Reading Classic Literature

[Renate]

Originally Posted by maddz

Tonic to us Brits is what you dilute gin with - as in gin and tonic. It was originally a way of making quinine palatable.

You don't need gin to make it palatable.
I like tonic water straight.

Anywho, to get back on topic:
The biggest hindrance to reading classics is that the 20th century non-PD ones are largely ignored by libraries.

[chongshipei]

If you want to read good quality paid classics, I recommend Delphi Classics. It usually contains all the works of the author as well. Some of them can be quite rate, too.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by chongshipei

If you want to read good quality paid classics, I recommend Delphi Classics. It usually contains all the works of the author as well. Some of them can be quite rate, too.

I prefer the individual books because I tend to lose track in these huge compilations. I don't necessarily read the books "in order".

[maddz]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

I prefer the individual books because I tend to lose track in these huge compilations. I don't necessarily read the books "in order".

Calibre with the epub split plug-in is your friend there. I use that to split omnibuses all the time.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by maddz

Calibre with the epub split plug-in is your friend there. I use that to split omnibuses all the time.

Reading books is my hobby, not editing them.

[DNSB]

For me, the few minutes it takes to tweak most ebooks is worthwhile for the consistent look I prefer. Admittedly, I have a sideline in editing/formatting ebooks.

[Loosheesh]

I have lots of collections (especially from Delphi Classics) and I split EPUBs all the time. After splitting, I only have to add a cover and sometimes tweak the TOC; about 5 minutes and I'm done.

[jackm8]

I got into classics mood some years back, now hardly anything else interests me. Even my light reading consists of some old comedic novel or play.

Most of my stuff comes from archives.org. I'll find the oldest possible edition, so I can enjoy it in as original look as possible. It's a bit of a hassle transferring it into pdf manually from images, since pdfs on offer there are usually practically unusable for my taste. Process is somewhat complicated, but I'll have it done in some ten minutes, complete with ocr.

Only problem comes with translations. I usually prefer older ones, if nothing, for the language. There are some great ones, but there are some traps also. Mercier in his 20,000 Leagues translation, for example, cut whole chapters, made serious translation errors, and intentionally omitted all allusions to English bad conduct. Other two translations that aren't copyrighted are only slightly better. Then you have big publisher rerelease those deeply flawed translations in fancy package, with illustrations.

There are examples of new translation being bad as well, Emily Wilson's Odysseus is dull and bland, while the new Penguin translation of In Search of Lost Time, clashes in style because they used a different translator for each volume.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by jackm8

Process is somewhat complicated, but I'll have it done in some ten minutes, complete with ocr.

What are you using for OCR?
I don't need it much but I have a PDF of a typed thesis that I'd rather have as text.