There is something so special about books. Their capability to take you into another universe, captivated by an intricate story unfolding at your fingertips, is truly magical. As a Literature minor, it goes without saying that I enjoy reading. I grew up surrounded by books, reading anything I could get my hands on. When I was in fourth grade, I even wrote my own book by hand on 100 pages of yellow loose-leaf paper. But, I found that as I grew up, my usual reading time was overtaken by other responsibilities or things I viewed as “more important” than reading. I didn’t make any time to pick up a book. This semester I realized I missed reading and all the happiness it bought me. I began reading again, finishing a book a week these past 2 months. For this column, I want to highlight two female leads I have found to be full of strength, inspiration, and intelligence.
If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang quickly became one of my favorite books — I finished it within 12 hours of starting. Before I start a book, I always read the last sentence, and this one certainly didn’t disappoint: “In the distance, the darkness has started to lift like a veil, the first light of dawn spilling over the Beijing skyline, a promise of all the beautiful and terrible sun-soaked days to come.” Ugh, speechless! If You Could See the Sun follows Alice Sun, a teenage girl from a humble family, who attends a prestigious school in Beijing, China. Surrounded by her rich peers, Alice constantly feels invisible, that is until she actually becomes invisible. As the story unfolds, you find that Alice comes from a struggling family who wants to give her the best, which puts a burden on Alice. In order to help her family financially, she gives it her all and steps up to the plate, full of courage and determination. Even if she may mess up and make mistakes, she is able to acknowledge that and grow stronger. I find Alice to be the epitome of hard work, going after everything she wants with grace. Behind Alice is Ann Liang, who in herself is a pretty awesome woman. She wrote this beautiful book in her freshman college dorm, which is just straight-up impressive! And the best part is, one of the lines in her acknowledgments reads as follows: “Thank you to Taylor Swift for existing.” Check out her other book, This Time It’s Real.
The second female lead I want to touch upon is Stella Lane of The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. Stella Lane, a young adult who has Autism Spectrum Disorder, works seven days a week as an Econometrician. She absolutely loves her job, and has succeeded tremendously, but she struggles in all areas that are related to men. This book follows Stella and her journey with escort Michael Larsen, and how two imperfect people can complete each other. My favorite part about this book is the perspective it gave me about people who have autism — I enjoyed being in Stella’s head and looking at life through her perspective. I truly felt like I learned something when I finished reading. Stella is strong-willed, motivated, and unapologetically herself. I found myself wanting to be best friends with Stella! I laughed with her, felt her pain, understood her sorrow, and rooted for her till the very end. Another thing I absolutely loved about Stella is her passion for her profession, and how much she excels at it. It was inspiring to see Stella in love with her job, and I hope I can find something like that outside of school. The last sentence of this book tugged at my heart’s strings: “Palm to palm, two lonely halves found comfort together.” Behind Stella is New York Times bestselling author Helen Hoang, a talented writer who creates such loveable characters. Hoang also has autism, and she is revolutionizing how we view romance novels. I started reading her next book in the trilogy The Bride Test, which has captivated me — I’ve been spending my days reading it by the pier.
Alice Sun and Stella Lane are two female characters who I look up to. While they may not be perfect, they are real. I see myself in each of them, and I can relate to their experiences. I am so happy I decided to begin reading again. Books bring me joy, knowledge, fun, sorrow, laughter, and so much more. I quickly remembered why little Jordyn loved reading so much. I hope next time you have a free moment, you can find a book to indulge in and enjoy!
