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The Great Gatsby was the required summer reading the summer before sophomore year. I still remember reading it every day on summer nights at my local starbucks. The novel is centered around Nick Carraway, who is the protagonist, but he mostly serves as a vessel to describe the elusive Jay Gatsby, who is in love with his ex-lover, Daisy Buchanan, and throws extravagant parties in hopes that she will attend one of them. The novel is a tragedy, in which Gatsby dies an empty deat

This short story was also one that had me in a chokehold in eighth grade: depressing, and hauntingly realistic despite fictitious elements. The novel is about a working man who is the sole provider for his family: Gregor Samsa. One day, he turns into a massive bug, and essentially becomes "useless" and alienated by his family members. The novel has been challenged throughout history due to its depressing nature and criticism of Russia's working class and working conditions. I

The Stranger was my required reading this summer in preparation for senior year. I had always wanted to read it, but never quite got around to it. The novel revolves around Mersault, an apathetic and alienated man. His mother had just died, and he attends her funeral, but doesn't feel much. Over the course of the novel, there are foils to him such as his girlfriend, who is very emotional, and his best friend, who is a "bad person". The novel explores themes of existentialism

The Handmaid's Tale caught my attention due to the Hulu series, but I vowed to read the novel before watching the show for utmost understanding. In my senior year of high school, it was required reading. I was enthralled by the dark plot and dangerous themes it held. The novel is centered around Offred, who is now a Handmaid within the Gilead. Her commander is Fred, as indicated by her new name: Of-Fred. She is Fred's property, forced to carry his children. Fred has a wife, S

I first read A Separate Peace in the early spring of eighth grade. The novel was unlike the chaos that was Lord of the Flies or Animal Farm. It felt peaceful, or at least that's how it began. The story begins with the Devon School as a sort of edenic microcosm; untouched and blissfully unaware of the war that is happening during the time. This bildungsroman novel touches on such themes of innocence and corruption. Finny represents inherent "goodness"; he is completely pure an

After falling in love with the dark, gritty realism behind the seemingly fictional allegorical world of Orwellian novels such as Animal Farm in middle school, I soon sought out the equally popular counterpart: 1984. As typical of George Orwell's novels, 1984 is a dystopian novel that explores themes of corruption, surveillance, and censorship. The novel follows Winston Smith, a government employee within Oceania, a blend of 3 continents. He finds himself rebelling against the

I first read Animal Farm by George Orwell in my eighth grade ELA class. This was my introduction to what I categorize as a haunting dystopian style of literature. Unlike The Hunger Games or The Giver (both of which we had read in seventh grade), Animal Farm showed further disturbing and hauntingly realistic depictions of corruption, propaganda, and brainwashing within our own world. Which is ironic, since it revolves around the premise of talking animals who take over a farm.

No Longer Human, a Japanese classic by Osamu Dazai, (largely believed to be an autobiography of sorts) is the novel that fundamentally...

To me, Lord of the Flies was my gateway to literature. As I reached middle school, I had thought I lost my passion for reading. Reading...

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger To me, The Catcher in the Rye would be categorized as the most quintessential coming-of-age...