|
I think it was Mark Twain said the classics are the books you want to have read, but do not want to read. I am assuming you are referring to classic literature, as opposed to philosophy, politics, history and other non-fiction works.
I love reading, and would like to read the classics, but I find that they are dry and intensely boring most of the time. Instead, I read Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes and am content with the fact that if I reconfigure the classics I have read (namely Shakespeare's plays), they will cover all of the plot points in the dull books I have skipped.
Ancient Greeks mastered the arts of oratory, rhetoric and philosophy, but the idea of writing a novel, and in particular an entertaining one, was not invented and mastered until much later. Perhaps that is why I enjoy reading ancient history but not "classic" literature. Even when I know the historic and political import of a given book, for example the deep themes in Frankenstein, I still struggled to get through that book, and cannot recommend it.
I agree that to get through the classics, you have to book time, keep a journal, and basically approach it as a second job. I wish you well with your endeavor - please let us know how it goes.
|