If you are just starting your first year
in college, or if you are preparing for this experience next year, trust me,
you have much to look forward to. Not only will you be experience an independence
of sorts for the first time in your life, you'll me meeting new friends, living
in a new town or city, and just generally coming into your own. For those of
you who are bookworms, college will be the best time of your life. Even if you
are more interested in contemporary fiction, here are some classic books
typically assigned your freshman year of college to look forward to. Although
they were written in a different era, they still resonate for many.
Huckleberry Finn
Although
Huckleberry Finn may not sound like the most appealing book, it's packed with
adventure, humor, and perfectly encapsulates the urges and
desires of a young
adolescent trying to make sense of a confusing adult world. It tells the tale
of a runaway young boy, Huck, who encounters a fugitive slave named Jim.
Through their travels together, Huck realizes that much of what he's been told
by adults growing up is wrong. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the
perfect coming of age story that every college freshman can relate to.
Walden
Walden
is one of those books that can be difficult to get into if you don't approach
it with the right mindset. The book is a compendium of reflections by Henry
David Thoreau, who purposely isolated himself from society and lived in the
woods to try and understand himself and the world that he lived in. The first
time I picked up this book I was in high school, and I found it unbelievably
dull. Then I read it my first year in college for a freshman seminar about
environmental literature. There's no other way to describe it—it just came to
life for me. One of my favorite quotes:
"If you have built castles in the air,
your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the
foundations under them."
Walden, more than just assigned reading, really
makes you think about what's most important in life.
Othello
You've
probably encountered Romeo and Juliet
in high school courses, and maybe you've even already read Othello. But one thing you should know going into college is that Othello is a favorite among college
professors. I personally was assigned Othello
in four different classes throughout my time in college. The thing about
Othello is that you notice something new every time you read it. The story
itself has so many twists and turns that I won't go into here, but you've got a
love story, a war story, suspense, thriller, everything wrapped into one. And,
the best part is that Othello has
arguably one of the worst, most evil villains in literature—Iago.
Of
course, this is far from being an exhaustive list of classics you'll be
assigned in college. And if you they aren't assigned to you, check these out,
and others on the National
Association of Scholars list to further diversify and deepen your reading
list. Good luck!
A
freelance writer and blogger hailing from the great state of Texas, Melissa
Miller specializes in writing about the higher education and student life. You
can find more of Melissa's writing on www.associatedegreeonline.com. Email her at melissamiller831@gmail.com with
any feedback.
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