Top 5 Wednesday - Books That Made You Think

Top 5 Wednesday

Books That Made You Think

March 11 2015

1. Not Without My Sister, Kristina Jones :  It is a non fiction novel this was one of the first cult books that I had read, it also deals with child abuse, zealots, fanatics, brain washing,polygamy,.. it was harrowing, and terrible to think that people could do these things to one an other in the name of anything. I kept coming back to the thoughts of those who thought they where doing right, doing your worst while you intend on doing your best... I just can't fathom.
2. The Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris : The second book in the Hannibal Lecter Series, at this point you have gotten to know Lecter quite well, I had seen all the movies at this time as well so a had a general idea of where thing where going (the movies where accurate enough for a movie). This was the first book where I had to really consider if the "bad guy" was a villain, I knew he was a murderer, and a sociopath, psychopath... but considering his past, his motives, who he killed it was something I put a LOT of thought into.
3. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley : The original dystopia, from which I think most others spawned it had the most profound effect considering where our society was when the book was written (1932) to when I would have first read it (2011 ish) and where we are going currently. It was and is really unnerving to think that we are fallowing this pattern... how much can be a educated/formulated guess. it all uncanny
4. Futility, Morgan Robertson This book was written in 1898, it is about a ship on her maiden voyage, she is unparalleled in modern technology and luxury, On the maiden voyage the ship hits and iceberg and sinks with most of her passengers on board, due to inadequate safety precautions because the ship was considered unsinkable by her builders, this ship was called the Titan... Does that sound familiar? funny thing is the Titanic didn't sink until 14 years later in 1912 (construction wasn't even started on the titanic until 1909.
5. The Kite Runner, and 100 Splendid Suns, Khaled Hossini, I think anyone who says that they haven't ever been affected by mass opinion/popular opinion/ cultural prejudice/ outright racism towards people from the middle east is a liar. Even if you do not buy into what the media says if you have heard it (which we all have MULTIPLE TIMES) something has had to cross your mind. This book was from the perspective of a child in Afghanistan during the war, not on the side of the Taliban/ Zealots of any kind. He grows up in this war zone and to me he is the grey area to those of us not from the middle east. As an adult he goes to America and I can only imagine the judgement he faced. While he does not consider himself and is not "one of them" we (being the majority of outside society) still considered him "one of them"... this is such a hard concept to imagine, an entire section of culture belonging no where... I have done such a poor job explaining this novel. I put it last on this list because for me this is the hardest book to explain, what I was thinking about. Its much more an emotional explanation than rational..