I recently took a look back into 2015 and the books I read. Below are my top 5 from my year of reading.
1. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
“But even so, every now and then I would feel a violent stab of loneliness. The very water I drink, the very air I breathe, would feel like long, sharp needles. The pages of a book in my hands would take on the threatening metallic gleam of razor blades. I could hear the roots of loneliness creeping through me when the world was hushed at four o’clock in the morning.”
My first foray into the worlds of Murakami. I was blown away. From his writing style to how he is able to construct his stories, toeing the line of reality, fantastical, and historical events. All of this blends together in a hauntingly beautiful novel of love and loss. Murakami is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.
2. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
“They say, Find a purpose in your life and live it. But, sometimes, it is only after you have lived that you recognize your life had a purpose, and likely one you never had in mind.”
The third novel from the famed write of the Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini tackles an epic story told over many generations. In this novel, he is able to cover many many years while still tying each character and experience back into the core of the novel. So far, every book Khaled Hosseini has written, I have loved. Looking forward to what he writes next!
3. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
“Then you must teach my daughter this same lesson. How to lose your innocence but not your hope. How to laugh forever.”
Wow! I cannot believe I waited on the Joy Luck Club for so long! Amy Tan interweaves four stories about four first generation Chinese women and their relationships with their mother’s and their families. A fantastic insight to the many experiences of Chinese immigrants and their first generation children. Amy Tan is an amazing storyteller and I am excited to read more of her novels!
4. Sentipensante Pedagogy by Laura I. Rendón
“My core question guiding my inquiry was: What is the experience of creating a teaching and learning dream based on wholeness ans consonance, respecting the harmonious rhythm between the outer experience of intellectualism and rational analysis and the inner dimension of insight, emotion, and awareness?”
I did not expect an ‘academic’ book to make my top 5. In comparison to my other books, Sentipensante was very theoretical, focusing on traditional pedagogy in our higher education classrooms and how we can start changing it towards a more liberating experience. Rendón explores in depth the relationship between thinking and sensing in the classroom and can lead to deeper learning for students and teachers.
5. Citizen 13660 by Mine Okubo
“We were close to freedom and yet far from it. The San Bruno streetcar line bordered the camp on the east and the main state highway on the south. Streams of cars passed by all day. Guard towers and barbed wire surrounded the entire center. Guards were on duty night and day.”
This graphic novel about a woman’s experience in the Japanese internment camps hit me hard. My grandparents were in the internment camps and I have done a lot to learn more about their experience by talking with them and visiting my grandmother’s camp in Heart Mountain, Wyoming. There is something about graphic novels that are able to portray powerful imagery along with a gripping story. This made Citizen 13660 one of the top books I read in 2015 and the only graphic novel in my top 5.
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