The Ciputraneur | Book Recommendations

Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass is the first book in the Throne of Glass series. It is a high fantasy young adult novel that revolves around the life of 18-year old Celaena Sardothein, a highly-skilled assassin. This book tells the story of how Celaena Sadothein, locked up in Endovier, was offered a chance for freedom for her to be the King’s Champion which she would have to battle the most gifted of criminals. Her journey will reveal a much larger plot as the series continues on.

What If?

This is for those of you who stay up all night pondering on absurd what ifs of the world.

By Randall Munroe, ​​the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd and a former NASA physicist, you’ll be content in finding answers to questions you probably never thought to ask. Discover everything from the effects of pitching a baseball near the speed of light, the logistics of finding your soulmate, to the many horrible ways you could die if you were to build a periodic table out of all the actual elements. And over a hundred questions are wittily answered and demonstrated through intricate stick-figure drawings and thorough scientific explanations.

Nothing is too absurd here.

A Walk to Remember

Nicholas Sparks never fails us with his wittiful writing style, in combination with his portrayal of a genuine teenage love story in A Walk to Remember. As the novel is set in North Carolina in the ‘50s, its storyline unveils the heart-warming effort, ravishing conflict, and undying loyalty of Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan—the protagonists—back when technology was minimum. Originally published in 1999, it is truly a classic novel that would open your eyes on how being different doesn’t make you weird at all. It explores the trivial moral of not judging someone based on his/her looks, which then resonates to the plot twist near the end of the story.

I Served the King of England

Perhaps one to read when you’re a bit older, given some lewd content! It was first published in 1971 then printed in 1989. It is a surreal and emotional journey through the life of its protagonist, Ditie. He is an ambitious waiter who serves the dignitary, Haille Selassie, an event of great magnitude to the waiter. He falls in love with a Nazi woman athlete as the Germans are invading Czechoslovakia in WWII. After the war, having raised the funds through foul means, he builds a hotel. He becomes very rich but loses it all due to communism. He is forced into physical labour in a generally inhospitable environment and comes to terms with his own mortality.

The Little Prince

There are only a few pieces of literature that meet the tastes of the children and grownups, a book that comes to mind is Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince. The story starts with a pilot trapped in the desert when he encountered The Little Prince. The Little Prince tells him a story about an intergalactic adventure where he meets new people and ponders why the adults overlooked the simple, meaningful things in life, including friendship and the world's beauty. With The Little Prince, children and adults will learn an essential life lesson, like how we should not be too fond of numbers (money).

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

If you want to overdose in words of literature, this book must be read without any context and background. It immediately gives off the readers the vibes from the writer, without first understanding his ideas. It’s even better if you read it in German but best if you understand both. It is boring once you reach past the middle act which is also reflected in the protagonist's journey and will somehow resonate with the readers later on.