"The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

A pilot accidentally crashes his plane and lands in the Sahara Desert. While he is wondering how he will survive without food or water, he meets a wandering prince. The little prince has fallen to Earth from another planet, and has been exploring on his own. He has met a great deal of characters and learned valuable lessons on life and living. A great fox he meets instructs him that, "One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye." Life on the prince's planet is very Zen and minimalist, and he has a hard time coming to terms with how plentiful Earth is, and how ungrateful and unhappy most of its inhabitants are. A classic tale of perspective, hope and kindness. How have I never read this before? Beautiful illustrations.

"Nothing" by Janne Teller

A fellow librarian told me to read this book, and librarians do give the best recommendations. I'm only a little biased.

Pierre Anthon is convinced that "Nothing matters." "From the moment you are born, you start to die."

Pierre is so confident in his beliefs; he leaves school and spends his days sitting in a tree, taunting his fellow classmates. He throws plums, and yells at everyone that there is nothing special about their lives, the universe or anything.

His classmates are determined to prove him wrong. They try to argue with him, but are unsuccessful. Throwing rocks at him doesn’t help him shut up either. So, they decide to create a pile of meaningful objects to prove to Pierre that life does indeed stand for something.

The students take turns adding their personal objects to the pile: books, a fishing pole, a pair of sandals….each contribution becomes more extreme and intense to prove their point, and the end result is both morbid and frightening.

What constitutes meaning? Do material objects hold importance? How do you determine what has value?

This is a wonderful, but chilling, look at ourselves, and how we attach significance to our lives.

This book is translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken.