#71. "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

In the modern era, mental illness has become more socially acceptable to talk about. If you have an issue, you can publicly share your experiences on the internet or with a therapist and open a healthy dialogue. It's cathartic to know that it's no longer stigmatized, that you're seen as an outsider for not being as happy as everyone else. Sure, one still feels that separation in their own personal life, but it feels like there are resources to make you feel less alone. 

One of those resources has been reading the works of Sylvia Plath, whose poetry alone confronts morbid subject matter in a quiet to better understand herself. She brings the reader in, asking them to understand her struggles. Of course, nowhere is that truer than in her lone novel, "The Bell Jar," published a few months before her suicide. While the book has a sense of humor, there is staggering attention paid to how one experiences depression in their life. There's an honesty that is unparalleled, written with intricate word choices that enhance the emotional response. By the end, we understand what it's like to live with grief, not in clinical terms, but something more personal. It's a masterpiece of self-evaluation, making one see the world through a prism not often seen It's accessible in its tragedy and makes one hope for the best. 

#70. "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan

For writer Amy Tan, there is a lot of baggage that comes with being a Chinese-American. It isn't just one society acclimating into another. It's far from the truth. In order to understand what informs the motivations of one generation involves looking back at the first, the one who immigrated to America with hope of having better opportunities. What she finds is that even when changing cultures from China's collectivist mentality to America's individual go-getter. No matter how different things may seem, it's about navigating both worlds and doing their best to make sense of them. By the end, it creates one of the best stories about the personal identity of a culture in flux between old ways and new in a time when women have more opportunities than ever. What unites them is a common heritage, and it's important to never forget that.

#69. "If Beale Street Could Talk" by James Baldwin

When looking at the African American experience throughout the 20th century, it seems to be focused largely on oppression. There is this sense that the only time we care about their lives is when there's a major civil rights case involved. While there is a court case that lines James Baldwin's great, tender story "If Beale Street Could Talk," it is a smaller piece of the bigger picture. It's a love story of a man and woman learning to navigate the world around them. It drops the reader into a world full of questioning eyes, though they come from the unknown world that lies just beyond puppy love. It's a story rich with a deeper warmth that makes you embrace the flowery language that creates one of the greatest movies about being young and in love during trying times.