In elementary and middle school, I averaged a book a week. Wherever I went, I had a book with me, whether this was school, vacation, my brothers' hockey games, or tailgates at University of Miami football games. As I got older and my school workload increased, my pace slowed until I was eventually not reading at all. The time I used to spend getting lost in the fictional world of novels and becoming attached to the characters was now being spent scrolling through the lives of classmates and celebrities on social media.
Then, I took AP Lit my senior year of high school, and being required to read a novel a month did something to me that I didn't see coming- it made me love reading again. It reminded me of the magic of literature and the beauty of the written word. Since then, I've read over a dozen books, but three main novels caused me to fall back in love with reading.
1. 1984 by George Orwell
A dystopian novel about the struggles of remaining human in a society controlled in every aspect by a totalitarian government was not the type of novel I expected to cause me to fall back in love with reading, but it did. Setting aside the political warnings that remain relevant 70 years after the novel was written, protagonist Winston's struggle to be an individual in a world where individuality is a crime punishable by death is both tragic and inspiring. It illustrates the importance of thinking for yourself and speaking up for what you believe in rather than allowing yourself to be controlled by norms, which is important for everyone at any point in their life, especially as a teenager struggling to figure out who you are. Winston's claim that the government could say 2+2=5, making it truth in his society, and his determination to hold on to the fact that 2+2=4 inspired my first tattoo, serving as a reminder to me to remain an individual and think for myself.
Favorite Quote: "Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."
2. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Like 1984, I didn't think this was going to be a book I'd enjoy in the slightest. I actually voted against reading it for class and complained every night reading was assigned, but once I finished it, I realized what a masterpiece it is and how deeply it moved me. Without me even realizing it, the novel had taught me a truth about time and, again, what it means to be human. While there are so many messages in this book and each one can be interpreted differently by every person, the one that stuck with me most is the repeated use of the phrase "so it goes". The saying appears after each death, and, at least to me, it represents life moving on, even after tragedy. It shows that time doesn't stop when something bad happens, and you just need to keep moving forward.
Favorite Quote: "But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. So she was turned to a pillar of salt. So it goes. People aren't supposed to look back. I'm certainly not going to do it anymore."
3. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
My family raved about this book forever before I finally read it, and I was not disappointed. Eddie dies at the amusement park he'd worked at for most of his life, and he goes to heaven, where he meets the five people whose lives he impacted and who impacted his life the most. While some of these people are what you'd expect- his wife and father- the others are seemingly random people who just happened to cross paths with him. That's the beauty of this novel- it shows how you impact people and how others impact you without even realizing it. It illustrates the consequences of even the smallest actions and reminded me of the importance of being kind as close to constantly as possible.
Favorite Quote: "All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time."
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