Literature Throughout My Life

I’ve read a fair amount of books within these past years, some have been positive reads, some that met me with distaste, and some that I was neutral towards. Many books have peaked my interest to disappoint, some were underrated reads that were really influential and were absolutely great reads, and some fell in between.

As far as good reads, one of my most unexpected favorite books was Animal Farm by George Orwell. I read it last year for a book report which I originally thought would be monotonous and boring. Many of my friends thought it was rather bland and weird, considering talking animals were creating their own superior-animal-society that was utterly corrupt. I thought it was an extremely interesting book, and once I started reading it I could hardly put it down. The plot was strong and had me wondering what would happen every other page, with an ending that was slightly abrupt, but nonetheless superb. It made me think so much and had my mind stimulated the entire time which is one of my preferences when reading. It had heavy subliminal messaging to communism and specific events in history which also kept me thinking. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins may seem cliche but it was also a positive reading experience, I read the whole trilogy over the course of a 3 day weekend back in 2011 (6th grade). I cried, I laughed, and the book just made me feel so many emotions and that’s a great quality in a book/ book series because that’s when I feel like I’m invested in the story. It was thought provoking and made me reflect on our own society and possible similarities. Suzanne Collins provided us with a strong female lead protagonist which I completely admire. Overall the books really inspired a time in my life where I was experiencing my first real influential reading experiences and the books were my gateway into young adult literature. I have plenty more enthralling books i’ve read but these two were the first two that came to mind.

For neutral reading experiences, the most blatant one to me was the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams in that I read in the 7th grade. It was well written, maybe too well written for my comprehension skills at the time. It was excellently written and had an interesting plot that I adored, but the words and phrases used in the book made it difficult for me to understand the first read through. It sort of left me dazed when I had to reread a sentence or paragraph multiple times, it was tiring and wore out my brain. It had an outstanding and original plot and intellectual writing.

I haven’t read too many bad books but obviously, my Twilight phase in the 3rd grade led me to owning a really atrocious book series and also led me to the most negative reading experiences, ever. I didn’t enjoy them at all, I really just enjoyed the hype surrounding “Team Edward! Team Jacob!” (and at the time, yes I was Team Edward.) I can barely even remember details from the book although having read the first book three times. It was unremarkable writing and the storyline? Boring. I’m not even sure what the main plot was because the unintelligible love-triangle took the spotlight throughout the books. The book series was so poorly written, it was no wonder it appealed to such a young underdeveloped audience. The Twilight series was just the worst book series I’ve ever read.

I’m looking forward this year to reading more books, possibly to expand my tastes and to go through more negative, positive, and neutral reading experiences!

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