Reading is FUUUUUN. I’ve never had a problem picking up a book and devouring page after page like a hungry word-eater. I’ve been a bookworm from the very beginning, folks. From The Boxcar Children (which I discovered in 2nd grade thanks to my teacher) to The Book Thief (also a teacher-recommended read) it’s been real.

But when a SCHOOL hands me a book and tells me to read it? It’s a completely different story. (Pun intended.)

Don’t get me wrong here. I am a firm believer that kids today, man, they need to read. In the age of technology, technology, technology, and video games and social media and so much more right at our fingertips, what would possess a kid to pick up a book anyway? Soooo lame. (Note the sarcasm.)

Take sixth grade for example. Yes, I was required to read books – nine books a quarter, which is nine books in nine weeks – books I got to choose. (I certainly wasn’t complaining.) But then – about halfway through the year, when I was relieved and felt sure I wouldn’t have to worry about school-required books – I was given this book. You might recognize the title? The Boy In The Striped Pajamas.

I had heard of it before, but I’m not sure when – if I hadn’t been required to read it in the sixth grade – I would have brought myself to pick it up. I had just gotten into book blogging and I wanted to read the latest YA debut. But then I begrudgingly began reading The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, and, my goodness. Boy am I glad I did! (Sort of. It was a terrible terrible book… but GOOD at the same time. Just read it and you’ll know what I mean!) 😉

I love that book, and I would have missed out on a lot if my teacher hadn’t made me read it. And then that gets me thinking about other kids – other kids who don’t even read on a regular basis like me. What if they’re handed a book for school and they don’t want to read it… but it opens them up to a world of books and turns them into a reader??

“If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.” – J.K. Rowling

BUT THE THING IS… I still dislike the overall idea of school-required reading. In my home-school group this year and last, I have to read several books to write essays on. Examples: The Witch of Blackbird Pond; Carry On, Mr. Bowditch; The Phantom Tollbooth; The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe… some of them I enjoyed (The Witch of Blackbird Pond), and some of them I still didn’t. (Carry On, Mr. Bowditch.)

And the thing is, we need school-required reading. I’m all for it. But ARE YOU GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT? In my sixth grade Language Arts class, I remember we read several Greek myths among other folktale type stories and we answered a 10-question page about the story… and moved on. We never discussed the morals of the story, the lessons we could learn from it… and that really bummed me out. THAT is the most important aspect of a book – the part where it leaves you THINKING – and the public school system I experienced missed out on that.

Later in 7th grade, I read The Giver and my friend read it with my previous school, and loved it… but from what she told me, the class really didn’t question it. What can this tell us about our world today? What would you do in Jonas’ position? A book like that… not even being questioned or discussed? It made me sad.

So there’s my love-hate relationship with reading. On the one hand, YEAH YEAH YEAH we need school-required reading… a) to introduce kids to books they wouldn’t otherwise read (myself included!) and b) to have discussion. But… sometimes I STILL don’t enjoy the books or get much from them (as much as I hate myself for it)… and what’s the point if kids don’t even think about WHY the school wanted them to read the book in the first place! (But hey I’m a home-schooler, my teacher makes SURE I discuss the books…) 😉 Food for thought.

until next time! what are YOUR thoughts on school-required books?

How do you choose what to read next?

Seriously. Please tell me, because I have struggled with this since the day I was born and I flipped through my book basket asking today’s most excruciating question: Brown-Bear, Brown-Bear or If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? 

Today the question is the same in various different ways. Red Queen or Going Rogue? Rose Under Fire or Divergent? Through the Looking Glass or Romeo Blue? (These are just a few of the books on my TBR that is fixing to topple right over onto my head, thank you very much. HELP ME!)

But the strange thing is, I don’t really want your help. If I asked you to tell me what to read next and you said “Rose Under Fire is a good one dear Emily,” then I would pick Red Queen. If you told me to read Divergent next (which I’m sure most of you will because yes I am a bit behind on that one) I would read Through the Looking Glass.

Nope I’m not. SORRY NOT SORRY!

I just want your CONDOLENCES, okay?! I need you to pat me on the back and give me some chocolate while I spend the ten minutes in between books scouring my bookshelf and going crazy mad. (It’s awful in that short period of time not knowing what you’re reading – not having a beautiful little friend on your nightstand waiting for you, you know?)

