hi!!! it's taken me a minute to answer this because i was trying to think way too hard about what the Perfect book recs would be lmao but thank you 🤎🤎 this list is a little generous with 5 stars because i find it difficult to rate books on a star scale, but they're all ones that are regular recs for me because they've stuck with me

of the classics the one i always rec is brave new world by aldous huxley - the sci fi aspect is admittedly a little hard to digest especially in the beginning, there is a lot of jargon very quickly, but if you can get through that i do think the story is very worthwhile. if that's not your thing, fahrenheit 451 by ray bradbury is a similar theme and easier to read (was listed in my top 5 books on my senior page when i graduated high school - i didn't read brave new world until later)

speak by laurie halse-anderson was my staff rec when i worked at a bookstore - it's a super quick read its less than 200 pages iirc but it's very good

wednesday's child by yiyun li - also quick, a collection of short stories about grief

and for funsies one i've been meaning to read and haven't yet, so if you get to it first lemme know what you think - no longer human by osamu dazai

i hopeee you enjoy these and there's at least one you haven't read before (sorry they're all depressing but i suppose it is sort of my brand) thank you for asking 🤎