They say “When you open a book, you open a new world”. Well, who cannot agree with this? Books have become inevitable to mankind. For most of us, it is part of our everyday lives. To me, books are one of the basic necessities of life and it is also one of my life’s simple pleasures. A book is like a companion, be it a baby’s bedtime story, a toddler’s picture book, a child’s comic book, a teen’s young fiction or our very own academic books. Books are most often our best pastime, or rather a best friend, the only difference is that the latter will never part or walk away from you.

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Books have been here for centuries and centuries, without them, today’s human knowledge of our past, ancestors, culture and civilization would have been impossible. Great are those scholars who made scripts of their ideas, inventions, discoveries and imagination. Have you imagined what would have happened if Isaac Newton did not document his study or gravity, or if Hippocrates had not written about his healing methods or if Galileo had not documented his theories on Space?

Well, why did I say that books become your best companion? If I am lonely, I just sit down with a book; suddenly, I feel I am with someone whom I am enjoying my time with. Some days, it is difficult to get to sleep, so I just pick up a book, flip through a couple of pages, a while later you would be fast asleep dreaming of the book you just read. Well, books are not handy only when you are alone or need company. Have you realized that sometimes when you sit down with friends for a nice conversation, you eventually have some topic about a book coming up? You walk up to a salon, and if the wait is long, you just pick up a magazine to entertain you involuntarily. I am sure you would have done the same thing several times at a doctor’s office, at your office cafeteria, waiting for a friend at a coffee shop or even when you are at the airport lounge or air-borne. Can you remember yourself doing this at some stage in your life?

A book imparts knowledge, and not only knowledge but wisdom, wisdom of all kinds…simple letters that matter, instructions to recipes, to theories to stories, to science and technology to engineering, to news to history, to media to entertainment…well the list goes on and on. They say, “The more you read, the more well-read you are”. This simply means that a person gains immense knowledge through books, the more you read, the more exposed you are, your attitude changes, your outlook changes and so does your creativity, imagination and lifestyle. You become an involved member of society. It is impossible to imagine someone who is educated and has not read a book! Some books have changed my life forever; I still remember the first book I was gifted with, it was ‘David Copperfield’ by Charles Dickens. This was an abridged paperback version for kids to read. The book was simply splendid. I was not aware that I had a mind that could imagine things so explicitly of the things I was able to read. I was mesmerized with the story of the life and hurdles of a young boy. I carried a feeling of the book for several years later. This book was the one that triggeered my reading habit.

From then on, I looked forward to my trips to the library with my mom for picking up books. My mother was a voracious reader, too. She used to pick up huge volumes of books, both fiction and non-fiction. She used to tell me some of those stories that she read. She said that today’s movies are made on yesterday’s books. Someone’s invention today was the idea of someone’s yesterday. I was always amazed at how she took care of her collections. She used to proudly present her small collection of books whenever her friends or our relatives come over. She told me several stories of inspiring people, how they started their lives with small things and small ideas that later became famous. I remember my Mom and my Dad passionately discussing some of their latest reads and almost arguing about which one of them was better than the other.

Mom also used to subscribe for some Russian books for us when we were young. These books used to get delivered to her office once a month. My sister and I used to look forward to this day of the month when Mommy would bring the book home. Those were the days when International books were hard to get. I used to feel proud of owning the book. More than reading the book, my sister and I enjoyed looking at the colorful pictures in it, pictures of Russian dance, ice skating, Christmas cookies, decorations and cartoons. By the year end, our collection got bigger and so it was wise to have our own mini library at home. I never got tired of reading all the books again during our summer vacations. This includes our cherished collection of Enid Blytons, adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Tinkles, and numerous collections of the local language.

I remember this incident when one day I was so angry with my Mother for the silliest  reason. Well, she says that it was a part of growing up! Somehow to keep up my anger and not wanting to talk to her for the rest of the day, I settled down into my bed with a book in hand. I did not go down for dinner and thought I was punishing my mom by doing it. To my shock, I was reading a short story of an orphan child, a child deprived of food, shelter and more than anything love. Somewhere it said, ‘love of God is love of Mom’. Well, it was like a message God sent. I let go of my false ego and quickly went down and  hugged my Mom. It didn’t seem that she was upset or angry with me. Later that night, I sat wondering if I had not read that book, eventually I would have been sitting there with a false ego and brooding over silly things and making a fool out of myself. It was like I was suddenly enlightened, books for me are in a sense messages sent by God.

