What book did you hate (or not love) when it was required reading, but then LOVE later? I liked most books that were assigned to read in school, but one example for me is the Grapes of Wrath. I thought it was fine in HS, but at that time I was mostly focused on finding religious symbolism for an essay I knew I would have to write. When I re-read it a few years ago, I was blown away by the descriptions, the social commentary, and the characters. What book changed for you when it wasn’t mandatory?
by AncientTallTree
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Catcher in the Rye. I didn’t *hate* it when I read it in HS, but it didn’t really click for me.
Several decades later, I was myself an English teacher and ended up teaching CITR to my Honors class. I reread the book for the first time, staying barely ahead of the students, and it absolutely broke me.
Great Expectations, which I was assigned in junior high. I just thought it was super boring and couldn’t really follow the story, even though I loved reading and read above my grade level. As an adult I ended up reading a bunch of Dickens and I loved GE! That young experience actually kept me from reading Dickens for many years, but a friend kept recommending David Copperfield and I finally gave it a try and was hooked.
The Great Gatsby. The themes of the corruption of the American dream, old vs new money, idealizing the past, etc got explained to me at 15 during English class but it hits a whole lot deeper as an adult with some lived experience.
I found that most books that I was forced to read in school were much better when I reread them later in life for pleasure. Apparently, stopping to pick apart every piece of the text hinders immersion?
The two standouts for me were *Heart of Darkness* (Conrad) and *Slaughterhouse Five* (Vonnegut). I reread both in my twenties and kicked off a lifelong love of both authors.