Not that hard in English. But I've always had a love for the English language that not even several bad teachers could spoil (yes, I've never had a good English teacher, though the last one was the worst. Luckily, teachers in literally all other subjects were at least all right and planted a a kind of interest in what they taught in my mind). I should have read a couple of other novels for English classes, but, to be honest, I never completed one of them. Turned out it wasn't necessary to do that to pass tests well.
Second novel I read in English (or American English) was 'Hannibal' by Thomas Harris. You know, Hannibal the cannibal. At least, I think you know the movie "Silence of the lambs" with Anthony Hopkins. They made a movie off the Hannibal novel too, but I didn't like that. But I remember, it was a big deal and nearly scandalous when it was shown across cinemas... I think more than ten years ago.
Anyways, that was tough to read in the beginning. Concerning language, definitely not what one learns at school.