it doesn’t have to be your favorite book or anything. It can be any book that you find yourself thinking of with a sense of pride for having read it.
Personally, I am really proud of myself for not DNFing A Little Life and pushing forward. I read a very good chunk of that book with tears running down my face–mind you, I was reading it on my phone during lectures for the entirety of my first semester last year–and I was always on the verge of putting it down just because of the horrible content. Also, it was pretty long; too long, actually. So when I was done, I was simultaneously Heartbroken, broken (just like in general), and relieved. It was truly a feat.
An honorable mention is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, because I swear to God I did not understand a single thing about it even 10 chapters in. Charles Dickens is too much.
Middlemarch!! Not because it’s long or victorian era fiction (I’ve read long books and vic lit AND other long 19th century novels), but I guess because I had just assumed I’d never read it. But one day I got the urge and was like, why not! I read it over a few months and really loved it! I’m really proud of myself for not just writing it off or pigeonholing myself as someone who “is done with the classics and mainly only reads contemporary literature now”. I’ve read a LOT of classics in my life, but still, I haven’t read all of them! Really glad I got to this one.