It’s that time of year again! Spring is in the air, and what does that mean? It’s almost spring break. With many of us going on different trips with our families and friends, we will spend a lot of time on the road or in the air. This gives us book fanatics reading time.
For me, I usually break out the oldies and spend my time re-entering worlds that I never wanted to leave. My favorite of these worlds is one everyone has heard of: The Hunger Games. I was first introduced to this series back in my middle school book club. I quickly fell in love and can’t imagine what my life would be like if I had never opened the books back then.
Although many people only know the books because of the movies, in my opinion the books are always better. In this case, the movies leave out many details of Katniss’ life that I missed very much when watching them. If you have never read this series, I highly suggest you do so. Although it is a bit of a science fiction novel, with all the political craziness in the world today, this series by Suzanne Collins doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
This spring break, I plan to sink my teeth into another science fiction world with the Divergent series. I have always regretted not immersing myself in this other post-apocalyptic world, and I want to experience the interesting characters I have seen on the screen.
Even though I highly enjoy science fiction novels, I know many do not. If you’re not a big fan, my next favorite are mysteries. To me, a good book is always mysterious. While it might seem a little elementary, I can’t get past the Nancy Drew novels. I love her character and how intriguing she is. If you’re looking for something a bit more modern, I suggest checking out some James Patterson mysteries. His Alex Cross series has caught my eye and is on my list of books to read.
If neither of these prior genres interest you, I also love pure fiction. Another series I read in elementary school was The Ultimate Gift. This is the first book in a trilogy that is truly humbling. It is also very uplifting, which is why I highly recommend it. For me, even though I enjoy spring, I seem to always be disappointed with the weather. I either want it to be hot enough to swim or cold enough to snow. So, it is great to have an uplifting novel that I can read while enjoying the mediocre temperature outside.
While I believe that many of the books I mentioned are great reads, some of you may be thinking that none of these are for you. So, I encourage all of you to take a quick walk to the Riley-Hickingbotham Library and ask any of its great staff members to suggest some titles. Many times we forget that our library houses many non-academic books, which are my favorite kinds. All in all, I hope you have a great spring break and spend much of your time with your nose in a book.
By staff writer, Ethan Dial
