Ever since middle school I have become a big reader. I read about 2-3 books almost every week. I love reading because it takes you to another world. I can call a character stupid if I wanted not have to worry about them coming out the pages. I think reading is a great thing that everyone should enjoy. Here are some ways to start getting into reading.
1. Create a Reading Challenge
Goodreads has category on their app or website where you can make a Reading Challenge for the year. You would give a number of how many books you want to read in a year and every time you finish a book, look it up give it a review here you can enter the date you started and finished the book. It gives you the satisfaction that you read 25 books on your own without being told it's for class. I feel great after I finish my challenge and you can continue to keep reading even after finishing the challenge. My challenge was to read 61 books and I have surpassed that by reading 79 so anyone can do it.
Game of Thrones is based off of books, True Blood was also based off books but I can say that the show was better because the author just kept going and it was unnecessary. Shadowhunters (a show on Freeform)is from a book series called Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. For that book, I enjoyed the movie adaptation rather than the book. Orange is the New Black is a book, and Outlander is as well. House of Cards, Dexter and Vampire Diaries are all examples of great shows coming from books. By reading the book it gives you a new view of the show. Now that you have a visual it might be easier to go through the pages. I also think the book must be great for it to be turned into a show.
3. Read the book of the movie before it comes out
Just like TV shows most movies are also based off books. A lot of Stephen King novels are made into movies, usually named with the same name: It, for example, just came out. All those Marvel and DC Movies are based off comics. All of those teen romance movies like Twilight, Fault in our Stars, Hunger Games, and Divergent are all examples of movies from books. I think you should read the book first just so you can imagine what what the characters looked like before Hollywood changes them. You can continue reading the series if Hollywood does not continue with movies, and because usually movies change or leave out things that were in the book. I have always felt that the books were better than the movie because there are just some things you can only visualize with words more than film.
4. Ask for recommendations
The best way to get recommendations is online. When you search a book on Barnes & Nobles or complete a book on Goodreads towards the bottom or side of the screen there will be books just like the the book you just read. Many of the books I have read are recommendations of something I have read. Recommendations also lead to other genres.
5. Start a new genre
As we get older our preferences in reading material changes. We go from reading books that make it easier to learn to stories with plot and characters. These plots would lead a vast variety of genres. Some of my favorite genres are romance, paranormal, and M/M. Paranormal could be a variety of things from vampires and werewolves to fairies and mermaids. Different authors try to make it their own by changing origin stories or evolving the creatures. I like romance because while it is awesome to see people fall in love its funny to get in the heads of characters who have these stories where they were so traumatized that they will not let themselves fall in love, but they do! It shows how unrealistically characters fall in love so quickly or how they are so into each other that they forget to put on a condom. M/M is mostly about homosexual couples. Some of my favorite authors are Mary Calmes and Charlie Cochet. What I like about them is that not a lot of people really know it exists or that it is written by male and female. I think it is another example of how homosexual couples are and go through the same things as heterosexual, polygamous, and trans couples do. And in my mind they are some of the funniest novels as well. These are things that can be experienced if you start to read a new genre.
6. Borrow books from friends
Like asking for a recommendation ask your friends to borrow a book from them. One of the great things about borrowing books from friends is that you guys can talk about it together. You get the chance to talk about theories or your own ideas of how you would make the sequel. It is fun to borrow books from one another because you can get excited together. This is another way to connect with your friends through books. I made better relationships with people I rarely spoke to through books.
7. Read books with a new twist on old fairy tales
These past few years with film and literature we have made main characters of these old fairy tales the villains. If it is not the villains as the main characters, some authors have changed the genre on these fairy tales like Marissa Meyer have changed the genre of the story. Her book series the Lunar Chronicles is about well know heroines like Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Snow White and others in this world of sci-fi. In her story Cinderella is a cyborg, and the true princess of the moon empire thought to be murdered in a fire by her aunt who is queen of the moon. The setting is in a dystopian New Beijing. This is an example of a twist on old fairy tales. Another is by Danielle Page where Dorthy from Wizard of Oz becomes evil and takes over Oz. Could you imagine sweet "there's no place like home " is evil? There are also books, youtube shorts, and movies about the children of these princesses, villains, and monsters. Monster High are about the children of the Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein and etc in high school and how they want to be accepted by "normies". Disney's Descendants is about the children of villains Maleficent, Jafar, Cruella De Vil, and the Evil Queen being allowed to live and go to school with the children of princesses and princes. They struggle with being evil and being good. Then there is also Ever After High it is about the children of the heroes and villians of fairy tales and how it is their destiny to take over their parents story. The issue is Raven Queen, the daughter of the Evil Queen does not want that destiny for herself- she wants to write her own. But, this might change Apple White's (Snow White's daughters') chance at getting her happily ever after. These are great stories that have been changed to make them seem new again and allow authors to make stories for the unnoticed characters or revamp a well know character into something new. I hope these ways get every person who reads this a chance to enjoy reading because it is for everyone.
