“I don’t read unless I have to.”, “I
only read for school- like required reading.”, “I can’t even remember the last
book I read on my own.”, “I … don’t really read.”--- These quotes are honest to
God, real-life sentences that came out of real people’s mouths. I know; I
couldn’t believe it either. However, my love for reading and books run deep.
From the time I’ve known myself, a book will always get my attention. Much
quicker that a friend with a new Game Boy game or a television show would.
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely had friends and loved watching Disney Channel
movies, but books… it was a different experience for me.
My mom pushed reading on myself and my younger sister (more
me) than anything. If I wanted to watch tv, I had to read a book a let her know
what it was about. When school was out for the summer, there was a whole list
of books that I had to read before school let back in. As much as it sounds
like torture, I grew to love it. So much that every year when the scholastic
book fair came to school, I forced a book flyer in her hands so that we could
choose books to buy together. That was my type of fun. Slowly, the bookshelves
in my childhood room began filling and growing in size and my reading level. I
can remember waking up for school, getting dressed, and squeezing in enough
time to eat a healthy bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and read three chapters of a
book before the school bus made it to my house. That’s how fun it was for me. I
took so much pride in bookmarks and the book light that I eventually got as a
gift. I used to get in trouble for staying up past my bedtime to read
underneath my comforter… with my book light. Yes, I loved it.
Oh how things have changed! As I grew, reading became
something distant and going out with friends and learning how to drive were
more important. Reading became something I just had to do for class and buying
books was just as foreign as reading the FREE ones at school. No, I didn’t hate
reading, we just weren’t best friends anymore. Now, being in Creative Writing
minor in school has changed that a lot. Really college as a whole, but my minor
pushes me to read every day. It was so difficult for me to adhere to
“schedules” and “deadlines for quizzes”. To me, there was no way that I could
read a whole book, complete a project, and deal with work from my other four
classes all while feeding myself and finding the time to sleep and get a decent
shower in. “There isn’t enough time in the day!”, I remember crying to my mom
my freshman year. My long lost love had turned into the worst stress and I
hated our relationship. Zooming into the present, I gained two new loves: new
and old. My year and counting girlfriend created a bucket list for us and one
of the activities was “Read the same book at the same time”. It may be easy and
discourteous of you to say that it took someone else to remind me of something
that I love to do, but then you would be correct. That’s exactly what it took.
I can live with that because your significant other, best friend, your lover is
supposed to encourage the good things.
But I don’t want to bore you guys with the monotonous stories
of my childhood, how my freshman year was the end of my life, or boast about
the love of my life; I want to share something with you. I said all of this to
say reading will always be the way to learn for me. I will always believe that
reading is the easiest and sometimes cheapest way to gain knowledge. The
simplest way to add a new word to your vocabulary and learn something you never
knew before. Possibly the coolest teacher that a person could ever have. So to
help do a good deed in the world and pass the good jewels of my mind along, I
will share my Summer16 Reading List with you all.
First up is 1. “Year of Yes: How to dance it out, Stand in the
Sun, and Be Your Own Person” by Shonda Rhimes. Now, I am only smack-dab in the
middle of this amazing read, but I think I can safely vouch for it. Yes, the
award-winning, “amazing show writing”, ruler of Thursday Nights on ABC wrote
this book and she is indeed amazing. Let’s just say that she went a whole year
of saying yes to things that would scare her and crammed it into a book, along
with some life lessons, motivational quotes, and just pure laughing moments.
You learn to hate and love her at the same time. Please go read!
Number 2. “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” by Ishmael Beah. This is a haunting, yet touching read. The author was a
soldier as a child after the war ruined his hometown and got picked up by the
government’s army and had to become a person he didn’t recognize and do
horrible things. Nonetheless, he overcame the traumatic events being a preteen,
BUT you have to read to see it all. Read his story; it’s so worth it.
3. “The Color of Water” by James McBride. Hailing from a
little corner in Brooklyn, New York, a brown James McBride tells his life story
between and betwixt telling his white, Jewish mother’s… but through HER voice.
Exactly. You have so many questions and now you want to read more. Just do it
(thanks Nike).
4. and 5. are “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by
Rebecca Skloot and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley” by
of course, Alex Haley. Yes, the same man who gave us “Roots” and yes, you
should read that too. I’m not even going to give you reasons to picks those up,
that is how life changing and engaging they are.
The summer is one of the best times (if not every day) to pick
up a new hobby, try something, or do something you normally wouldn’t have done.
I feel like my generation doesn’t normally lean to going to the library or the
local book store as “trying something new”, but it doesn’t always have to be
trying a new liquor with your friends and I promise you that getting a book
will be cheaper. Educate your minds! There isn’t anything more powerful in this
world than having knowledge and there’s nothing sexier than intellect. It’s
never a bad time to start and I don’t want to hear that the summer is almost
over. You don’t even have to choose any of the books on that list, but just
pick one up. Tell me what you learn. Tell me about something that made you
wonder. Tell me about something you read that made you a better you than you
were yesterday.
Text: Sade' Louis
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