I’ve read a lot more than these, but these are my favourites that I can remember. I regret not turning on my library borrowing history earlier. I also regret throwing away this two-inch-thick stack of library receipts that I kept for a while.
I like collecting library cards from places I’ve been to. It is a bit embarrassing to just randomly ask for a library card if I don’t live or work in the city, but it’s worth it in the end.
Fiction
Stories that hits pretty deep without frying your brain
I may or may not have read these at least 3 times.
- I’ll Give You the Sun - Jandy Nelson
- Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz
- The Sun Is Also a Star - Nicola Yoon
- Darius the Great is Not Okay - Adib Khorram
- Radio Silence - Alice Oseman
- A Very Large Expanse of Sea - Tahereh Mafi
- All My Rage - Sabaa Tahir
- Turtles All the Way Down - John Green
Unsettling stories that makes you just stop and question life
Your vocabulary will become “…” or “damn.”
- Scythe - Neal Shusterman
- Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
- The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury (in progress)
Non-fiction
Funny stories and articles
Humor is hard to write because it’s so subjective, but when done well, it’s fun to read.
- Hyperbole and a Half - Allie Brosch
- Wait But Why - Tim Urban
- Dave Barry’s Substack - Dave Barry
- Toronto Star culture articles - Vinay Menon
- Ringo Tsuga (actually a YouTube animator, but they’re great at storytelling)
Advertising and copywriting
I usually skip ads, but learning about them teaches you a lot about human behaviour, storytelling, and connecting with people emotionally.
- The Adweek Copywriting Handbook - Joseph Sugarman
- The SWIPES Email - Neville Medhora
- VeryGoodCopy - Eddie Shleyner
History, culture, and science
Maybe a lot fewer students would hate history if we could choose to learn about what we’re actually interested in.
- 100 Things We Lost to the Internet - Pamela Paul
- Bringing Up Bébé - Pamela Druckerman
- A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
- Never Split the Difference - Chris Voss
- Storm in a Teacup - Helen Czerski
Memoirs
I regret not discovering this genre earlier
- Stay True - Hua Hsu (in progress)