Was it something I read? Students share their favorite summer reads

The Panther aims to find if Chapman students are as well read as the city of Orange after a June report found the city is the most-read town in the U.S. Photo collage by HAILEY MERIN, Staff Photographer

“Training for the ballet, Pottah?” shouts junior psychology major Beth Campana’s older brother in his most obnoxious British accent as they all sit around their mother who is holding "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." Each sibling takes a turn reading different chapters, laughing as they struggle to maintain their accents and different character voices. 

“When I was younger, my mom read all the Harry Potter books to my brothers and I, and sometimes we would switch off on who got to read the chapters,” Campana said. “My older brothers would always do the silly little accents too.” 

Growing up, bedtime stories are the perfect excuse to convince your parents to stay up a bit longer. For Campana, nighttime stories were her gateway to becoming a lifelong, avid reader, long before she stepped foot in Orange, which was recently named the most well read city in the nation. 

According to a Preply article — out of 200 cities in the U.S. — Orange was named the most well read, with Madison, Wisconsin coming in second and Torrance, California in third. The Panther set out to find if this is reflected amongst Chapman students and their reading habits.

Fortunately, Campana — as a perfect example of Preply’s article's results — was able to carry her love for reading into college, where she brought a bookshelf full of books, including “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara, “Anxious People” by Fredrik Backman and an abundance of titles written by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 

One day her roommate, junior business administration major Hailey Tovar, discovered the plethora of stories stacked on Campana’s shelves and was instantly inspired to start a collection of her own.

“(My reading) hobby honestly just started recently because last year (Campana’s) entire bookcase was filled with books," Tovar said. "So then, with everything on TikTok about Colleen Hoover, I was like, let's do it. Now I’m looking at my bookcase and I love it.”

Recently on TikTok, “BookTok” has been circulating the app, a trend in which people share their new favorite books as well as encourage others to read. Many users have picked up the new hobby as a result of this trend, with common books being “It Ends With Us'' by Colleen Hoover, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid and “Book Lovers” by Emily Henry.

For Tovar, she told The Panther reading isn’t the same unless she is in her favorite spot with a good book.

“I would like to sit outside on my patio or be on the grass," Tovar said. "It was just so fun honestly, outside in my backyard, chilling, listening to music, tanning and reading my book. That was my favorite.”

Maddie Mullany, a senior strategic and corporate communication major, spent the summer reading Ottessa Moshfegh's “My Year of Rest and Relaxation,” which she quickly devoured and continues to endlessly praise. 

Although Mullany said it might be cheesy, she loves to read because it is a transformation into another world. 

“(Sometimes), I just can’t look at a (phone) screen any longer," Mullany said. "(With reading), you can really imagine it all because you're not actually seeing it so it's such a cool way to learn a lot more about people. It’s a good way to get into another world.”

Not all books leave the reader feeling satisfied, though. Campana said she has experienced reading a fantasy book titled “Shadow and Bone” by Leigh Bardugo that lacked world-building, making it impossible to picture the series and leaving her feeling disappointed. 

To avoid that, Mullany claims the key to being labeled a “good book” is actually through the development of characters. 

“Even if the characters aren't necessarily good (people), I feel like that's the whole point," Mullany said. "And I feel like when a character is very complex, it makes (the writing) good. You can actually relate to them, and they may not be perfect, but they're still human, which makes them feel more normal.”

For some Chapman students, reading was something they loved as a kid but haven’t been able to pick up a book in years and are struggling to find that passion that they once loved so much. Mullany gave a piece of advice for those who wish to find their reading roots again. 

“I think (you should find) a fun book (to read). It doesn't have to be something you feel (obligated to) read, like a classic, which is just gonna be annoying,” Mullany said. “You have to pressure yourself to read a chapter a day. And once you start getting into it, it’ll be much more enjoyable than you thought.”