I HAVE to read this vs. I WANT to read this

Reading for class vs. Reading for leisure; two polar opposites of the reading sphere.

My stance on the whole this is: Reading for leisure > Reading for class

Personally, I hate being told what to do. Whether it's something big or something as petty as being told what book to read, I'm not one to follow the rules without a little defiance. I'm a stubborn person so that's exactly why.

My thought process when I get handed a book list for school is: Why are you telling me to read a book? You are forcing someone who likes to read, to read something she doesn't want to read. How do think this is going to turn out? Not to mention all the kids who hate to read; how do you think that's going to turn out?

In my whole career as a student, (I'm only a college Freshman at the time of this post) there has been ONE book I actually enjoyed reading and had no qualms with. That book was Diary by Chuck Palahniuk (my favorite Palahniuk novel so far). And I'm counting middle school in here too, people. I was forced to read books then too. The only book I remember reading during middle school (seventh grade, for class) was The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Everyone knows this book; everyone loves this book. I hated it in seventh grade. Partially because I didn't like my teacher, partially because I had to read it for class (which I didn't) and partially because I just didn't find it interesting, at all. I read it again junior year of high school; I don't think I had much of an opinion. I hated less because my teacher was much better and because I already knew what it was about and I'd already had it explained to me; I didn't have to do as much work as the other students.

And don't even get me started on Summer reading. Summer reading was the WORST. The Summer before sixth grade I was given a list of books to read before school started because I was going to get tested on them (which never happened). I ended up not finishing either of them. One of them was called The Giver by Lois Lowry and the other one was about some dolphin. I didn't like either of them surprise, surprise. The font in The Giver was smaller than I was used to and the book was a bit too thick my young brain. At that point in my life, I wasn't reading as much as I am now so I couldn't read as fast. Then, in the Summer before seventh grade I had to read four books and I think I wrote about one of them. And the only book I remember reading that year was The Pigman by Paul Zindel. I only remember it because of the way it was written. Also, I don't think I finished any of those books either.

My freshman year of college is coming to a close and I've read about only a handful of books during the school year. As opposed to the numerous books I would usually read during the school year. No doubt it's because college is demanding, coupled with going to art school, it's even more demanding. The main reason I haven't read as much books as I would have liked is because of the reading I get for the three humanities classes I'm taking. I only have them once a week so the teachers assign whole books to read by the next meeting. I'm not used to reading a whole book in a week, a whole boring, uninteresting book in a week. Sure, I've read books in a week, but those were books I actually wanted to read, duh. Not reading the whole book, bullshitting any responses I have to make and getting above a B for my work is how I fight the system. The other reason why I haven't read as much is because I want to be able to devote all my attention to the book I'm reading for fun. There's nothing worse than reading two books at the same time, where one is a book you don't want to read and the other is a book you want to read.

I can't wait for the Summer when I'll have copious amounts of time to read and I can spend the whole day reading a book. I imagine myself lying on the floor with stacks of books surrounding me and nothing to stop me from reading them all.

What's your opinion on Reading for class vs. Reading for leisure?