Academic reading. Two words that are often accompanied with long, drawn-out groans. Many students are often unenthusiastic about reading literature from decades, even centuries ago, because the language is hard to read and the literary analysis is much too in-depth. It's especially harder for those who don't consider English one of their stronger subjects. Plus, many required reading books are often boring, unusual, or even uninteresting.

But it's important to keep in mind that these books are being taught for a reason. They may not be the best or easiest novels to read, but these books have often impacted the literary world, challenged societal views, or changed the way people read or write. They are groundbreakers, both content-wise and structurally. Sometimes, reading these books is more about the ideas contained between the lines rather than the story itself. These books will help you become a better thinker, reader, and writer.

Here are 30 must-read literary fiction masterpieces:

1. "Catcher in the Rye" - JD Salinger
   
2. "To Kill a Mockingbird" - Harper Lee
   
3. "Hamlet" - Shakespeare
   
4. "Jane Eyre" - Charlotte Bronte
   
5. "Night" - Elie Wiesel
   
6. "The Great Gatsby" - F. Scott Fitzgerald
   
7. "1984" - George Orwell
   
8. "Pride and Prejudice" - Jane Austen
   
9. "Of Mice and Men" - John Steinbeck
   
10. "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    
11. "The Awakening" - Kate Chopin
    
12. "The Stranger" - Albert Camus
    
13. "100 Years of Solitude" - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    
14. "Wuthering Heights" - Emily Bronte
    
15. "The Odyssey" - Homer
    
16. "The Iliad" - Homer
    
17. "Lolita" - Vladimir Nabokov
    
18. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" - Mark Twain
    
19. "Anna Karenina" - Leo Tolstoy
    
20. "The Diary of a Young Girl" - Anne Frank
    
21. "Frankenstein" - Mary Shelley
    
22. "The Devil in the White City" - Erik Larson
    
23. "Lord of the Flies" - William Golding
    
24. "The Grapes of Wrath" - John Steinbeck
    
25. "The Crucible" - Arthur Miller
    
26. "Les Miserables" - Victor Hugo
    
27. "The Picture of Dorian Grey" - Oscar Wilde
    
28. "The Sun Also Rises" - Ernest Hemingway
    
29. "Treasure Island" - Robert Louis Stevenson
    
30. "A Tale of Two Cities" - Charles Dickens
    

This is a list based on my own literary experiences, so keep in mind there are plenty of other books that are equally as stunning! The books above will make you think and will give you a unique reading experience. Of course, it may be hard to infer the meaning of these books unless you do some further reading or research online, but they are all worth it! Sometimes, the process of reading the book is not the most pleasant, but understanding the deeper meaning and symbolism throughout the novel is what makes the read worthwhile.