Summer is one of the only times that a student has complete freedom over what books they choose to read. With this being said, finding books can be hard especially when they are not assigned by teachers. Furthermore, it can be even harder to want to pick up a book and read it after being handed books that might not be the genres that you would have chosen on your own.

The following are an updated and refined set of rules for choosing what books to read, while keeping the Summer dynamic in mind.

• Start by thinking about your favorite movie or TV genres. The reason this works is because it is a good place to start narrowing down books. If you love American Horror Story, then you might like to read a Stephen King book. If you like to watch documentaries, read a book about something you are interested in. This works with all genres from mystery to comedy. Similarly, if you like a movie that is based off of the book, then read the book too. Although you will know the general details of the book from the movie, books have so many more details and scenes that could not be included in the book for time reasons. For example, I watched Perks of Being a Wallflower then read the book. My favorite part of the book was not even in the movie.

• Get recommendations from people you have a lot in common with. If you have a friend or family member that likes to read, ask them for book recommendations. They will give you options that you can choose to try. This is also nice because you can borrow the book from your friend, so if you do not like it, you do not have to finish it.

• Do not be afraid to judge a book by its cover, but do not only do that. The cover of a book can say a lot about the contents of the pages, and it is the first thing you see. Naturally, you will judge the book by its cover because that is human. If you like the cover, then read the back. If you like the back, then read the first five pages. It is important to read the first five pages because sometimes the style of writing can be unique to the author. One example of this is the novel Push by Sapphire, about an illiterate teenage mom living in Harlem. The whole book is written in the perspective and slang of the main character, which prompted Sapphire to spell the way slang sounds, and write with the grammar of an illiterate teen. You would have never known this by looking at the cover and the back only.

• Read books with relatable characters. When you read a book with characters that are your age, or going through similar things that you are, it can make you have a deeper understanding for what the character in the book is going through. On the other hand, reading books where the main character is in a completely different situation from you can be very interesting, and can lead you to find similarities between yourself and them that you would not have guessed.

• There is a difference between school books and beach books. When you are sitting anywhere distracting reading a book, it can be hard to read and comprehend a difficult book. Reading an “easy read” in these situations is better for me and the people I have talked to about it, tend to zone out and have to reread.

• Never force yourself to finish a book. You are not going to like every book you read, so it is okay to put it down in the middle. If you get back around to it later in your life, you might like it then. But if you do not end up finishing it, then that is okay! Forcing yourself to finish a book can take all the fun out of reading.