Different kinds of books

“Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.” 
― Gustave Flaubert

Everyone reads with different eyes and a different background. You may read Romeo and Juliet and think it's the most wonderful love story that ever existed; your neighbor might think it's a horrible story in which teenagers disobey their parents and then kill themselves after being three days in love. However, most books can be sorted out into five categories, depending of what you seek in a book.

#1. Instructive books

The ones you read to instruct you in some way, be it English litterature, historical events, great Classics, or fabulous writing.

#2. Books that you read to understand other people's experiences

These books can be fun, depressing, enthralling- all depends on the author's capability to express a person's view or experience. Books like these include John Green's The fault in our stars, a beautifully written book about a teenage girl with terminal cancer that makes you laugh as well as cry, The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon about an autistic boy, and Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden which is pretty much self-explicit.

#3. Books for leisure

These are the books that you take with you to the beach, that sit at the bottom of your purse so you can read them in the subway, or the ones you spend an entire afternoon reading because you can't put it down. With these books, you're not looking to learn anything- but maybe spend a great time in a land far, far away.

#4. Books that you keep on your nightstand

We all have them- those books that you open when in need of spiritual guidance, for self-improvement, or maybe What to expect when you're expecting. Books like these reassure us and give us comfort at any time we need them.

#5. Books that you read to understand your experiences better

This is a really subjective category, but I'll go ahead and fill it with my favorite.

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot is a brilliant written story of what it is like to for a girl to grow up in New York in the early 2000's. Aside from the similarities between Princess Mia and myself, I could relate to every one of her experiences. The fact that she's disgusted that the cafeteria accidentally served her meat? Right there. Thinking that her temperature of 100°F is going to get her killed when actually it's nothing? I've panicked over the same thing. Freaking out because she has to give a speech about accepting the Genovian crown? Well, actually, no. But it's these additional problems that make Mia so loveable- if she can deal with being a princess AND a high school student, surely you can too.