Today, I believe my personality, attitude, behavior, knowledge and thinking all have been the contributions of the books I have read. I am sure I would despise a life without books!

In November of 2009, I had just entered into what can be called adulthood, and now at the tender age of 21, I’m still catching up with the wonderful world of ‘young adult’ books. I’ve read “Twilight” and “New Moon” by Stephenie Meyer, and the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling, and even some lesser known books like “Tithe” by Holly Black for example. These are all easily purchased right next to each other in any given Barnes and Noble or Borders in the proudly displayed ‘Young Adult Literature’ sections. Young adults are faced with the same fears you and I face as adults, they fear abandonment and death, and they yearn for acceptance, love, and glory. The Transition from child to adult can be unruly. Picking a book for a young adult should not end at the title and flashy cover, but should be read by the parents as well. As a general rule, if you as a parent or friend enjoy the book, then it’s safe to say your child or teenager will too. I intend to explore what makes a book really great for young adults, and why parents, guardians, and friends should get more involved in reading with their ‘young adults’.

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As a child, I found reading to be a chore, probably because my father would pick atrocious books like “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret” and “The Baby Sitter’s Club” series as forms of punishment (Seriously). Perhaps, he believed that I would somehow connect to these girls and their unique but campy natures, or something. My Dad was totally clueless on what it was to be an 11 year old girl. Maybe, he was somehow hoping that by making me read from the moment I woke up to the moment that I had to go to sleep (with meals in-between of course) that I’d have stimulated some love for reading. It didn’t work, but what did work was that I had a passion to be a writer and kept mountains of diaries throughout my youth. The fact of the matter is that writers are readers and if you want to write better you need to read often.

What I believe captures the minds of today’s children in television and video games is that they are constantly exposed to scenes of danger and adventure, but are not really exposed to how relevant that is to the ‘young adult’ genre of literature. Books in this genre tend to be explosive and loaded with angst, magic and dangerous trenches, cliffs, caves, love, and lust and all the trimmings that a teenager or pre-teenager can identify with in a typical video game for their Playstation 3 or a summer blockbuster hit. I truly believe that good reading habits start with the parents. Don’t just read to your child as they grow older, read for yourself and show your kids that you follow this healthy habit as well. It may or may not just set a good example, but it may also improve your own knowledge and communication skills.

One of my favorites, and the most accessible read that I have adored for some time now was “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”. It was plain English, but simply enchanting. At a young age, I felt a connection with Harry, his alienation quickly shifting to a dream like popularity, having to dig within himself to brave the gravest dangers that many twice his age would never dream of pitting themselves against, beginning and ending with the main character in infamy. If I were going to start a child on a path to a true love for reading, I’d begin them with this book. To a non-reader, from the outside, it looks large, but it quickly can change to something charming and fluid. The pages will turn without you ever noticing. Its magic can make any child into a book lover, a statement not to be taken lightly. Honestly, I believe that before Harry Potter, young adult books were lacking in selection, and after JK Rowling’s hit took off, all of a sudden a great quantity of books were published and older books with similar content were marketed more aggressively. This is easily seen more recently with the Stephenie Meyer’s books and movies. “The Vampire Diaries”, for example, was adapted into a hit television series and is now a hit book after being published years before “Twilight” was even a thought. Since it has catapulted to a bestseller, hit books started trends.

“Tithe” by Ms. Black was a favorite of mine as a teenager because it was about fairies in New Jersey, where I was born, and a gothic girl who smoked black clove cigarettes just like I’d done when I was a reader. I felt passionately for these characters, elves and witches and fairies clashing. There was a war, between the infinitely beautiful black queen, and the infinitely beautiful white queen, and the fight for who runs the nights, wild with debauchery and mischief. You saw boys and girls being seduced into the woods and oceans by these nymphal creatures. Everybody was dying or fighting or simply being bewitched by spells, and at the end, a stinging twist of betrayal befalls our hero! In fact even in “Valiant” the follow-up to “Tithe”, betrayal was a central theme also. In young adult books, it’s almost imperative for a juicy story, like juicy gossip, to have a story of betrayal, and a hero to overcome its pitfalls.

