Viral
By Alex Van Tol
If you are like me at this very instant, busy with tons of work and desperate to find an easy book to read for English class, “Viral” is the perfect solution for you. The copy I have consists of 131 pages with a huge font and literally took me about two hours to read, and I am a slow reader. Your teacher can not say it’s not a worthwhile book because it is; it speaks about teenage problems we should be more aware of and careful about.
The story is narrated by Mike, who shows us examples of life lesson we should be careful of. Mike describes his best friend Lindsay, and how a misunderstanding made them grow apart. When the school year starts, down-to-earth, sensible, tomboyish Lindsey is a completely different person. She turns into the stereotypical teenage girl, showing too much skin, acting like she doesn’t care, and trying to fit in. Lindsey develops new friends who aren’t a great influence. We especially see this at a party where they offer Lindsey drugs. Lindsey, wanting to follow her friends, takes them. Mike tries to stop her but when he is outnumbered he can’t do anything. Next thing he knows, she is taken into a room with two other guys, something that is going to leave huge consequences.
This book is so melodramatic that you’ll say, “This will never happen in my school”, but trust me you can’t take anything for granted. The story plot talks about average teen problems that unfortunately happen frequently like peer pressure, alcohol, drug abuse, dating mishaps, lack of communication and much more. In my opinion it’s educational because through Mike and Lindsey we see the awful things that can happen to us and our friends if we aren’t aware of the consequences of our actions. But I also found it a little too vague for my taste; I usually like background stories where we have a giant plot that turns into knot of chaos. Then again, when you're in a rush this is perfect. Until next time, read!
My Rating:
~A. BW
Before going to the next book I feel like a quick reminder of who I am won't hurt. Like I sign on all my entries I am A. BW, Anonymous Book Worm. A person who loves to read (hence my name) and really wants to share my passion for reading.
Why Should You Read?
Reading can be the solution to almost everything; books can inform you or entertain you, whichever you chose. Either way both are beneficial. Informative books, well, they inform you and trust me there is a book for anything and everything you'll ever need. I use books for entertainment reasons, and it also has its benefits. To me, when I read, it’s an escape from reality to an imaginary world. Though I know the plot isn't really occurring at the moment, they are so vivid to me that I honestly forget everything about my real world. I always read on the subway to and from school. I sometimes get so into the book I don't realize I've arrived at my stop; there has been more than once that I almost miss my stop.
Secrets of the Books
Though we sometimes don't see it, books are teaching us. In my personal opinion I feel this is why some people don't like reading. They like feel books are for English class where we have an annoying teacher making us identify parts of speech or literary elements. What we don't realize is that in reality it's the author teaching us, only not exactly like the teacher. While we read we occasionally pick up some vocabulary, and sometimes we learn how to use grammar properly by the example the author is giving . When I was learning about quotation marks, I already knew them because I saw the pattern used in books. And it improves your way of writing, I am not exactly sure how but it simply does, I've seen it in my own writing. I guess it inspires you to write more creatively and extraordinarily.
Tips
I know they’re people out there who don't like to read and based on what I've experience and seen, it is because you still haven’t found your book. When I say your book I mean a book of your liking; who would want to read a book that they consider boring? The first thing you should do is figure out what genre interests you. Determining the genre you like can be simply be seen in what you watch on TV and your favorite hobbies because believe it or not entertainment and news is broken down into genres. If you like soap operas read a romance novel, if you like horror movies or puzzles read a mystery, if you are fascinated by history read historical fiction, etc. Once you know your genre, find authors in that specific genre, if its your first book find a best selling authors, they usually don't let you down. And lastly read it! Don't be like my friend who checks out a book and never actually reads it. We all have busy schedules, but there is always that little time where we have nothing to do. For me it's when riding the train, for others it can be before going to bed. We always have time, and don't use the excuse, "it's my relaxing time," because reading is relaxing, stress relieving, and helps you escape your problems. If you’re really that busy or have too short an attention span to read a book, there is nothing wrong with audio books. I personally like a book because I can read it how I want to read it, my own pace, listen to it however I want it. Plus I receive more out of it reading it rather than to listening to it, but again that's just me. But at the end of the day, it's just that we all enjoyed a book. Until next time, read!
~A.BW
