Inspiring Books To Read To Uplift Your Mood

Feeling gloomy and down? Here are five reads we recommend that might help you through these trying times

All The Light We Cannot See

Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.

Set during World War II, this award-winning novel by Anthony Doerr revolves around two young individuals, Marie-Laure LeBlanc and Werner Pfennig, who are constantly torn between their own moral biases and the environment they live in. Marie Laurie is depicted as a sweet and gentle French teenage girl who had lost her vision at a young age, while Werner resides in Germany, and has grown an obsession for radios, particularly French broadcast. Both characters face the inevitable curse during that time—having to live in chaos; one having to flee while the other having to serve under the Nazi rule.

Riddled with metaphors and philosophical queries, All The Light We Cannot See is not your typical WWII novel or romantic story. It doesn’t focus on the grim deaths, the violence, or the victory, instead it gives the spotlight to those minute characters on the sidelines and how big or little their lives had changed because of the war.

Haunting as the book may be, Doerr stays true to the its title, showing us the light, as elusive as it may be.

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.

The novel begins with Eddie, a war veteran and a maintenance man at a local amusement park. One tragic day, Eddie dies trying to save a little girl from falling in one of the cart rides. He wakes up in the afterlife, where he meets five different people—some he has met before, others strangers, who gives him a glimpse of how his life went and how his actions, big and small, had affected the people around him.

Straightforward, emotional, and intriguing, The Five People You Meet In Heaven is a refreshing take on the afterlife and serves as a reminder that all lives are somehow interconnected in ways we cannot understand.

My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry

Grow up and be different and don’t let anyone tell you not to be different, because all superheroes are different.

Seven-year old Elsa has always thought of herself as an outcast, being different from kids her age. And her loud, cantankerous 77-year-old grandmother is no different. Having found similarities within each other's differences, she and her grandmother spend days together, talking about whimsical tales of a place where no one needs to be normal. Their bond becomes so strong that when Elsa's grandmother passes due to cancer, little Elsa is left devastated.

Keeping their connection alive, Elsa's grandmother leaves her letters to deliver to the people she has wronged. As Elsa sets off to her newfound adventure, the young girl faces her own insecurities, vulnerabilities, and the deep-seated anger she has towards her mother. She also sets about to face the quirky lives of the different people she meets.

The Little Prince

All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.

A timeless classic, The Little Prince can be simple or complex, depending on the reader. As a child, I have always thought of it as a colourful voyage with fun and quirky characters, nothing more. But as time passed, each man that the little prince meets became a personified example of the adults around me—the rose, the drunkard, the fox, even the well.

The book portrays childhood as being open-minded, being imaginative, and being able to see the beauty in almost everything. Meanwhile, adults are pictured as the exact opposite. The book will help readers rekindle one's lost innocence, and offers countless fresh perspectives and lessons in life.

This I Believe II: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women

The development of the mind, heart and soul determines who you are and who you will become.

This I Believe II is the second compilation of essays from 75 people both well-known and ordinary. The premise is simple, each author is tasked to make an essay completing the thought of the book title: "This I Believe..." Prepare yourself for notably written pieces by authors ranging from cellist Yo-Yo Ma, singer Jimmie Dale Gilmore, a diner waitress, an Iraq War veteran, a farmer, a new husband, and many others, on diverse opinions that are mind stirring, provocative, as well as inspiring.