As the vocalist for the Yogyakarta-based indie pop/rock band, Grrrl Gang, Angee Sentana is known for her lyrics which is not only relatable to almost everyone who has experienced high school and all its drama, but also quite perfectly encapsulate how it feels to be a young adult. On their latest EP “Not Sad, Not Fulfilled” there is one particular song title that stood out from the others, “Guys Don’t Read Sylvia Plath”. Seeing how she had put a literary reference in one of her song, we asked Angee about her favorite books for this edition of “Gimme 5”.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara

Currently reading this one! It follows the lives of four friends in New York from college to middle-age. The book focuses on their friendship, but it also has very difficult themes of trauma and recovery. Really obsessed with this one and I guarantee that tears would fall from your eyes as you turn each page, if you ever decide to read it.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five follows the journey of Billy Pilgrim through time and space. It’s an anti-war book about the Second World War infused with science fiction. One interesting part of the book was when Billy Pilgrim was abducted by aliens and he has a conversation with one of them about free will. The alien says, “Only on Earth is there any talk of free will.” That made me think.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Fucked up. It’s a dystopian novel about Gilead, a totalitarian society/state, which was previously the US. It treats the women as property of the government. As the birth rate plummeted, the few remaining fertile women are forced into sexual subjection in order to repopulate. It is told through Offred, a handmaid, and how she survives. It’s scary to think that our future could be like that, as well.

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi

It’s a heart-warming story about young Rahima in Kabul, who is dressed up and treated as a son in order to go to school and run errands for her mother, because they live with a drug-addicted father and no brothers. A century earlier, her great-aunt, Shekiba, adopted this tradition in order to survive. It’s a story of hopelessness, fate, and the freedom to control of one’s fate. Reading this book was very painful, but it ended with a slight glimmer of hope.

Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Set in the French Riviera in the 1920s, Tender is the Night is a love story between rising star Rosemary Hoyt and the charming American couple Dick and Nicole Diver. It is also a story of loneliness, but mostly the need to love and belong. Fitzgerald completely dives into the complexities that come in human relationships in this book. It’s a really touching and depressing tale — even though it’s set in the glamorous French Riviera.