Books For People Who Don't Like Reading
All through elementary school, I loved reading, so much so that my parents wouldn’t limit the amount of time I could spend reading. Then in middle school, we started reading books for assignments and I slowly stopped enjoying it. Recently I decided to start reading again because of how much joy it used to bring me. The only issue was that I didn’t know where to start. A slow-paced book can often make me stop reading for months, so the right book is important. I’m a slow reader with a busy schedule which has led to me reading very few books, but it’s more than nothing. Here, I decided to compile a list of my favorite ones so far.
Alex Rider
There are actually 14 books in this series but I have only gotten through seven. The series is about a 14-year-old boy who lives with his uncle until his uncle dies and he finds out that his uncle was a spy. The spy organization his uncle worked for, sees Alex’s potential and immediately starts training him, despite the fact that Alex doesn’t want to become a spy. Every book is about a different adventure and there is always a twist. You get to see Alex grow and start thinking for himself, which adds another dimension to the already captivating series.
Where the Crawdads Sing
This book is a slightly slower read but it leads you to form a deeper connection with the characters. It is a murder mystery about a girl named Kaya who lives in a marsh. Her family members leave her, one by one, until she is left to raise herself. The author’s attention to detail makes it an emotional read which left me crying. The reader follows Kaya from childhood to old age, so it is easy to form a strong attachment to her.
One of Us Is Lying
One of Us Is Lying is an extremely fast-paced book about a group of high school students. They are in detention one day and then, after taking a sip of water, a student drops to the ground and dies. The book has chapters written from different characters' perspectives allowing you to form theories on who killed the student. I finished this book in about a week, which is far faster than any other book I have read. It is impossible to put down because every chapter ends on a cliffhanger.
Unwind
I read Unwind for my school last year and it was the only book we read that I enjoyed. It is a dystopian novel set after a civil war fought over abortion. After the war had gone on for too long a compromise was made. If you didn’t want your child you would have to wait for them to turn 13, then you could send them to be unwound. Unwinding is organ harvesting except that the people whose organs are harvested are completely healthy and conscious. This book is extremely thought-provoking and fast-paced, and it is the type of book that makes you sad to finish.
There are a few other books that I have enjoyed reading but they are slower paced and have taken me over a month to read. Books like these tend to sit on my nightstand for months without ever being touched, while the books I have suggested are books that you will be thinking about even when you aren’t reading them. Hope this list motivates you to consider reading for pleasure, an activity that I’m happy to have rediscovered.
By Violet Kottke