books i highly recommend

I don't read as often as I would like--in fact, I barely read at all these days--but if I had more time on my hands I would read every day. Here is a collection of books I highly recommend:

Classics
I used to be obsessed with Classics, because they're classics for a reason.

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (this was my favorite book for a long time)

Fiction

• Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (SO WHOLESOME!!!!)
• Literally every novel by John Green (Turtles All the Way Down, The Fault In Our Stars - of course, Looking For Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns)
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Memoir

• I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Critical Fiction

• We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• All About Love by Bell Hooks

Rom-Coms
I was talking with this pixie-cut librarian girl the other day about why I prefer reading LGBTQ romance novels over straight ones. Straight ones are normally too focused and tend to objectify on the physical elements whereas the LGBTQ ones I've read have profound underlying themes and are more concerned with the emotional connection beneath. Or maybe it's being I haven't found straight romances besides the trashy ones I've been recommended (shrug).
Is Romance my genre? Maybe one of them? I feel like it's too trope-y and it's very rare to find a book that subverts all conventions. The frail, small girl and the big, muscular guy are way too gender-stereotypical for me. There needs to be more representation of stronger female characters and average male/dad bod/girly/soft male characters who don't feel like a gym bro because not everyone needs the guy to have a six-pack to be attracted to them. Honestly, I thought we'd moved out of that era already??? Also, I heard the romance genre was written for females to "satisfy their fantasies" and is often regarded as frivolous or unrealistic. That sounds a bit sexist to me. Also, interesting how females are the ones more interested in romance. How is that fair?

• To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han (the 3-girls family dynamic is one not often written about but needs to be. I can attest that I acted EXACTLY like Lara Jean when I was younger--as in, I wrote letters to boys I liked. I also despise The Summer I Turned Pretty because I find Belly really annoying, but that's my personal opinion)
• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (I highly admire Nicola Yoon, and although this is an easy read, I like the simple themes)
• Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
• The Love Hypothesis (I don't really like the writing or the romance aspect, but I appreciate the women in STEM trope)
• 7 Days in June

Here are the LGBTQ ones (I've read a lot, yes...) (still pretty confident I'm straight though...?) (can someone explain why???):

• Lie With Me by Phillippe Besson (poignantly short, autobiographical, about being gay in 1984 and Thomas Andrieu's lies)
• Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman (the writing is actually SUPERIOR. It's lyrical, descriptive, and the themes are clear with lots of references to historical knowledge and etymology)
• Red, White, and Royal Blue (the political references are too funny)
• The Girl from the Sea (SO CUTE)
• Bloom by Kevin Panetta
• The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
• Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me
• What If It's Us and Here's to Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
• Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman
• Carry On, Wayward Son, and Anywhere the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell (a fanfiction-esque Drarry)

Mental Health related:

• Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone
• The Bell Jar, Ariel, and other poems by Sylvia Plath

Self-help / cognitive science:

• Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg
• Atomic Habits by James Clear