When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

 
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor making a living treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live.

I loved the overall message of the book - make life as meaningful as you can in the time you have.

At times the book felt quite clinical, although the part written by his wife post his death was written from the heart! 

It never felt a self-pitying but is beautifully written and insightful. 

A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman, Jessica Cohen

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

 

This story wasn't how I imagined it. It is a dark novel, about the cycle of violence and aggression: Heathcliff eventually becomes like the man he hates, by being brought up with beatings and anger he in turn unleashes it on everyone else.

It tells of how love can become a catalyst for hatred.

So many of the characters are utterly unlikable! Cathy is selfish and foolish and obstinate; Heathcliff is brutal and vengeful and psychotic; Hindley is spiteful and venomous and a drunkard.  

 

Amongst Women by John McGahern

The Bell by Iris Murdoch