Beloved,
Based purely on vibes, there are certain books I just know I need to read one day. Maybe it’s because I feel they’ll change me, maybe because I want to impress people by casually dropping these titles into conversation, or maybe because I’m just trying to sound way smarter than I actually am. Either way, I have this list of books I feel I absolutely should I need to read in my lifetime
1. Everything by Toni Morrison
I’ve already read Beloved and this book did in fact change my brain chemistry. It’s so stunning and I think it definitely deserves the Nobel Price it got. However I hear a lot of people praise Sula and the Bluest Eye. I definitely would love to read those. Currently Tar Baby is also gracing my book shelf but when I tried to read it, I just couldn’t get into it. But one day.
2. Everything by Khaled Hossieni
I have a lot of mixed feelings about the Kite Runner but I still truly believe there’s a 4-5 star book of Hossieni’s out there that I am yet to encounter. Despite my thoughts on the aforementioned book, I can’t take away from the fact that Hosseini has written some of the most human characters I’ve ever encountered. His books are also canon in literary spaces so there’s no harm in feeding the pretentious writer in me.
3. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
I’ve read if Mice and Men, but much like Morrison’s Beloved, the people who talk about Steinbeck usually say this is his best work.
4. 1984 by George Orwell
I don’t know what to say here except: I feel like I should have read this already. Everyone references it like it’s a cultural password, and I’m tired of nodding like I know exactly what Room 101 is. I read Animal Farm for a college course and loved it. I just have a feeling that 1984 will probably punch harder. Also, I used to really enjoy Big Brother (yes, the reality show), and the fact that Orwell coined the phrase just makes me want to read the source material even more. In a world where surveillance and revisionist histories feel a little too real, this just feels like required reading.
6. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
This one sits right next to 1984 in my mind. Of course I know less about Fahrenheit 451 than I do about 1984. I just know it’s another book about censorship and holy hell that books were actually being burnt in this one, hence the title. In case you didn’t know, apparently that’s the temperature at which books burn.
7. The African Trilogy by Chinua Achebe
I read Things Fall Apart back when I was 16 alongside Animal Farm in college and it instantly became the butt of many many of my own tired jokes. I think it’s the book that made me realise two things. 1) African Literature can actually be good (sorry but I grew up with a glaring lack of representation) and 2) Holy Crap, I need to read more books by black people and definitely more books by Africans. Changed the trajectory of my life that book. I found out a little later after that it’s part of a trilogy. So I’d like to reread it and then the other two books on the series.
8. Kindred by Octavia Butler
I still haven’t forgiven Octavia Butler for the choices she made in Fledging. Like I’ll never get over how much I disliked that book (iykyk). However, her more beloved novel is Kindred and I haven’t thrown her work out the window yet. So sure.
9. Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Everybody tells me it’s bad but I should read it. That’s literally how the recommendations come. Ngasa also says it’s considered the birth of Young Adult fiction so, okay I guess.
10. Passing by Nella Larsen
I really enjoyed The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, even though I didn’t fully realise it at the time. Then I learned that Passing is its literary grandmother, and now I need to read the original to understand the lineage of that kind of storytelling.
11. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
What self respecting romance girlie hasn’t read this classic. Come on now. Everything people say about it is everything I want: witty writing, complex characters, and absolute, delicious pining. I want to understand why people consider Mr Darcy the blue print.
12. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Imagine being 18-19 years old woman in the 1800s and writing an exploration on the consequences of playing God and then it becoming a cult classic. I need to read this based of that alone. I’m pretty sure this is also a seminal work of science fiction. I also love that it’s other title is The Modern Prometheus cause Prometheus is one of my favourite stories in mythology.
13. Scarlet Song by Mariam Ba
Always confuse this title with Scarlet letter. I have no idea what this story is about. No idea why I think I should read this except – what a literary giant. I just assume it will change my life.
14. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Only because it’s Ngasa’s favourite book (she’ll say it isn’t).
15. And Crocodiles are Hungry at Night by Jack Mapanje
Firstly, absolute banger of a title. Secondly it is a seminal Malawian work if you ask me. Not only is it vital literature, it is is also vital history. This book is a memoir of Mapanje’s trials (which he actually never had) and tribulations under Kamuzu Banda’s oppressive regime. This post is rife with books about regimes and censorship, it would be an injustice not to pay homage to my fellow country man. As a Malawian writer and academic I think it is my actual duty to read this book.