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How to Read Bestsellers 560 Views
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Description:
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.
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?
Full Transcript
- 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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