Hello Pirates, did you know that only around 32% of Americans read for fun regularly? Not only has reading been shown to improve cognitive functions and concentration, but it has even proven that reading for at least 6 minutes can reduce stress levels up to 68%. So, why do so few people, especially people in our generation, read so little? It is a complex issue and one that I am not qualified to define, it is a mixture of many issues that students face in the digital age, one of them being the great decrease in reading comprehension. While I am not a professional, I believe that the way that schools teach reading definitely does not help encourage students to read for fun, and the way that students are expected to infer a lot of things that are critical to comprehending what they read is also damaging to their long term enjoyment of reading. It is a shame to see how so many students nowadays seem to have little to no interest in reading, and I’m hoping that this may inspire someone to pick up one of the recommendations later in this article and enjoy a good book.
Fantasy is one of the titular genres of fiction that millions of people all over the world enjoy, and senior Kiah King is no different. Harry Potter is the series she rereads the most and she loves the characters. Harry Potter by J.K Rowling is a very famous book series and most people have probably read one of the books or seen one of the movies. The characters are also iconic in their own right, anyone can relate to at least one character in the series, and it appeals to a wide audience. The character she relates to the most is Hermione Granger, a perfectionist bookworm, and for a long time Hermione was her favorite. Over the years she started to like more characters, like Ron, the flawed yet loyal best friend, and in rereads he is her favorite.
Another fantasy series that she enjoys is the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. Kiah likes the complex interpersonal relationships that she writes that go deeper than romance. Her favorite character, Chaol, is not defined by his love interest, rather by his deep love and loyalty for his best friend. He doesn’t even meet his love interest until the second to last book, so for him most of the interpersonal growth that he goes through is by complex platonic relationships, something that is regrettably lacking in a lot of modern literature. She enjoys the character Chaol not only because of his interactions and relationships with others, but also because he is practically the only normal person in the series.
The final book she lists is Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, a story of a woman broken by the world and finding redemption, healing, and love, both in her husband and her creator. Kiah endorses this book, so check it out if you have the chance! When she reads, her favorite moments tend to be the scenes between the action and conflict when you really get to see what characters are going through and how they feel. It’s these lower stakes scenes in which characters’ innermost feelings are shown, even through the smallest moments, that she likes the most.
Thank you so much for reading, and thank you Kiah King for participating! I hope that I can provide more interviews with other students regarding their favorite books and authors. Reach out to my school email if you’d like to participate, I’d be glad to write another article sharing some of my peers’ favorite works of literature. If you enjoy reading and would like to make more friends who share the same hobby, check out the book club that is hosted in the library at lunch. The schedule can be found in your graduation year Google Classroom as well as on the library door and is shown below. As always have an amazing day and go Pirates!
