selick, the best director of stop-motion animation I have ever known. I highly respect every single person who works in his field of profession. Another thing I like about this book is the fact that it contains illustrations, which I find really amazing and creepy haha. I'm obsessed.
If you find interest in this novel, I recommend you read the book first and then the movie. Reading the book won't totally spoil the movie for you, since there are some changes from the movie that are not in the book.
Another book that I really liked is The Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. The story revolves around the lives of the four March sisters who go on their own journey in life as American women in the 19th century in the midst of the Civil War.
The book brings its readers the different perspectives of women: a woman who dreams of being a wife, a woman who dreams of excelling in society, a woman whose dream is to live longer and to be with her family, and a woman who values her freedom more than anything in life. It touches on multiple topics such as coming of age, women, love and heartbreak, and the typical American Dream.
This novel is also adapted into a movie, a live-action movie. Unlike Coraline, if you find interest in this one, I suggest you definitely read the book first before watching the movie. Well, don't get me wrong; I still enjoyed reading the book; however, it somehow alters some of the emotions I am supposed to feel, as I have already seen it in the movie. I honestly got more emotionally attached to the movie than the book, but still I have enjoyed it. It's just that I think my experience reading the book would have been much better if I hadn't watched the movie first.
The next book in my recommendation is another classic, The Little Prince by Saint de Antoine de Exupery. Like Coraline, it is a children's book. The book follows the journey of the little prince to different worlds where he encounters different individuals.
I really love how this book teaches us about life and how it talks about creativity. I believe this book was also adapted into a movie, but I haven't seen it yet. This book also contains illustrations—adorable ones.
The last book in my top four is my recent read; this one is my first ever Japanese novel, "The Cat Who Saved Books" by Sosuke Natsukawa.
And if you know me, you'll know that I like books, and I loveeee cats. Now, how could a book that talks about a cat who saves books get even better?!
The novel follows Rintaro, a high school student whose grandfather died, and he ends up taking care of the old bookstore his grandpa left behind. And there, he meets an orange tabby cat named Tiger who carries a mission of saving books. The cat asked for Rintaro's help, and together they ventured on different labyrinths, facing different kinds of people who presented different kinds of readers. It represents those people who hoard books, people who read summarized books, and many more.
I find reading this book so fun and relatable. Reading it made me feel guilty towards my untouched book covered in dust on my bookshelf haha. It was a very fun read, and I would definitely hardly recommend it to those who love books and chunky cats.
And those are my top picks from all the books I've read so far. ✨ 📚
I hope you give these books a try, and if you have read some of these already, I would really love to hear your thoughts about them.