Which brings me to the next question: how long in between books?! Do you finish one book, close it up, declare it a 5-star read and pick up the next one almost immediately? Or do you read a book and make up your mind that there is absolutely NO book in the entire universe that can be as good as this one. So you can’t possibly choose what to read next and instead wallow in self-pity about how you have nothing to read. (Been there, done that, trust me.)

For me, it depends on my mood. Sometimes I get into a massive reading kick and have to have a book in my hands – it doesn’t matter what book, I just need to be reading SOMETHING. (Like back in the blissful summer of freedom when I read 13 or 14 books in a month. THOSE WERE THE DAYS…) but sometimes I just cannot bring myself to pick a book! Either they all look too boring to me (imagine that, IMAGINE THAT. I know, I know, and I’m sorry I feel this way sometimes, truly I am, but… but I DO!) or they… just… don’t… speak to me.

Doesn’t make sense does it. I can’t explain it either so just nod your head and pretend like you understand me.

So the point of this post is… well. This is odd, because it really HAS no point. I’m just here, somewhere in the world, on my couch droning on and on about my issues with books. And this is one of them where I just have NO ANSWER.

which is why i need your help! how do you choose what to read next? or is your predicament no better than mine? (in that case, let us mourn the time that could be spent reading while we are looking for that one special book.) to the comments we go! see you there!

I am a fast reader.

I am a fast typer. I am a fast writer. I am a fast chore-doer. I am a fast student in school. I am a fast runner. I tend to rush through a lot of things. Mostly so I can get back to reading. Because most of all, I am a fast reader.

Except that the truth is, I don’t read every single book I pick up in a day, like some people. (Looking at you Cait.) Sometimes it takes me WEEKS to finish a book. (And I curl up in a little ball and hide under my bed with chocolate and Goodreads and Netflix and ignore the baby on my nightstand that I feel sososo guilty about.)

It completely depends. Sometimes I’m such a hurried pineapple that I read a book in a sitting because I CAN’T EAT-SLEEP-SHOWER-BREATHE UNTIL I FINISH THIS DANG BOOK.

And sometimes it takes weeks because the sad truth is, some books are

B   O   R   I   N   G.

Sometimes – sometimes! – I am an imperfect human being (I KNOW. I KNOW. This cannot be! Not practically-perfect-in-every-way-Emily!) but it’s true! I am imperfect and lazy and I just. don’t. read.

For absolutely no reason at all, because what reason does one have to NOT READ?!

It’s a tragedy, bookworms! When I sit and endure the description of the positively dullness of some peoples’ lives – that would be the sad peoples who do not read – it makes me want to cry. Take my cousin Sydney, for instance. (*waves from cyberspace* HEY SYD!) Last week she was telling some friends of ours how much I read (and it made me extremely happy because yes I take the fact that I am never without a book as a high compliment) and she goes “I don’t like reading like Emily does.” In fact, this is not the first occurance of Dear Sydney’s oddness. She has declared before her dislike for reading. And she doesn’t even KNOW how sad and distressed and WORRIED for her it makes me!

SO. That is to say, I can’t imagine NOT reading books 23/7. (Minus the one hour for usual human habits. Eating, sleeping, doing school – because apparently I can’t drop out and spend my life as a hermit on the internet surrounded by my babies.) It makes me cranky to go too long without reading.

Though it does happen. I’m not sure why. I suppose I just get distracted by the atrocities humans have created that distract me from doing anything but reading. You know, family stuff (blech.) Vacations (better.) School (nononononononoNOOO). Netflix (okay I digress Netflix is a-maaaaaaazzziiing and yes I do love it second to reading.) And I do get LAZY. Occasionally I just haven’t found the one gem of a book that pulls me out of my book slump.

I’ve been in quite a stint for the past few weeks until I finally picked up The Lunar Chronicles (which I demand you get RIGHT THIS INSTANT) and that makes me very very happy. And hopefully after this, I shall be right back into the groove of Typical Emily Reading Behavior and read… something. Red Queen? Divergent? Rose Under Fire? Going Rogue? Through The Looking Glass? HELP MEEEEE.

tell me, dear reader, how often do you read? what sadness takes your mind off of reading? and what’s on your tbr list? and what is the last AMAZING 5-bazillion-star-book you read? (mine is the lunar chronicles!) can’t wait to talk to you, as usual.