Hold Still by Nina LaCour

Caitlin is utterly devastated when her best friend Ingrid commits suicide. Caitlin doesn't want to talk about her feelings, or see a therapist, or even think about what happened. And then on day she discovered Ingrid's journal underneath her own bed. As she begins to read the journal that Ingrid left behind, Caitlin starts to learn about Ingrid's secrets.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

The only chronological element of the work is that it begins by describing the first day of summer in Omelas, a shimmering city of unbelievable happiness and delight. In Omelas, the summer solstice is celebrated with a glorious festival and a race featuring young people on horseback. The vibrant festival atmosphere, however, seems to be an everyday characteristic of the blissful community, whose citizens, though limited in their advanced technology to communal (rather than private) resources, are still intelligent, sophisticated, and cultured. Omelas has no kings, soldiers, priests, or slaves. The specific socio-politico-economic setup of the community is not mentioned, but the narrator merely explains that the reader cannot be sure of every particular.

Self-admittedly, the uncertain narrator reflects that "Omelas sounds in my words like a city in a fairy tale, long ago and far away, once upon a time. Perhaps it would be best if you imagined it as your own fancy bids, assuming it will rise to the occasion, for certainly I cannot suit you all." The narrator even suggests that, if necessary, the reader may include an orgy in their mental picture of Omelas.

Everything about Omelas is so abundantly pleasing that the narrator decides the reader is not yet truly convinced of its existence and so elaborates upon one final element of the city: its one atrocity. The city's constant state of serenity and splendor requires that a single unfortunate child be kept in perpetual filth, darkness, and misery.

Once citizens are old enough to know the truth, most, though initially shocked and disgusted, ultimately acquiesce with that one injustice which secures the happiness of the rest of the city. However, a few citizens, young and old, silently walk away from the city, and no one knows where they go. The writing ends with "The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas."

Link :

https://www.wattpad.com/story/99130776-omelas

A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen

When James Bowen found an injured, ginger street cat curled up in the hallway of his sheltered accommodation, he had no idea just how much his life was about to change. James was living hand to mouth on the streets of London and the last thing he needed was a pet.Yet James couldn't resist helping the strikingly intelligent tom cat, whom he quickly christened Bob. He slowly nursed Bob back to health and then sent the cat on his way, imagining he would never see him again. But Bob had other ideas.Soon the two were inseparable and their diverse, comic and occasionally dangerous adventures would transform both their lives, slowly healing the scars of each other's troubled pasts.A Street Cat Named Bob is a moving and uplifting story that will touch the heart of anyone who reads it.



Link :
https://www.wattpad.com/story/106790168-a-street-cat-named-bob-how-one-man-and-his-cat


Movie link :
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606888/

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?


Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.



PDF Link :
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/simon-mayo/a-man-called-ove.pdf

Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth by Hermann Hesse

Emil Sinclair is a young boy raised in a middle class home, amidst what is described as a Scheinwelt, a play on words which means "world of light" as well as "world of illusion". Emil's entire existence can be summarized as a struggle between these two worlds: the show world of illusion (related to the Hindu concept of maya) and the real world, the world of spiritual truth. In the course of the novel, accompanied and prompted by his mysterious classmate 'Max Demian', he detaches from and revolts against the superficial ideals of the world of appearances and eventually awakens into a realization of self.



Online link :
https://www.wattpad.com/story/84240983-demian-the-story-of-emil-sinclair%27s-youth-english

BTS - Blood, Sweat and Tears (Official MV) link :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmE9f-TEutc