I know that these were the most dreaded things in high school. I even hated them. The required list of books you had to read for summer was almost as bad as any summer work packets. It wasn't even like you could be productive at the beginning of break and read the two to three books you needed to read. Because if you did, you wouldn't remember everything that happened by the time that you went back to school and got tested on it. So you had to wait till it was closer to school starting and by then you didn't want to read.

Plus often times, the books on the list were the worst. I remember liking maybe two summer reading books out of the 12 that I needed to read ("Fahrenheit 451" and "Pride and Prejudice" are amazing novels in my opinion). I think seeing any book listed for summer reading almost instantly made the book worse because you are forced to read it. It would be different if there was a multitude of books to choose from, but that was not how it worked. Certainly, not having to worry about summer reading was a perk of no longer being in high school.

But here is the thing, you should make yourself a summer reading list (probably a whole year reading list). It sounds terrible yes. But the thing is you get to pick the books and the number of books with no real limit as you could have anything from one book to one hundred. You like adventure books put them on the list. You like sci-fi books add it to the list. If you like comic books include one on the list. Possibilities are endless!

The best part is that you don't have to read any of these books nor do you get penalized in any way for not reading them. But the main perk is that you can get motivated to read and reading is good! Checking off a book once you finish it makes you feel accomplished in a way and watching the pile of read books grow bigger than the unread pile is satisfying. Plus choosing one book to bring on vacation would be a little easier because you could just choose the next book on the list.

However, I find it hard to keep a list or have a pile of books that I want to read by a certain time challenging during the school year. I have taken a few literature classes and with all the reading from those classes, I could never find time to read what I wanted to read. Although, taking literature classes definitely have their perks for adding books to your list or including books that were on your reading list.

If you love reading, make yourself a reading list. There is no harm in doing it and you'll get motivated to read some more. Plus, if you make a list, you can look at how many books you read over the amount of time you have the list for. And any books you don't read during that time can simply be added to the next list. Go to the book store, go to the library, or shop online for e-books and start reading!