Quote:
Originally Posted by poohbear_nc
Why does one want to be well-read? Why are the authors listed in the article listed there? Why read them at all?
Well ...
Perhaps to discover a compelling story that you will never forget, and will want to return to and relive again and again ...
Perhaps to marvel with widely opened eyes at an author's dexterity and expertise with language -- making it sing or speak in ways totally unexpected or beautiful to eye & ear ...
Perhaps to find yourself with tears coursing down your face as you are unable to tear your eyes from a page ...
Perhaps to meet people you might never meet ... or ever want to meet ... in person
Perhaps to find a new world of experience, sensations, thoughts, humor .... a boundless universe to explore
These are a few reasons I have, and will continue to, read authors in that list.
[and yes - being forced to read them in school can sour you for life ... but recovery is possible. Throughout college & grad school, I "had" to read Moby Dick at least 5 times, and was always glad to reach the final scene of the sinking Pequod. I read it again last year ... as if for the first time ... and discovered just how funny parts of it were ... and how tragically sad other parts were ... it was a different book]
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to everything you just said.
I have read far fewer classics than I
should have, but every time I "force" myself to do so, I wonder why it took me so long to read a particular gem. Evidence earlier this year, when my wife talked me into reading
The Count of Monte Cristo (took a real hit on my 100 books in 2011 challenge progress, as it is over 1400 pages long). What a wonderful book. The story will stay with me for the rest of my life, and I will no doubt return to it in a few years time.
As someone else in this thread said, they are classics for a reason.