What Do I Read?

What do I read? I think I've been a fantasy reader since I got past picture books. Books like the Harry Potter series, Eragon, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, Chronicles of Narnia, errr... And others I forget. There's so many that my mind usually goes blank so I just pull out the more recent or popular ones. You know what? From now on, I'm going to start writing the names of all the books I read down somewhere.

My view on fantasy books is that it sort of pulls you out of reality. You need a vivid imagination for these sort of things. You've gotta be one of those out-of-the-box people that needs to go beyond realistic borders to express themselves. If I could think of some names, I'd give you some good authors I've read from. But, alas, names and titles are so forgettable--for me especially. I'd trade the ability to recall this sort of stuff for my useless (though sometimes fun, I guess) long-term memory anytime. When you start reading a fantasy, you're not in your favorite chair, tired after a long day of school and stressing over your social life. You're somewhere else. Another world, at times. Then, if only for a little while, it doesn't matter if you're having a hard time at school or work, if you just broke up with your boyfriend, if your mom is such a nag and won't let you go to the mall with your friends. Nothing matters but that amazing story that you're suddenly a part of. Got in a fight with one of your best friends and need to cool off? How about visiting Tolkien's Middle Earth or J.K Rowling's Hogwarts and forget everything for a while.

For me, fantasy is my release from whatever wears on me in life. I think some of the best moments of my day will be when I'm so engrossed in some epic tale that I don't worry about anything but the fate of my favorite hero. If I'm sad, angry, stressed, etc. I go for a book and lose myself for a few hours. Afterwards, I feel fresh and in a good mood. Maybe even inspired by something--like, I don't know, some huge analogy that you can SO relate to your troubles with whatever. All I know is that I'd probably be a mess if I couldn't read.

Of course, a lot of this stuff relates to other books as well. It's just that fantasy really does it for me. And you don't even need to be upset to read! Maybe you're in a GREAT mood and just so happen to like reading books a lot. Like me. Life's too dull by itself anyway. Think about living someone else's life without being tempted to smash your head on your game console. Which, of course, leads to my next ramble/rant/whatever.

Games versus books. If we all piled up all the books and computers/PS1-3/Xbox/Gamecubes/etc. in two separate piles and someone held up a burning flame, I'd have to beg them to torch the games. I mean, YEAH, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy graphics and storylines are AWESOME. More like movies than games, really. But BOOKS! We've had books forever. And it takes some pretty basic technology to make them. And you can have anything in them--and I mean ANYTHING. The limits are those of your imagination. Need to save? How about a slip of paper. If you lose your place, don't bother starting over. Just find your place--always and forever as you left it. You don't have to go through everything before the middle to take a look at one part there. And other comparisons like so. Books rule over games anytime, ever.

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But SURELY you don't think I only read fantasy, right? I'm not THAT dependent. There's sci-fi. Which is basically fantasy in science. Ever read the Maximum Ride series by the amazing James Patterson? They're kids who can fly, which COULD be fantasy. But the whole flying thing is caused by a bunch of made SCIENTISTS so... well, it's SCIENCE-Fiction, isn't it? It's not that drastic of a branch off, but it's still different since we've seen fit to separate the genres.

I really haven't branched far into this genre at ALL. Like, I've just started this year. I read some short stories from The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury, got about a page into War of the Worlds(I keep telling myself to pick it back up, but I just find another good book and stop), and I've flown(pun accidental but kept intentionally) through my all time favorite, the Maximum Ride series. My opinion on the genre so far is that I absolutely love it. It's fascinating--a real adventure. It feels a bit like fantasy with "reasonable" explanations. I can't really pull out a long description until I've read more books.


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Not my favorite, but I've enjoyed some realistic-fiction as well. There's some pretty decent books out there such as the series-I-forget-the-name-of and really MUST find, Series of Unfortunate Events, and my all-time favorite childhood book--The Boxcar Children.

Sometimes it's nice to sit down and enjoy something that could ACTUALLY, plausibly happen. Like the-series-I-forget-the name-of where whatever-her-name-is works to solve some unexplainable things (such as murder! Oooh, see, it's coming back to memory) for her queen. The setting's back whenever. Gosh, you know one of the books in there was called Betrayal. Second one, I believe. They're going by the alphabet like those A to Z Myteries books that I always thought sounded kind of ridiculous. Good books, especially since I enjoy mystery books.

I can't rightly explain The Series of Unfortunate events. It's complicated, in my mind, to write about. Don't ask why. That's complicated too.

The Boxcar Children really got me from the beginning because it's kids living out on their own. I really, really, REALLY love that scenario. One of my favorites. The characters are all so lovable and memorable. I still remember that little boy's chipped cup, how they kept the milk cold by putting it in the stream, and washed in the water where they'd made a dam for it to build up. What was it they helped the doctor with...? Picking cherries? I don't remember the characters by name, but by personality. Oh, and I DID love them. I have trouble recalling chapter books I read when I was little. The only two I can really recall for sure are the Magic Treehouse books and the Boxcar children. I consider the Boxcar Children a classic.

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That's about it for now. Gee, free-time sure is handy. I got this all done in one go and I've got time to spare to do... I don't know, stuff. Probably finish up my book. I'm going to talk about some books in particular wants my ELA teacher finishes up grading my journal that has all my writings in it.

Thanks, TeenReader

P.S. I looked up that series I couldn't remember, put a description of sorts into google search and found the Lady Grace Mystery series. So, there. I'm going to the library this weekend and getting those books. I must read them now that I know.