Reading for pleasure is an activity that helps both enrich the mind but entertains the person involved. Reading is a fun activity to do at almost any time and costs no harm as reading helps people develop new words, become literate, improve their reading skills everyday, and also brings them into a good mood by diving their nose into a fun, interesting to read book. At Hamburg Area High School, there are a ton of students who read for pleasure and heavily enjoy it, and want to share their favorite books with their friends, to other students, or to the world.
Sophomore Lilly Gibson enjoys reading a lot. “I think reading books is really fun and stress relieving. It puts you in a different world for a certain amount of time, and relaxes the body too.” If Lilly Gibson had to choose her favorite novel, she would choose Snow Flower and The Secret Fan. I love the plot of the book, but also how it incorporated different elements of other Eastern cultures. “I love the main character, Lily. I heavily relate to her issues of being a woman, despite the book being set in a different time. It helps a lot with knowing that I can do anything despite my gender and that I can go on and do great things no matter what anyone says or tries to do.” In all, Lilly believes the book is important for everyone, especially women, because it goes over the obstacles in place that women must overcome even today.
Another Sophomore, Jordan Cunkle, thinks reading is both fun, but informative. “I love reading books that talk about real events that happen in life and give a critical perspective. As a reader, I’m thinking critically about the information going on in the book and sometimes even learning about historic events. Reading gives me time to clear my head and helps with the stress that goes on in my life.” Jordan’s favorite novel, if they had to pick, would be They Both Die in The End. Jordan really loves those books because “they draw you in, but they still shock you despite knowing the ending. I like how the characters are written and how the two characters meet.” Jordan says that despite knowing what happens, the book is still a heartbreaker, and that it is very well written.
Sophomore Sheila Kern does not read often, but when she gets to, she loves it. “I think reading is very fun and important for anybody, especially young children. Reading helps develop the mind and it helps children get a sense of imagination while also exciting them with the stories you tell them.” A book that Sheila loves a lot and considers her favorite is Recovery Road. Sheila Kern loves the book due to its realism but also because of how it tells the story of a struggling girl, who, despite her rough patches and the way she grew up in the environment she was in, she was able to overcome and get better for herself and others. “It tells the story of a girl in a bad situation and how she gains the strength despite everything to get better. It’s really inspiring, sad, but a powerful book with a powerful message.”
Reading, no matter what kind of novel it is, helps the mind and enriches a person’s knowledge in their lives. By reading a book, it creates a lot of benefits for the person involved by improving activities such as sleep, their concentration, and their ability to think about certain subjects and increasing their critical thinking. It also improves their mental health, and in all, reading has so many more benefits than just having to read a book for an English class and no others for personal entertainment. To learn more about the benefits of reading, go here: https://www.piedmont.org/living-real-change/health-benefits-of-reading
