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Our Personalized Favourites List of Books to Read this Year

PLUTO UDECHUKWU, CO-EDITOR| MULTIMEDIA| 5-12-22

 Mac chronicles have selected some of the books they enjoyed reading this year. Read this article to find some inspiration for your reading bucket list.

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An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, Written by Ed Young

Ed Young  wrote "An Immense World" to explain our relationship between animals and how similar we really are.  Just like humans, animals are  enclosed within thier  own unique sensory bubble,  for example: beetles  are drawn to fires, turtles  can track the Earth's magnetic fields, and fish  fill rivers with electrical messages.  This book was very informaetive and filled with plenty of surprising animal facts to keep this book moving toward its  thesis : The breadth of this immense world should make us recognize how small we really are.

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Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation, written by  Linda Villarosa

In this book, Linda Vilarosa talks about the American healthcare system and how we live in a  society that causes Black people to “live sicker and die quicker” compared to white people. In the past, there have been Medical assumptions  that Black bodies are fundamentally different from white bodies and the author explains describes the new understanding that coping with the daily scourge of racism ages Black people prematurely. With real-life stories, Villarosa explains how Black people live in dirtier, more polluted communities due to environmental racism and neglect from all levels of government. Overall, this book is definitely a must-read in order to be educated on this issue. 

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Sea of Tranquility, A novel written by Emily St. John Mandel.

Space travel is always an exciting yet perilous proposition. "Sea of Tranquility" is told in shifting timelines with different characters. Seeing this book on this list might cause great controversy to many people as so many have found the book's time change confusing and cannot grasp the main point. "All over the place" is a phrase some would use to describe it, which is why I had very little hope going into this book, but I was surprised after reading to see how over-hated this book is. I will agree that the author's writing style is a little different from many contemporary authors, and there is a probability that some readers will not grasp the soul of this novel due to her different writing style, but this book is a brilliant creation with great essence. If you are among that lucky few, you will cherish the experience of reading this book. Breathtaking, mind-blowing, complex and intelligent are words that come to mind after reading this book. It is not a simple book to read, but it is worth the complexity. 

 

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The School For Good Mothers : A novel by Jessamine Chan

“The School for Good Mothers” is a dystopian look at the government’s far reach into child welfare and social services. This story kept me enraged; it’s a cautionary tale about allowing over-zealous government control. After I read this book, it was all I could think about for a while, the society was a little too close to the way our society seems to be heading regarding motherhood. The unrealistic self-expectations and the expectations that society puts on mothers to hold everything together while making it look easy. It is an amazing book that I will urge all to read regardless of your gender identification. 

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Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us, written by Rachel Aviv

I think someone was slicing up onions while I was reading this book. "Strangers to Ourselves" is simply the best book I've read about mental illness. The author herself was the youngest patient to be diagnosed with anorexia (6 years), and she talks about how her life was affected by this diagnosis. Rachel was too young to even know what the word anorexic was. The older girls taught her how to develop the disease. She uses actual people, and cases that showcase how the treatment of mental illness has changed through the years. From talk therapy to medication and how once the medication was thought to solve all problems, many mental health facilities closed, leaving those for whom medication didn't work floundering.  Following a trigger warning for mental health and body dysmorphia, I cannot recommend this book enough. It really changes your perspective so much and causes you to be more empathetic regarding topics like this. The title couldn't be more true.

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