Required Reading That You Actually Ended Up Loving

The start of each school year brings a new round of required reading for students. Not every book speaks to everyone, but at one point over the course of your schooling, the stars align and you're assigned great books that were required reading. We all had weeks in middle school or high school when we primarily relied on Cliff’s Notes to prep us for our reading quizzes, but every once in a while you would actually have time to read the assigned books and maybe you found yourself completely engrossed.

For instance, you may have grumbled about cracking open your copy of The Great Gatsby, but after those first few chapters, you found yourself captivated by the destructive decadence of the era and the mystery surrounding Jay Gatsby and his past.

You knew To Kill a Mockingbird was an important book, but until you read it, you never realized how culturally relevant it was - not until you read words like, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

While The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird might not be a the top of your list of required reading books you enjoyed, one of the many books listed below might.

You can also find movies based on these book on this list of the best 8th-grade book adaptations.