The Unbearable Lightness of Being is brimming with interesting philosophical ideas, all filtered through a totally postmodern lens. Chances are good that your students have not read anything like this before, and depending how advanced they are as readers, you should definitely be prepared to do a bit of hand-holding as they get their bearings in this unusual literary terrain. In fact, to prepare them, you might even want to give them a heads up that the book moves around in time so they're not too thrown off when it happens.

It isn't just the format that's lofty, though—it's also the content. Kundera loves himself some philosophy, and unless you have students who read Nietzsche in their free time (in which case, lucky freaking you), there are definitely going to be references that fly over your students' heads. Worry not, though: We've hooked you up with a link to all things eternal recurrence over in the "Pop Culture" section, and you can dig into es muss sein by clicking here. Go team, right?