Why I Don't Complain About School Reading

Since I was little I have been a fan of books. All sorts – from non-fiction to historical to sci-fi and beyond – have captivated me. But one thing I have never been a fan of is people who say “reading is stupid”. Honestly? I think.

And yet, you note on the vocabulary I use and all the facts I seem to know from simply reading books. I realized it’s much more than just not liking reading though, it’s the complaints I hear when we sit in English class and my teacher announces “Next week we are going to start Great Expectations”. Twenty minutes later the bells rings and all I can hear are the complaints about how bad the book sounds and why do we have to read the stupid book? “Shut up and give it a chance!” I want to yell, never having read Dickens myself. But I stay silent and walk past as my disdain for these fellow classmates grows. The next week I hear more about the imminent commencement of the book. Biased opinions because it’s “old” and because “she said it was so boring” are abundant.

But then we start the book and I realize I love it. The way Dickens writes might be hard to understand but the variety of characters and the way that he introduces them pull you into this tale. When people decide to ask the class bookworm what she thinks, I reply that I like it. It may get me blank stares and confused looks but they asked the question so they should have been ready for any response. You don’t have to end up loving the book or even liking it. True, I’ve had my fair share of torturous literature that compels me to sleep but there have been gems among the mix.

All I’m trying to say is give a book a fighting chance. Don’t judge a book by its cover and most definitely do not judge it by its reputation. You might just end up passing over something great.