The first first entry

Usually, when I’m at the library, I call one of my good friends and ask them what books are worth my time to read. I have my own series that I follow, but I always get the opinions of my friends because most of the time I enjoy the same books that they do. What strikes my attention as a good book, are the ones that throughout the book show the progression of the characters. While the characters are transforming, learning, and growing, I feel like by the end of the book I’ve sort of become a part of them. I don’t want the story to end because I have artificial, but what seems like real emotional ties with these fictional people.
Good novels challenge you to think ardently about what you believe and also lead into great discussion topics. In AP English last year, we had this great book full of excerpts, short stories, and articles from different authors about social issues and issues of diversity. At the end of the school year, I couldn’t sell that book back. With it’s striking topics and bold statements, many of the stories contained inside lead to some of the best discussions I have ever had surrounding diversity. Though I didn’t agree with multiple people in the class, the novel itself was really raw. It made a lot of people feel uncomfortable and unsure at times. But if everything were comfortable then important issues would never get discussed.
Though I’m guilty of reading “novels” like Gossip Girl and The A-List, I can’t say that those books are actually real reading books. The writing isn’t profound at all, and are more of just a guilty pleasure. To me, those types of books are trash because they have no meaning. They talk about the superficial stereotyped life of the wealthy. But, they are good for nothing else. At the end of the novel my breath isn’t taken away, I don’t want to talk about the ending with anyone, unless it’s like “Omgosh I can’t believe so and so hooked up with so and so”. Not exactly life changing or altering. Those types of books have no value because there isn’t any substance, value, or morale within them.