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How to Read Bestsellers 559 Views


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You should enjoy a bestseller as you would a delicious slice of pepperoni pizza: slowly, savoring each bite, sharing happily with your friends. Okay, maybe you would keep that cheesy goodness all to yourself, but books don't taste good. They're easier to share.

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English Language
Common Core Standards:

Transcript

00:04

How to Read Bestsellers a la Shmoop. You might have already developed your own

00:08

bag of tricks when it comes to reading literature for school… sticky notes, highlighters,

00:13

bookmarks, and, not to toot our own horn, our awesome literature guides.

00:19

But what about the books you see on the bookstore displays? The ones detailing the lives of

00:24

busy businesswomen, shambling zombies, or studly pirates and their snarky parrots?

00:31

How should you read bestsellers? The short answer is that you read them just

00:35

like any other book. Read one page, turn it, read a couple of more…

00:39

But if you breeze through a bestseller, you might miss something. Bestsellers might have

00:43

fast-moving plots, but you don’t want the high-speed plot train to blow by so fast that

00:48

you miss all the details. Just because a book is on the bestseller shelves…

00:51

and you’re not reading it to cram for a test…

00:54

…doesn’t mean it’s lacking in literary value.

01:00

So try approaching a bestseller as you do any other book you read in school…

01:03

We don’t mean slowly, from behind, poking it with a stick…

01:07

…but by keeping an eye out for all the tricks you’re familiar with.

01:11

Bestselling authors use the same techniques that their literary cousins use: symbolism,

01:16

imagery, themes, and so on. Bestsellers can have characters just as complex

01:22

as Hamlet… and usually they’re a lot less moodier.

01:25

Well, except for Bella Swan, a Hamlet for the new millennium.

01:28

Bestsellers also have rich symbolism. Cheetos could symbolize universal human pleasures.

01:32

Video games aren’t just awesome fun, they also represent the competitive and manipulative

01:37

nature of children. And the main character’s scars might be

01:41

more than just an exciting backstory. So once you know how to read bestsellers,

01:42

and where to find our bestseller summaries, when do you read them?

01:42

Well, whenever you want. But the best time to read bestsellers is, obviously, before

01:42

the movie or TV show comes out.

01:43

That way you won’t be surprised by a Game of Thrones spoiler that people who read the

01:44

book knew about, oh, ten years ago. After you read a bestseller, go online and

01:46

find out what other people think about it. We’ve got summaries to tell you what you’ve

01:50

missed. And there are lively online communities to

01:53

discuss books you’ve just read. You might even meet a new friend. Someone who isn’t

01:57

fictional. By visiting one of these communities before

02:00

you pick up a bestseller… …you might also get a little insight as

02:03

to which ones you’d most enjoy. So you can save yourself some time slogging

02:06

through Nicholas Sparks’ oeuvre if romance doesn’t really… do it for you.

02:07

So what’s the best way to read bestsellers? Be on the lookout for literary tricks.

02:13

Find out more about your favorite movies and TV shows.

02:16

And find new friends who like the same books you do.

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