William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! is the hardest book you’re likely to find on a high-school reading list. In the novel, different people in a Mississippi town recall the legacy of a mysterious plantation owner in dense, convoluted prose. Vanessa Baish, who teaches composition to college students, told us how a head-on collision with the book changed what reading meant to her. Produced by Brad Tytel.