Ten Books You Will Probably Have to Read in College

There is one thing, besides writing, that you'll do more than you've probably ever done in your life while you're in college: read. Reading is an essential part of college life. You read your text books. You read the newspaper to keep up on pressing issues. You read the tabloids to come up with some juicy material to distract your professor with so he forgets about that pop quiz he promised. You read the weather report to convince your professor that she should let class out today, because you don't want to mess with that potential rain storm that has a thirty-percent chance of coming anywhere near your campus. The point is: you'll be reading a lot.

While you can never be too sure what your professor will have in mind for the upcoming semester-if you're a First-Year/Freshman student, then you definitely can't be sure as you barely even know who the professor is-there are a few things you can be sure of. You can be sure that, if not this year or next year, at some point you'll be reading Beowulf. You can be sure that Shakespeare will be discussed at some point in the next four years. You can be sure you will have to consult one or more dictionaries after class to figure out exactly what your professor meant when she said that word you wrote down so fast you're not even sure you spelled it right. So you might as well be prepared for some of the reading you'll have to do. Here's a look at ten books you'll probably have to read, in whole or in part, during your four year stay at college.

1. Beowulf

In a scene in Annie Hall, a film by Woody Allen, the title character (played by Diane Keaton) flips through a college catalogue and asks her boyfriend (Allen) what literature class to take. His response is one many English majors would agree with: "Just don't take anything where they make you read Beowulf." In college student lore, it remains a complete mystery why so many English-and other-professors insist on teaching Beowulf. Some say it's because it is commonly considered one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature. Others say it's because being able to discuss a complex work like Beowulf makes college professors look smart. Whatever the reason, you can plan on having to buy a copy. If you're lucky, you'll only have to read it once. Why? Because different professors prefer different versions. And there are many versions. One professor may demand the Constance B. Hieatt translation, while another will swear by Seamus Heaney's edition (which is my personal favorite). If you really want to impress your literature professor, or whoever else lists this book on the syllabus, raise your hand and sweetly ask which translation he or she would prefer, the J.M. Kemble or the Frederick Klaeber?

2. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë)

One of my college professors informed me-during an after-class discussion of this novel-that you either love Jane Eyre or you hate Jane Eyre. Personally, I loved Jane Eyre but hated Jane Eyre. The novel, originally penned by Brontë under the pseudonym Currer Bell, was an immediate success in its time. It is still considered one of the most important works of English literature. Brontë's use of symbolism and motifs is wide-ranging and impressive. This may be one of the books read during your collegiate introduction to symbolism, as well as a look at avoiding seeing too much symbolism in a book. I find this pleasantly illustrated by my professor's issue with so many people reading one image in the novel, a cloven tree, as a deep and powerful symbol. "Oh, the tree is split, and Jane and Rochester are split," she said in a mocking tone. "It's a symbol." The message was clear: maybe it's a symbol, or maybe it's just a tree. Study hard with this one-professors get really picky in what you "see" in different images with this novel!

3. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas (Frederick Douglas)

Most high school students will have read the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas by their sophomore year. In fact, most elementary school students will have either read the narrative or had parts of it read to them. But don't let that fool you into thinking you're finished with Frederick Douglas. Many college professors take particular delight in engaging this text as part of a history lesson of slavery, or an introduction to multiculturalism, or a study of human nature, or as an example of a slave narrative as literature. The point is you could wind up reading this book in any class from American History to Introduction to Philosophy. As diversity and multiculturalism becomes an increasingly important issue on college campuses, your chances of going four years-or more-without reading Douglas's Narrative exponentially decrease.

4. The Color Purple (Alice Walker)

When you read the book, your professor will also probably play a few clips from the film version starring Whoopie Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Danny Glover. The two practically go hand in hand. This is a book that might come up in an English class or a Communications class. If World Cultures or Multicultural-anything are General Education requirements you will probably read at least an excerpt of this book. You might even come across it in a History or Religion class. The Color Purple is one of the token novels of multiculturalism and diversity on college campuses. Yet it is much more; it is a tale of empowerment, a social movement (Alice Walker's womanist ideology is strongly visible throughout), et cetera. It is also a modern fairy tale; you'll look very smart for pointing out the several fairy tale elements throughout the novel, including the modern take on "And they lived happily ever after" (some critics say the novel's ending-"And us so happy. Matter of fact, I think this the youngest us ever felt."-punctuates the novel's status as a sort of fairy tale).

5. Macbeth, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and/or Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)

Did you really think you'd get through college without having to read even one tiny bit of Shakespeare? If you did, you're an exception. Freshman Literature professors love using Romeo and Juliet as part of the syllabus; there's a lot more to it than what you studied in high school. A Midsummer Night's Dream is just about everyone's favorite Shakespeare play, and considering that it's widely considered a parody of Romeo and Juliet (at least, the performance of Pyramus and Thisbe is), it's right up there with the old Capulet-Montague feud tale. Just as popular is Macbeth, probably for the blood, gore, and sex; I say this because, honestly, who can go through a study of Macbeth and say, "Man, this is the most boring thing I've ever read?" Macbeth is basically Shakespeare meets Mario Puzo. It's fantastic. Equally fantastic is Othello, which may lead your class into a discussion of history, race and racism, symbolism, and much, much more! Basically, Shakespeare will become the closest thing to an infomercial for literature you'll likely ever experience in university study.

