Top 20 Books I've Read Recently that Made me realize I'm part of a human race that maybe doesn't totally suck

These are books that I've read in the last ten years or so that have been good for my soul. They're not "feel-good", per se (ok, maybe of few of them are) and they're certainly not fluff. They're books which have a fundamentally positive/optimistic view of humanity while not minimizing its pain and suffering.

They're also novels which have often made me think, If only influential people -- politicians and world leaders, for example -- would read these books...

Again, in no particular order, here are my top twenty:

Anxious People, Fredrik Backman

Backman is a modern-day Dickens. Beautiful prose, perennially optimistic and funny. Just a great writer whose next book I always look forward to.

From the Ashes, Jesse Thistle

Autobiographical. One of the top Canada-reads books a few years ago. A must-read if your heart beats to homelessness, poverty and/or Indigenous issues.

Women Talking, Miriam Toews

Toews is wickedly, and painfully funny. I've blogged about this book. It should become a high school, curricular staple. 

Black Beauty, Anna Sewell

A thinly disguised allegory about slavery and racism: about animal welfare on one level; on a deeper level, about kindness and sympathy.

The Man who was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton

I don't know as much about Chesterton as I should... a Roman Catholic and an Anarchist? One of C. S. Lewis's  heroes. This novel can be described as a metaphysical thriller; described by Chesterton, himself, as "...an unusual affirmation that goodness and right [are] at the heart of every aspect of the world." For me, the book was worth reading for the beautiful/spiritual ending (but I can't tell you about it ;) 

Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

Probably my favourite book of the last ten years. If I were ever to do a top ten, this would definitely make it to such a list. Ditto what Chesterton said about his novel: Grapes of Wrath affirms that there is goodness in the world. Question: why is it that so many authors that don't necessarily profess to be religious and/or Christian -- I would include John Steinbeck, Stephen King and Ken Follett among others -- have a better handle on theology and all things spiritual than overtly religious people?

Home, Marilynne Robinson

Robinson won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for Gilead. Home is the second of four books (so far) in the series. One of my favourite quotes from the novel: "It [is] the will of God to sustain us in the flesh, in this life. Weary or bitter or bewildered as we may be, God is faithful. He lets us wander so we will know what it means to come home."   

Odd Thomas, Dean Koonts

Odd Thomas is an immensely likeable character. It helps that a little known film by the same title starred the late Anton Yelchin who, from all accounts, was a really decent human being (as is the eponymous character, Odd Thomas). By the way, if you want my humble opinion, don't bother with the other novels in the series. Side note: I'd say the same of Ender's Game. Read it, but don't bother with the rest of the series... well maybe read Ender's Shadow but not the others. 

The Truth about Stories, Thomas King

I must read more Thomas King. This book is a 2003 Massey Hall lecture. The beauty of this book -- and why it's on this list -- is that, along with being about Indigenous Peoples and the oral tradition, stories, in King's words, "... [carry] with [them] social responsibilities." He continues, "Don't say in years to come that you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard this story. You've heard it now."    

Daring Greatly, Brené Brown

I'm not sure Brown coined the phrase the stories we tell ourselves... probably not. But she does excellent work explaining the trouble we get ourselves into when we invent entire narratives in the absence of having all the facts. 

Indian Horse, Robert Wagamese

Robert Wagamese left us too soon. Confession: I sometimes cheat when I write these blurbs. I Google the book and/or writer to remind myself (I haven't read some of these books in ten years). The first thing that comes up for Indian Horse is that "[it] will bring compassion and understanding to your heart." If reading is an act of listening, please listen well as you read this novel. 

The Fault in our Stars, John Green

Another YA book from my days as a secondary school English and Literacy consultant. John Green is an excellent, and compassionate writer. As one who has experienced cancer, I believe he writes beautifully about one of life's lowest times and also of life's hopes and dreams. 

Wonder, R. J. Palacio

This is Palacio's debut novel. It's all heart and soul. For anyone who's been bullied or witnessed bullying in grade school, this is a novel about how things ought to be. And isn't that fiction often at its best: when it points to a preferred, kinder world and how it just might be made possible?

Winter of the World, Ken Follett

I chose this, the second part of the Century Trilogy, but, really, I could've chosen any of the three. Or, for that matter, I could've chosen any of Follett's Kingsbridge series. Follett's epic historical fiction -- like Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, shows humanity at its absolute, depraved, lowest.  Follett, however, also shows humanity at its best, kindest, and most compassionate in the face of great evil.         

Mercy Among Children, David Richard Adams

Who's heard of David Richard Adams? Why had I never heard of David Richard Adams? So many good writers out there -- who could possibly know them all? But seriously, Adams is literary-legit. So legitimate, in fact, that he has won the Governor General's Literary Awards  in both the fiction (Nights Below Station Street) and non-fiction (Lines on the Water) categories.   

The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne 

A classic age-old tale that everybody should read. Think of the woman caught in adultery; the pharisees trying to catch Jesus in a moral/theological conundrum ask, "The law says we should stone this woman. What do you think?" To which Jesus responds, "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone." Take the ideas in this parable, set them in severe Puritan seventeenth century New England, turn them into a full length novel, and what you have is The Scarlet Letter. 

Tales from Firozsha Baag, Rohinton Mistry 

This collection of short stories made me feel sheltered. I've lived a -- comparatively speaking -- very privileged and affluent life. From the Penguin Random House website: In these stories, "Mistry opens our eyes and hearts to the rich, complex patterns of life inside Firozsha Baag, an apartment building in Bombay... We see [their] passions, their worst fears, their betrayals, and their humorous acts of revenge. Witty and poignant, in turns, these... stories create a finely textured mosaic of lives and illuminate a world poised between the old ways and the new... (Goodreads)"

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

Arguably one of the first feminist texts, you will find Jane Eyre is on any must-read classics list. I just read a review that states, "But when I look at Jane’s choices through a contemporary lens..." I get this argument and the same will be said about Uncle Tom's Cabin below. I am, however, a firm believer in historical criticism: literary  criticism in the light of historical evidence or based on the context in which a work was written, including facts about the author’s life and the historical and social circumstances of the time.  And as such, I think there's much to be learned by reading Jane Eyre. 

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

Isiguro has a soft touch. The two books of his I've read are both compelling. The characters and subject-matter are sensitively handled. Ishiguru has an interesting relationship with science fiction and fantasy. I read somewhere where he almost seemed to be saying that realistic fiction is a purer form... I just Googled and tried to find this and found him say the opposite (that some people are snobby and won't read his work if it's sci-fi or fantasy. Interesting divide. I know people who pretty much exclusively read one or the other genre because of their strong affinity -- and/or dislike -- for one over the other. 

Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe

Ditto the comments made above about historical criticism and Jane Eyre. But even more so: originally criticized by people who thought the black characters were too sympathetic and the white too evil. Later, it was criticized for being too simplistic, stereotypical and even not helpful in many ways to the point that "Uncle Tom" has become a racial epithet. I think, however, that this still remains an important historical study especially when examining the role of a culturally, fixed church rooted in a specific time in its dark history.