Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirtel
I haven't read a classic in decades and probably also will read no more than a few in my remaining lifetime, but I've enjoyed many classics, including LoTR and Monte Cristo (have read both 3-4 times). Also Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Pride & Prejudice, Les Miserables and many others. OTOH there have been many classics I have found to be exceedingly boring (Hemingway, to name only one. Most of Balzac I've tried, with the exception of The Courtesans).
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LotR 17-18 times for me
(Silmarillion twice), Monte Cristo twice (though I'm in the mood for re-read atm), most of Austen (hated Emma), probably half of Shakespeare's plays (which ofc were never meant to
read). I'd rather read Hawking than Hugo, Dumas than Dickens. I have always resisted being told what to read, even in school, and am grateful to the teachers who indulged me by providing alternatives I found interesting and enjoyable. I empathize with those who find the "canonical classics" unappealing, even while enjoying some of them myself - an earlier mention of Ivanhoe has me now wanting to check it out, and I'm going to add C18/19 English poets to my TBR alongside the Urdu masters I'm haphazardly wading through now. Reading should be a joy, not a chore, and if it is a joy, the learning derived will be greater too, I think.