6. The MLA Handbook (no, really)

Don't laugh . . . I am being deadly serious. If you think you're going to get through college without having to read even a line out of the MLA Handbook, you must be a science major who has gotten a miraculous exemption from any literature classes. Otherwise, it ain't happening. The MLA Handbook is pretty much the canon of college paper writing. As an English major, losing my MLA Handbook one year was the closest to a living nightmare I'll ever like to come. Ask an English or Humanities major what three books they'd take with them to a deserted island and I promise you one of the three will be the MLA Handbook. It's that important. You don't have to read all of it-even if I have, twice, and even if I think that makes me just a little better than you-but you'll have to read at least, I'll say, twenty pages. You might receive a photocopied handout of basic MLA guidelines on your first day of class. Heaven help you if you don't read it.

7. Go Tell It on the Mountain (James Baldwin)

James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain is another favorite in regard to racial, cultural, social, and spiritual identity: all things young people are looking to develop while in college. This is one thing that makes the book a top pick on many college professors' lists. It isn't an easy read. It's a little on the longer side, it deals with some extremely personal topics, both from the reader and the author's perspectives, and some parts are more than a little confusing. All these factors, I'm sure some students are convinced, are some of the things that make some professors seem to salivate over this novel. That and the fact that Time magazine considered it one of its hundred best English-language novels as recently as 2005. That's great for Baldwin, but it isn't much consolation to a lot of college students. It is a difficult book to read, dealing heavily in issues of the human condition: physical, emotional, and substance abuses, racism, religiosity, and some hints of homosexuality. For some the reading experience can be a bit emotionally draining. For others, with the novel's complex structure (there are four narrators) and sometimes daunting symbolism, it is frustrating. It's a great book, but some of you should be prepared to want to throw it out the window.

8. The Bible

No, you probably won't be expected to read the whole Bible; at a Christian college, I only read parts of the Old Testament, and delved very slightly into the New. But the Bible is considered the central work of Western civilization. (Just ask the librarian in The Day After Tomorrow!) It is widely considered the most important book of all time. That's for the religious and non-religious alike. In case you're wondering, yes, it is a book that has something for everyone. If you're into romance, read Ruth (or Song of Songs/Song of Solomon). If you like epic battles, just start just about anywhere in the Old Testament and you'll find something. If you're into music, read the Psalms. If you love poetry, there's the Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes. If you're an Emo-type, you will definitely dig Ecclesiastes. If you're into genealogies and history, settle down into Numbers. If you think the Epic of Gilgamesh is the greatest epic you've ever read, you're gonna love Genesis. And that's just the Old Testament. Once you get into the New Testament, you're in a whole different, but just as all-inclusive, ballpark. Somewhere along the lines some professor is going to throw out a snippet from the Scriptures. Even if a religion class isn't required, it's a good idea to spend time in a World Religions class, which automatically means you'll be reading, among other religious books, the Bible.

9. The Divine Comedy (Dante Alighieri)

It's science; it's theology; it's philosophy; it's astronomy. It's not all that funny (it's not that kind of comedy), but it's still one of the most cited works of poetry ever. If you've ever heard a friend say something like, "That test was like being in the ninth circle of hell," you've just heard a Dante reference. Yes, the content of this epic allegory is very religious-the three phases of it are "Inferno" (Hell), "Pergatorio" (Purgatory), and "Paradiso" (Heaven)-but the issues it addresses are things just about everybody thinks about. It's beautiful in its language, broad in its discourses, and while hardly considered an easy read, it'll probably come up at some point in some class somewhere along the lines of your four years in college. If for no other reason, read it so when you walk into your first day of class and see your professor has written "All hope abandon, ye who enter here" in huge letters on the blackboard you know exactly how fast you need to run to the Registrar's office to drop that class like a dirty diaper.

10. Anything by John Steinbeck

If you don't read Of Mice and Men, you'll read The Grapes of Wrath. If you don't read The Grapes of Wrath, you'll read East of Eden. If you read none of those, you'll run into Steinbeck somewhere. The first two listed are the most popular, with East coming in at a close third, and the ones for which Steinbeck received the most popular acclaim. Similarly famous is his work titled The Pearl. Along with several other books and novellas you should have heard of, or will hear about eventually. Be prepared to run into Steinbeck in a history class while discussing the Great Depression, Prohibition, either or both World Wars, labor unions, communism, regionalism, the working class, migrant workers, California, capitalism . . . the list goes on and on. It's safe to say that if you go through college without having someone reference Steinbeck, you just might not have gone to a real college. Check the accreditation.