Submitted by Amanda Maurer, Media Intern for Reading Room CLE, Summer 2019
One of the best things about assigned reading is that it’s oftentimes not something you would pick up on your own. It can also be really horrible and difficult to get through because, you know, it’s not something you would pick up on your own. Here are five of the difficult, walking-through-knee-deep-mud kind of books I’ve read in school.
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Animal Farm by George Orwell
I feel like eighth grade might be a bit too young to be learning about the criticisms of communism. I was 13 years old when I read this book, had no interest in politics, and didn’t even pick up on Orwell’s critical narrative. I might like this book now that I’m the ripe old age of 18, but I’ll probably never pick it up again, so I guess we’ll never know.
Inferno by Dante
I had one week to read this epic before finals week started; the professor who lectured on it was not my style; I missed my family desperately, and I had just been dumped by my first real boyfriend, so when I was assigned this reading, I wasn’t really in the right state of mind to venture through Hell with Dante. I do plan on getting back to this one, though, because Dante’s descriptive imagery, historical references, and allusions to classical mythology are right up my alley.
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
My eighth grade English teacher hyped this book up so much that I expected nothing short of perfection before I even began reading, and that’s not what I got. The worst part is that I probably would’ve loved the book if I had gone in with lower expectations, so thanks, Mrs.[redacted].
The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston
I didn’t expect to like this non-fiction book following the development of smallpox and bioterrorism, but it was chronicled so well that I did actually enjoy it. The 60 page assignment that my biology teacher paired with it, which took me all summer to complete? That, I did not enjoy.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
I have nothing but excellent things to say about my sophomore year English teacher; her class was one of the reasons I decided to become an English major. This book, though, was the bane of my existence that year. I couldn’t get through two sentences without falling asleep, and the test was impossible.