Fangirl Therapy

Books. Every fangirl likes them in theory, but sometimes we get sidetracked by our OTP and spend months submerged in the depths of fanfic, both good and bad. If you’re wanting to move out of a fic reading stage and pick up an actual book, here are a few tips to get you started.

1. Read what you like. You don’t have to be reading Dostoevsky for your brain to get all wrinkly. If it takes some chick lit for you to prep yourself to sink back into denser fiction, then that’s fine.

2. Consider the benefits. Did you know that people who read fiction are more likely to demonstrate greater empathy towards others as well as greater interpersonal skills? But you have to be willing to put yourself in different people’s shoes, not just your favorite character’s over and over again.

3. Use your fangirl imagination. If you have to plaster another character’s face on the protagonist in your mind to get excited about a book, then cast away. There was a blonde protagonist in the Wool series named Juliet, so of course I cast her as Elizabeth Mitchell.

4. Ask your fangirl friends. What book reminds them of a TV show or a movie you like?  To get you started with this, here are few of my recommendation.

If you like Downton Abbey, then you might like

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you like The Walking Dead, then try

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rather than reading Harry Potter for the 9th time, how about

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you love how much LOST scared you? Then I recommend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caught in a Hunger Games slump? How about

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love BAMFy middle-aged ladies? You must read

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m not into The Big Bang Theory, but I did love

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who doesn’t love Orphan Black? You have to read

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interested in prison life from Orange is the New Black? I loved

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, for all you Battlestar Galactica fans who love middle-aged idiots in cabins, then you must read,

 

 

 

Tagged: books, fanfiction, Harry Potter, Orphan Black