Pairing school subjects with my fave books!// ft. a LOT of recs!

It is Back-to-School season… which means more curling up in a ball and crying for me.

School can be great! you get to see your friends!! annoy teachers!! lowkey my favourite hobby and you might even learn a thing or two. crazy right?! 

But mostly school just piles up a mountain of stress and anxiety and work that you DEFINITELY won’t even look at till the day before it’s due. So to motivate us all, in this time of pain, I will be giving you book recommendations based on school subjects!

Maths: You Asked for Perfect

You Asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman is one of my favourite books ever! It’s a story about Ariel Stone, a senior applying to college, who has a ‘perfect application’ till he fails a Calculus quiz. Stressing about his grades, he overworks and starts shutting himself off from his friends. But nothing seems to help so Ariel gets his classmate, Amir, to tutor him… and ends up falling for him. Except, a relationship might just break him.

This is a perfect back to school read. It teaches you that while your grades are important, YOU matter too and in wanting to be the best, you shouldn’t let your life or friends slip by. I can totally relate to feeling like you need to be perfect and this taught me that perfection isn’t everything. This beautiful and emotional book means so much to me and I love it with all my heart!

Honourable mentions include An Abundance of Katherines and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.

English: Stolen: A Letter to My Captor

This was a hard one but I ended up choosing Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher because it’s the only book I’ve read in second person. ‘The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don’t exist–almost.’

This is a powerful novel that filled me with conflicting emotions throughout. I wanted to ship Gemma and Ty but thinking about this story in real life made it extremely horrific (stalking, kidnapping, etc). The book is thought-provoking and completely captivated me.

Honourable mentions include The Raven Cycle and Six of Crows. Both of these are beautifully written and make it so easy to get lost in the story!

Science: Scythe

I obviously had to choose a science-fiction book for this category and Scythe by Neal Shusterman immediately comes to mind! This is one of my favourite sci-fi books ever! Scythe is about a future utopia where there is no hunger, disease, war or death. Scythes are the only ones who can end life and have to do so to control the size of the population. Citra and Rowan are apprentices to a scythe and have to master a role they don’t want. Failure could mean losing their own life.

This book really made me think about what would happen if all the problems in the world were fixed and what I would do if I was in that situation. This book is so beautifully written and I love it!

Honourable mentions include Skyward and Illuminae

French: Enchantée

Enchantée by Gita Trelease is a beautifully written novel set in 1789 Paris! This historical fiction is incredibly magical and intriguing. I enjoyed reading this book a lot and the English and French flowed really well! There is so much passion in this book and the magic is really well imagined.

I particularly loved Camille and how resourceful and loving she was! Camille’s relationship with her sister, Sophie, was also really sweet and I loved how much they cared for each other. You can read my full review here!

The Phobos series (review) is also incredible and is originally written in French (I read the translated version). Other books set in Paris include Grim Lovelies and The Gilded Wolves. These are both on my TBR but I haven’t read them yet!

Spanish: The Poet X

I’m super disappointed about this but I cannot?? remember?? reading a Spanish/Latinx book?? So I did some research and landed on this Goodreads list which shows the current most popular YA Latinx book is The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. I know my library has this book and so it is my new life mission to read this!

Other Latinx books I added to my TBR include We Set the Dark on Fire; I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter and With the Fire on High. If you have any more Latinx recs please send them my way! because i really need to feel cultured

History: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

I don’t read much historical fic because I’m not the biggest fan of it but I loved The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. This is a story about a 9-year-old boy, Bruno, who moves to the outside of a concentration camp with his family in WW2. He meets Shumel, a boy his age on the inside of the camp who always wears pyjamas. The two boys become friends despite the horrors of war and the different sides their families are on.

This heartbreaking story made me cry and I wouldn’t have it any other way. This book was beautifully written from the perspective of a young boy. (Be warned that it is not historically accurate and read this review for more info)

Art: Caraval

Caraval by Stephanie Garber pretty much sums up art for me. It is a beautifully written book which captivated me entirely and made me imagine a whole new world. *spends the next 10 minutes listening to Aladdin songs* The magic in Caraval was so beautifully described that I immediately fell in love with the book.

Caraval is about Scarlett and Tella Dragna who run away from their cruel father to a faraway magical circus/competition known as Caraval. As soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend, and the first to find her is the winner. Everything in Caraval is an elaborate game and Scarlett becomes caught in love, heartbreak, and magic while trying to find her sister.

Drama:  My So-Called Bollywood Life

My So-Called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma is one of my favourite books and one of the few books with Indian rep that I’ve seen! This book is nothing short of dramatic! It follows Winnie Mehta, a Bollywood film lover, and her life is incredibly entertaining to read! with

As an Indian, I loved this book so so so much! This book really made me feel recognised. All the references, the Indian culture, the Bollywood films!! It was quite frankly, awesome. The book is quite chill and doesn’t really have much of a plot but is a brilliant fluffy read!

I love it so much and I wrote a full-on fangirling review on my blog which you should definitely check out here.

P.E / Gym: The Hunger Games

I have to pick The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins for this one because let’s be real, whenever we do sport in class, it gets overly competitive. In particular, school dodgeball is fairly similar to the arena (minus sharp weapons ofc).

If you have’t read The Hunger Games yet, I don’t know what you’re doing with your life because this book is incredible and captiviating and I 10/10 recommend! I need to do a reread of this asap!

Textiles: Spin the Dawn

Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim is a Mulan retelling about a ‘young girl who poses as a boy to compete for the role of imperial tailor and embarks on an impossible journey to sew three magic dresses: from the sun, the moon, and the stars’.

I wasn’t going to do a sewing/textiles category but this book is so amazing and fits so perfectly that I couldn’t help but write about it! I love so much about this book: from the writing, to the main character to the romance. You all need to read this asap!

What did you think of this post? Any other suggestions to add to this list? What did you have for breakfast? What are you reading at the moment? Divulge your secrets…

Hugs!

Kerys xx

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