Assigned reading, you either love it or you hate it, right? I have been lucky enough to encounter some of the best books that I’ve ever read through school. Here are my absolute top five favorite books that I had to read for school (in no particular order):
- Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
I read this one for school last year and it absolutely blew my mind. Persepolis is an illustrated memoir by Marjane Satrapi detailing her childhood during the Iranian Revolution. It is full of topics such asdialectical materialism, as well as the horrors that accompanied such a drastic political change. It forever altered my perception of modern Iranian society and I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.
- Jane Eyre
This is one of my absolute favorite classics. I related to Jane and her tragic, heartbreaking story and I adored the darker elements of this novel as well. All in all, it has a strong female protagonist that manages to defy and conform to many of the expectations set for her in Victorian society and a romance with a tall and dark man with a mysterious background…what more could you want?
- To Kill a Mockingbird
Although I don’t have one true favorite book, if I had to name one, it would be this novel. I read this my freshman year of high school, but if I were to reread it now I am sure it would have the same pull and effect that it had on me several years ago. Most of you probably have read this book so I won’t go into it that much, but I adored it absolutely.
- Middlesex
If you have not read this book, drop what you’re doing and go read it now. This is a book by Jeffrey Eugenides, the same guy that wrote The Virgin Suicides. It is so complicated that it is hard to think of a good synopsis. There are elements of legacy, immigration, family, gender identity (or mis-identity) and the story spans three different generations of a Greek family in America. The main character is Cal, who was brought up as a girl but is neither entirely female nor entirely male because of his familial history and his complicated genetics. It’s a longer read, but it is absolutely worth it.
- Macbeth
I could talk about this play f o r h o u r s on end. It is my favorite Shakespeare (so far) for so many reasons. I had the absolute joy of getting to study it twice- once in my senior year of high school and once last year for a Shakespeare class that I took. I am sure many of you had to read this in school as well and while I think Shakespeare is a genius in general, I feel as if this play is so much more complex and has so much more to offer than some of his other plays (I am really only throwing shade at Taming of the Shrew tbh. I really like Shakespeare but I cannot like Taming of the Shrew even if I tried).
What are some of your favorite assigned readings?
It's Novel to Me 