Hi,
I’m currently a high school senior. I’ve never really been a fan of reading books throughout middle school and high school, and I figured it would be time to start. I am embarrassed looking at my bookshelf and seeing my collection of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books from my elementary school days.
In fact, I am already feeling the consequences. Literature has always been my weak point, and I thought it would be useful to change that before entering into college.
Does anyone have any book suggestions?
Also I didn’t know where to post this.
It is kind of hard to suggest without knowing more about your current reading level and interests. Can you tell us any books you have read and liked? Do you have ECs or hobbies? (Like if you are into sports, that might give us some ideas) Are you male or female?
My son in law wasn’t a very big reader, and he has started reading a lot more in the last couple of years. Some books he liked are Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, The Boys in the Boat by Daniel Brown, and Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. (I also liked all of those, and I am female 
) If you are female, you might also enjoy Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, or Wild by Cheryl Strayed.
Here is the key. Don’t let anyone else tell you what you SHOULD like to read, or make you feel like what you are reading isn’t important or intellectual enough or whatever. Read what sounds good to you. If you like an author, try something else they have written, or try to find others on the same topic or in the same genre. If you don’t like a book, give it a certain number of pages (I usually try for 100, but have certainly thrown in the towel sooner) – if you don’t like to by then, you do not have to finish it! Life is too short, and there are too many books out there. You might try keeping a To Be Read (TBR) list, just in the notes on your phone or someplace, so you can jot down books that sound interesting to you. Especially if you haven’t been a big reader in the past, I think you should not worry about reading more for college or anything else. Just start working to build up an interest in reading and build what hopefully will be a lifelong habit.
What books did you read in your English classes and did any of them make an impression on you?