The Fault in Our Stars. If I Stay. Looking for Alaska. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. The Book Thief. Thirteen Reasons Why. Eleanor and Park. Chances are most of St. Paul Academy and Summit School’s students haven’t read or even heard of these titles, though they are the teen books that have been at the top of The New York Times Bestsellers List for weeks, months even. But how representative of SPA’s taste in books can this one list really be? And if students aren’t reading these books, what are they reading, and why?

Freshman Sabrina Rucker, an avid reader, prefers fantasy to all other genres. “All the unexplained things in the world that we will never get answers to, all the unknown—fantasy worlds can explain which gives me more to think about and figure out. Fantasy is best when you can connect it to your world,” Rucker said.

Rucker said she thinks that people love to read a variety of things because we all relate differently to certain types of writing. “Everyone who reads does so because they connect to something [in the book].”

Senior Sandhya Ramachandran, also an avid reader and lover of science fiction and fantasy, agrees: “I like [fantasy] when there is something to tie it into the real world.”

Relating to characters or ideas within books is arguably the most important part of reading. Devoted readers want desperately to inhabit the worlds or lives within stories, to befriend and often fall in love with the characters. Writers have long realized that nobody likes an ideal hero. They all must have, if not a fatal flaw, some variety of quirks and imperfections. Rucker thinks highly of writers who, “[have] the character make a dumb decision and suffer for it.”

“I well written and have very interesting characters,” sophomore Andrew Michel said. “Generally I find books by having them recommended to me by friends.” The most common way to find books, though, is browsing through bookstores and libraries.

“I’ll spend a few hours at a bookstore and grab a huge pile of books based on what looks interesting, or what the bookstore puts on display, and just start reading,” Ramachandran said. She also reads a number of books and stories online, a method which she said she recommends for those who find themselves reading less and less as their schedules fill up. “With school being really intense, a lot of us read less,” Ramachandran said. “So I read online.”

Each individual at SPA has their own unique take on what to read and where to find it. When discussing books, students are eager to share the “hidden gems” they love, rather than the ordinary books one might expect teens read, and the bestsellers they adore.

Must-Reads:
–No. 6 by Atsuko Asano. This is a novel available for free online, translated from the Japanese. Here is the link to read it!
-Terry Goodkind’s The Sword of Truth series. “It is similar to Game of Thrones, but with different style,” Ramachandran said.
-All of Stephen Hawking’s science books: “They are well-written, accessible, and interesting to read, even if you don’t know a lot about science,” Ramachandran said.
-The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and later Brandon Sanderson. “He has an overall story, but parts of it tend to be more subtle than others. I suppose I like that I can focus on the subtle part if I want to… and that makes it a choice for me as well as an exciting read. He throws humor in too,” Rucker said.
–Gone by Michael Grant is the first book in a suspenseful dystopian sci-fi series. Michel said it is a series everyone should read.
–The Ruins of Gorlan, Book One of the Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan. This is a bestselling fantasy series of 12 books.
-The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer is another series, this time featuring a highly-intelligent teen and the world of high-tech crime.
-The Skullduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy is a quirky fantasy series. Andrew Michel follows Rick Riordan’s footsteps in recommending it.