I typically stay away from science fiction. I'm not deterred by science itself, rather the fact that the entire genre is based on the single question, "What if?" For me, pure speculation doesn't move me like realistic fiction does because characters tend to be less developed. After all, authors must focus on air-tight realities.

One of my favorite aspects of reading fiction is learning about history through a character's lense. History textbooks are often drab, and nonfiction, while informative, is designed to teach rather than to engage. But strong works of fiction that can captivate my attention while giving me a history lesson make are even more well-rounded than simply stories themselves.

In high school, I loved Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo. Ten years after high school, I decided to read the full unabridged version, since we hadn't read the full version in class. The unabridged version is close to 1,200 pages! And I'm starting to see why my tenth grade English teacher had us read the reduced word count.