Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Make You Think

Thinking is generally considered a good thing.  There are those who choose to avoid it completely (i.e.: The Jersey Shore cast) and those who sometimes need a vacation from it (i.e.: everyone), but in regular doses, thinking can do wonders. Prolonged thinking is how I deciphered the foreshadowing lyrics in Wicked's "Dancing Through Life" and other more intellectual items.  

So with that, here are my 

Top Ten Books That Make You Think

1. Unwind, by Neal Shusterman
A YA dystopian novel that focuses on abortion and one's right to choose to have one vs. one's right to live. The novel doesn't pick a side.  It shows the pros and cons of both options, forcing the reader to consider alternative viewpoints from their own personal opinions.  

2. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer
I wasn't a super huge fan of this book, especially because the different sized fonts were hurting my eyes (old age is clearly setting in - I turn 25 soon), but it definitely makes you think about the impact of one tragedy on so many lives.

3. Hero Type, by Barry Lyga
I see a lot of people post their "support" of the troops on Facebook on a daily basis.  While I don't question their support, I always question why they're posting it for their friends to know.  The troops aren't seeing their statuses.  They're the most passive way of supporting the troops.  Just like those groups that say "100,000 likes and this girl will get a surgery."  No.  There is no doctor on standby, counting the number of likes before he grabs his surgical mask.  This novel examines that problem and makes you wonder if you're just as bad.

4. Catch Me If You Can, by Frank Abagnale
You may have seen the movie or the musical, but this book is unreal.  It's a different kind of "makes you think" book.  It's a book that makes you think "I will never be this smart."

5. Hitler Youth, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Another nonfiction entry that makes you think, this time about the side you typically wouldn't identify as victims of WWII.  

6. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
This YA novel about the Holocaust is narrated by Death, giving a different outlook of the events that occurred.  It's heartbreaking, and like Hitler Youth, it makes you sympathize with a wider population.

7. My Year of Living Biblically, by A.J. Jacobs
This memoir details Jacobs' attempt to follow every rule of the Bible in one year.  Sometimes it's funny, but I found it to be more fascinating and insightful and it really made me think about what religion really means.  

8. Emma, by Jane Austen
This one is a little silly, but the only reason I read this book was because I knew Clueless was based on it and I wanted to know how that was possible.  So I read Emma, thinking the entire time what plot elements were translated into one of my favorite movies.  

9. Fifteen, by Beverly Clearly
This book about a typical teenager's life was published in the late 50s, so it provides some insight into how life was like in those years, or what the ideal life was purported to be.  Either way, it's drastically different to life now, but also drastically similar (sadly).  Reading it really made me think about how we define generations and how those definitions change.  

10. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
The story is captivating enough, but the real photographs incorporated to enhance the mood are incredible.  It definitely made me think where these photos were from, what other photos are out there, and what camera tricks from back in the day were used to create such illusions.  

 Check out other lists at the Broke and the Bookish!

P.S. This might have been my first list where I didn't mention HP.  I tried really hard!