Which 100 Books Must Read Are Best For Beginners?

The setting can be a character too! I loved reading The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali, a heartbreakingly beautiful love story set in 1950s Tehran. The story is surrounded by a beautifully described shop, the city and food, and even if there are some cultural references that a reader is not familiar with, they are all explained throughout the story. What I found beautiful was the universal love story of a connection that is lost and found after decades. For a beginner in reading English, such rich sensory description of a story makes the language come alive in a new way. You are not just reading words on pages, you are smelling the saffron and feeling the heat. It transports you to another world.

I think a really good book for someone to start to learn more about science through fiction is “The Rosie Project” by Graeme Simsion. As a genetics professor, Don Tillman is a very logical person. He tries to develop a system to find the love of his life, but everything doesn’t go as planned. The book is very fun and heartwarming. It’s not really a chemistry book, but it does show the kind of way that scientists look at the world, and how they try to solve problems. This book is very good for someone who is starting to look into the world of science, because it shows a very logical person trying to solve problems in his everyday life in a very scientific way. ‘The Disappearing Spoon’ is another fabulous book that weaves great stories about the elements and their scientists with the hard facts. My belief is that beginners will find this an exciting and less frightening introduction to the ‘hard’ science of chemistry. Sam Kean’s clever weaving of historical events, the odd personal tales and his in-depth descriptions of the various elements mean that a great big story is constructed from seemingly dry facts. As Don Tillman recognises in ‘The Rosie Project’, scientists are just as fascinating as any fictional characters and Sam Kean has an array of characters to pull from the long list of the scientists of the elements. A Science Fiction book that centres around someone involved in Forensic Science has to be considered for this list and in this case, the main protagonist David Hunter is a forensic anthropologist which makes ‘The Chemistry of Death’ by Simon Beckett an ideal science fiction book. Although it is more centered towards the aspects of a Forensic Scientist, the detail that goes into the chemical processes of decay, could be of great interest to someone starting out in chemistry. It’s a great ‘story’ book, with plenty of suspense that keeps you gripped to the book, whilst always coming back to Chemistry within the story. This historical fiction novel is set in the 18th century. A young woman, Emilie, was brought up by her alchemist father in isolation. Her father taught her the alchemist’s craft, and after his death, she is left alone with many questions. She sets out to discover the truth about her father’s life and his work. Her journey becomes one of discovery and of the roots of chemistry. The author provides a great insight into historical science and the novels follows the main character on her journey of discovery and growth. A most enjoyable and thought provoking non-fiction book relating chemistry to real crimes is ‘Elements of Murder’ by John Emsley. This book tells the dark history of poisonous elements used throughout time for crime and assists the reader to understand the aspect of chemistry that can be important in Forensic Science and Environmental issues. This book is written in an entertaining manner making an enjoyable and enjoyable read providing a real insight into real life crime.

Another book for a global, non-Western starting point could be “The Silk Roads: A New History of the World” by Peter Frankopan. In this book, Frankopan largely rewrites the standard history of the world by starting with the East-West trade routes of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe rather than with Europe. He carefully connects a vast number of cultures and gives them due credit in this re-interpretation of world history, especially with regard to the Crusades, the Mongols, and the rise of the West. His book provides a fundamental expansion of the typical student’s mental map of the world, showing many connections between cultures that were previously unknown to most readers. (From The History Book Club).

Start your journey to your home library with these classic novels. First of all ‘Fahrenheit 451’ by Ray Bradbury. A classic that highlights the dangers of censorship in a world where books are being taken away from humans and burn them. Because it contains so much power to change their minds, perhaps this book will make you want to read even more and therefore protect your library of books. If you like to read novels about how society or even a certain environment can affect how people think, then this is the perfect novel for you. ‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley is another must read classic. This book is set in a future where society has become a utopia where people live in happiness through excess of pleasure. Huxley portrays a very unique future where people are brought up in special harmless environments and covered from the beginning in chemicals that will guarantee them a life of pure pleasure and free from any pain or suffering through advanced technology. These books are a great choice for your little library and spark lots of conversations with fellow book readers. Reading these classic books is a way of expressing yourself and showing others what you like.

Your best game could be one that you play with a friend. Having someone to discuss with, to share “what the heck” moments, and to compare choices to can make an otherwise isolating experience a lot of fun. Find a story-based game to play through on stream over on Discord with a buddy, or even play through simultaneously and chat through the choices and decide together. You’d be surprised how something that could otherwise be kind of awkward to play through in private can become a fun experience with a buddy. Games with lots of branching storylines like Fetish Locator or many visual novels would work really well for this kind of gameplay. “What did you choose when Character X asked Y?” becomes a really fun conversation starter instead of something that causes tension. Gaming is social too, even in some of the more solo-based genres of games.

I found this post about ‘for beginners’ quite interesting. I could see a learning curve being explored and that would have to be approached in a particular way i.e. building a palate. I would start with some of the short stories of M. T. Vasudevan Nair. The way he conveys repressed emotion and unspoken tension in his stories is masterful. ‘Vanaprastham’ (the story and not the film) is a great example of a quiet, aching sort of sensuality which would allow the beginner to experience and learn to appreciate subtext before graduating to more obvious narratives.

It is hard to go wrong with a perennial favorite recommended on every academic list of great novels – including ‘Middlemarch’, ‘Anna Karenina’ and ‘Moby-Dick’, all of which have been lauded by generations of literary critics for their groundbreaking structures and themes. Today, we also have a list of more recent novels that have received widespread critical acclaim. These include ‘Wolf Hall’ by Hilary Mantel, a revolutionary historical novel written in the present tense that swept the board at last year’s book awards, and ‘The Goldfinch’ by Donna Tartt, a ‘Dickensian’ novel that divided opinion among readers but won the Pulitzer Prize. However, it is the longer lists of novels that have been shortlisted for a prize that really offer the most interesting suggestions. For example, the shortlist for the International Booker Prize introduced me to a number of stunningly great translated novels including South Korean novel ‘The Vegetarian’. These are the novels that literary critics praise because they expand the literary conversation in some way.

I like to scroll through my phone instead of reading because books make me think too much and then I’m awake. Maybe I should try these suggestions. I can only be jealous of my partner who reads every night and goes to sleep in 10 minutes. He is using the book as an off-switch.

I stumbled upon kink hypnosis videos by accident. I watched a video critiquing the genre for the tropes it uses. Curious, I found and watched ‘Sissy Hypno Lite’ – a basic tutorial type video that explains the triggers in a very non immersive way. Basic. ‘Pink Hypnosis’ uses lots of kaleidoscope styled images and sounds, with soothing narration. Very different from the hyper active editing found in most of the hardcore stuff out there. And if you want story, there is ‘The Secretarial Pool’ which is very much a story in a hypnosis induction for a very specific office fantasy. Just watch a bit to see if any resonate with you.

A good ‘intro to main lore’ book is ‘Nightbringer’ by Graham McNeill, which is the first book in the Uriel Ventris series. A classic ‘Space Marines vs. ancient evil’ type of story that inducts you to the lore of the main universe through the history of the Ultramarines, introducing you to the realms of Chaos cults and the unknown forces of xenos in the Warhammer 40k universe. A good, ‘all round’ storyline well read in an audiobook. While it’s not the most complex or groundbreaking in terms of exploring the gritty background of the universe in depth, the simple storyline showcases the heroism of the bravest super-humans in the galaxy and the unrelenting horrors they face in all out action to the very last stand. It is a great ‘out of the box’ introduction to the hero armies of the 41st millennium, a solid, ‘poster-boy’ beginners book, functional to advanced and fun to listen to.