What books to read for young adults, and even harder, how to find the right ones, is a topic that can span as far as the “The Baby Sitter’s Club” to fighting fairies in the enchanted forests of New Jersey in “Tithe”. Its reach sweeps so wide that there is no way that any given young adult can’t connect with any of them. Books are, in my opinion, an essential to intellectual and emotional growth, and can harvest a creative and imaginative growth that you may never have achieved alone. This essay isn’t about how to pick a book for your kid as much as it is about what makes a good story, for your kid, yourself, your young adult, and your sense of adventure that outlasts that awkward young adult stage and settles into adulthood past the age of 21.

There are millions and millions of books out there for everybody to enjoy, but there are four books that I find very intriguing and very inspiring. The four books are Tuesdays with Morrie, The Last Lecture, The Metamorphosis, and The Great Gatsby. These books seem a bit mixed but when I first read all of these, it really made me realize how important it is to make the best out of our lives. While Tuesdays with Morrie is more of a dedication to a late professor, it truly teaches us to how to make sound decisions. The Last Lecture is very touching as it depicts a father, leaving his last messages to his family, to the world, and to his children as he shares with us, his experiences, his knowledge, and his life lessons. The Metamorphosis teaches us to take action instead of dreaming, and that life is hopeless when you are disconnected from society and live in your own world. Lastly, The Great Gatsby explores love, wealth and the glamorous life as well as this American Dream.

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The first book, Tuesdays with Morrie is by Mitch Albom who meets up with his college professor every Tuesday many years after he has graduated. The meaning of this book may be different for everybody, but all in all, the lessons of a wise professor and an inspired pupil really let readers truly see the importance of life. The fears that you may have, the risks that you don’t take, the safer paths that you do take, all of these are addressed in Mitch Albom’s book. This book is a must-read because it really makes us stop for a while amidst our busy everyday lives to ponder on how each of us relate to Mitch Albom and how each of us may learn from Morrie.

The next book, The Last Lecture is written by a Randy Pausch, a computer science professor from Carnegie Mellon. After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, his book serves as a guide to live your life, and as a message advising his children in the future as he knows that he has very little time left with them. His actual very last lecture was about achieving his childhood dreams and so, some of the chapters revolve around some of the dreams he had and how he actually did achieve most of them. He had always wanted to work at Disney, and he did eventually achieve this. Although the majority of the book educates the readers from his life lessons, you can also see the amount of passion and heart he had to finish the book for his children. I really enjoyed this book not only because it is very inspirational, but because I can imagine his children in the future, reading this book and learning about what kind of a person their father was, what he did and how inspirational he was.

The next book, The Metamorphosis is by Franz Kafka and first written in German. The book explores the idea that one who is isolated and detached from society might as well be some foreign, completely alien bug who just does not belong in the society. The main character is cast away from his family, he does not do well at his job, he is a mere dreamer, but he cannot do much. There is very much that he does and because of limited accomplishments and inability to really connect with society, he turns into a gigantic cockroach. Even more so, he feels more and more uncomfortable, more and more cast away from society. He is unable to do anything; he is merely a cast away from his family, his sister, and his career. No one can do anything and he is unable to turn back into a human. This book ultimately shows how important it is to do something you are passionate about, to make an effort to have an impact on the world, in our families. Indeed, this book is quite different from those that you normally read, but it really shows insight on how important it is to connect with our family, and to really understand the importance of doing well out in the world and in society. At the very end, the large cockroach is thrown away by a hired maid, and that just shows even further how the family cannot do anything to help him. With his death, the family does have a change for the better, but it is also left open for us to see if his death really had an impact, as while he was alive. He sure did not have an impact on his family whatsoever.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a book that everybody must read. In fact, one of my friends would not get married to her fiancé until he read the book! This book is about a man, Gatsby, who tries to use his wealth to woo the woman that he is in love with. However, he is completely filled with envy and even though the woman only loves him for his wealth, he knows that he cannot have her because after all, they are in a society in which divorce is forbidden and so no matter how much he tries to woo her, he ultimately cannot have her. This book explores love, wealth, luxury and hopelessness. The novel takes place during the roaring 20’s where there are flappers and a decadent night life. After five years, Gatsby is still in love with Daisy, but she is married. At the very end, as a sorrowful ending, Gatsby is killed as he takes the blame for Daisy and you can just see the love that he had for her. Without her, he truly could not live on so his death was rather appropriate. Without being a cheesy romantic novel, The Great Gatsby still explores this wonderful theme of true love and the extent to which it can take over our souls.

Great books. How about you? What books would you recommend reading before you die?