def read_files(inputs):
    """Parses the input files and returns a single large input string for later processing"""
    input_text = ''
    for input_ in inputs:
        with open(input_, 'r') as input_file:
            input_text += input_file.read().replace('\n', ' ').replace('"', '').replace('-', ' ') + ' '
    return input_text.lower()