I love to read.
I loved reading when I was growing up, but it all stopped when I got to high school. In high school, reading became more of a chore than anything else really and that just sucked all the fun and joy out of it. Although during the covid years when we were all stuck indoors, I started reading again to pass the time and it reignited my love for it.
When I started college, I was originally a psychology major, but after that first year, I changed my major to English, when I realized psychology wasn’t for me.
So now, I not only read for fun, but I also read for school and the two can not be anymore different from one another.
For school, it is mainly old literature written a century or two (or more) ago. Jane Eyre, Frankenstein, The Canterbury Tales, the list of classics are endless. While classics hold a special place in my heart, I will always be a Shakespeare kind of girl.
As an English major, one of the lower division prerequisites is to take a Shakespeare focused class and now as I am close to completing my upper division classes, I chose to do my third (and final) research seminar course on Shakespeare. For this final research seminar course (English 190), there were a handful of classes, each with a different focus, but choosing Shakespeare, I now get to write my research thesis on a topic that relates to Shakespeare.
How fun is that? (The answer is that it is really fun!)
Although, my personal favorite book that I had to read for an English class was Across A Hundred Mountains by Reyna Grande, which isn’t a century old classic. It is a heartbreaking story of love, loss, and survival. While I admit that it did take me longer than the planned course syllabus to finish the book, it was mainly due to the fact that I wasn’t used to reading literary fiction, but I’m glad that I did. This novel was such an eye-opener, teaching many lessons, and telling a needed message to its readers.
For myself, I read a range from mystery, fantasy, romance, and young adult. I like to read as a form of escapism from the stress I feel in my own life. Although if I really think about it, I have just as much stress (maybe more) from reading. Reading for me is just a fun time, it is a break from school and life.
So, I thought I would tell you my top 3 books on my personal bookshelf. The first is A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson. Five years ago, Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, or at least that is how the case closed and what everyone in Fairview is thinking. The novel follows Pip as she teams up with Sal’s brother, Ravi, to investigate the murder that shook her small town for her senior capstone project, believing that Sal isn’t actually guilty.
To this date, A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder is one of my favorite novels. It’s fast-paced, addictive, and thrilling. This is a book that most people, including myself, were able to binge in one sitting. The novel is also the first in a trilogy, with Pip’s story continuing and I, personally, can say that this book is just the beginning.
The second is Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, which is a young adult fantasy masterpiece. Legendborn stars Bree Matthews as she starts school at UNC Chapel Hill, in their residential program for high schoolers, but when she witnesses a magical attack her first night, everything changes. The novel is a King Arthur and the Round Table retelling, filled with friendship, action, romance, and grief.
When I say that this book is a masterpiece, I am not joking. The world and story that Tracy Deonn has created is so intricate and well-thought, with endless messages to be taught. You’ll just fall in love with the cast of characters (well, most of them at least) and one of the best love triangles ever written, coming from someone who isn’t a love triangle fanatic.
The final is The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, my favorite romance novel, or anything written by Ali Hazelwood, really. The Love Hypothesis is a fake-dating romance between a Ph.D candidate and a young professor, both mutually beneficial for them, but then the fakeness starts to feel real and the fine line begins to blur.
I specifically remember the day that I read this book back in 2022. I read it in one day, one sitting, and literally ate this up. The fake-dating trope, the angst, and even the awkward moments that Olive and Adam find themselves in are so much fun to read, that it will have you giggling and kicking your feet.
At the end of the day, reading is subjective. It’s based on everyone’s own tastes. Personally, while I love being an English major, I don’t love every single thing I have to read for it. My own reading tastes, as you can tell, are vastly different from my required readings.
I think that’s what is so great about reading too. You never know what you’ll enjoy or when you’ll find your next great read.