Top 5 Wednesdays: Top 5 Favorite Required Reading

This week's Top 5 Wednesday is our Top 5 Favorite Required Reading. This means books that we were required to read for school or university or something. Most times when I'm required to read something, I end up not liking it. There is just something about the idea of being forced to read something that makes me automatically put it on my do not like list. A lot of required reading that I had to read for school were stuffy, old classics and they were not my friends. But this week's topic made me look back and remember all the books that were required reading that I ended up loving or at least liking. So here's my list:

  

 

5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: I had to read this one in my senior year of high school and I was pleasantly surprised by it. I was so sure that I wouldn't like it because it was a classic and the writing was probably going to be all boring, but it turned out to be a really interesting story. Frankenstein the story is so much deeper and sadder than the Frankenstein movies led me to believe. Frankenstein's monster isn't evil, he's just a very lonely and misunderstood creature. He didn't ask to get created or made, but he wants a life. I enjoyed this required reading way more than I expected to. It probably helped that it's in the horror genre which is something I'm interested in reading anyway. Now I want to go check out other classic horror tales like Dracula!

4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy: I had to read this one in college. I was taking a Literature of Disaster Course, which in itself was very interesting. I really enjoyed reading this one. It was such an emotional story about a father and son trying to survive in a dying world. Now I did have some issues with it in that I wanted to know what exactly happened to the world and the ending was just too sad and maybe abrupt, but I did end up liking it a lot. I love a good post-apocalyptic tale.

3. 1984 by George Orwell: 1984 is probably one of my biggest required reading surprises because I don't think I ever would have picked it up if I hadn't of had to read it. I had to read this in senior year of high school. We read this and we read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I liked 1984 a whole lot more than Brave New World. One reason of why I liked it so much was because of that feeling that the government is always watching, it felt relevant, and still feels relevant, for the time that I read it. The second reason I liked it so much was because it's a dystopian tale and I love a good dystopian. I think it was actually my introduction to the dystopian genre really. I liked 1984 so much that I also went and read another book by George Orwell, Animal Farm, voluntarily. If that doesn't stress how much I liked this one, I don't know what does.

2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson: This one I read for college for a class about Books and Film or maybe it was something like Adapting Books to Film. This book was on my TBR list anyway, even before it was on my required reading list. I was really excited for this class too because I don't know how many times I've wondered why did they not put that part of the book in the movie or why did they change a scene from book to movie. The actual class, while interesting, was not as great as I thought it was going to be. There was really no discussion as to why directors and writers don't stick to the original source material. Also the teacher was a little different and one time I got in trouble for being on my phone during the movie. I don't think I would want to be in the same movie theater with that professor. Anyway, I really enjoyed this book! It was long, but I was gripped and wanted to read it as fast as I could. We also watched the film adaptation, the original Swedish version, and that one was pretty awesome. So yeah, I really liked this required reading. I still need to read the rest of the books in this series, I don't know why I haven't yet.

1. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier: Now on to my number 1 choice. There was no real contest here. Not only did I enjoy this required reading, it's made it up to my list of favorites. I also had to read this in college for that book to film course. I was just in love with this book. When I first picked it up, I wasn't sure what I was going to get. The cover almost reminded me of a romance novel, but the delicious, gothic tale inside made me oh so happy. This book was just so enthralling for me and I loved every minute of it. The movie was also a lot of fun to watch too. Rebecca is on my list of favorite books and I highly recommend you read it, required or not. 

So those are my Top 5 Favorite Required Reading! What were your favorite required reads? Let me know in the comments below. And let me know if you agree with any of the choices on my list. If you want to join in on the Top 5 Wednesday fun, you totally should. Each week is a new, fun topic to consider. Check out all the other Top 5 Wednesday-ers here!