Reading is the best pastime. It allows your eyes to readjust from harsh blue lights and glaring screen time. But reading is intimidating, especially if you don’t know where to start. Although some readers today will argue that contemporary novels match the quality of classics, classic novels have a different connotation. So, if you want to get into more classic literature but don’t know where to start, you're in the right place! Here are what some bibliophiles in an online forum suggested.
1. Ease Into It
If you jump straight into Les Misérables after devouring Pretty Little Liars, you will be, well, miserable. Literature is art, to appreciate it to its full extent, you need to learn the building blocks.
Read current authors who write in a less colloquial style and a more literary fashion. Anyone from Haruki Murakami to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Immersing yourself in this more refined style of writing makes reading Ellison much less daunting.
If you want to start with shorter material, check out short stories from writers like Vonnegut or Salinger. Short stories introduce the kind of material presented in classics without extra commitment.
2. Stop Focusing On Labels
Every high school English teacher prattles on about the importance of reading the classics. They shove Great Expectations down their students' throats, urging them to admire Dicken's craft. Two things happen when teachers do this.
1. Students don’t read the book
2. Students place a mental note on Dickens and any other “classic” author, correlating the classics to the terrifying experience of (not) reading about Pip and Miss Havisham.
Rather than forcing yourself to elicit a specific reaction from a book, take the novel at face value. Treat it as what it is, ink and paper. Let the demands melt away, and enjoy the story.
Once you've stopped leaning so much on the experience of reading a classic, you can admire various craft techniques and literary symbols implemented so heavily in these kinds of novels.
3. Test Out Formats
Books come in all formats. So does reading. Carrying around a 1000-page gargantuan copy of Gone With the Wind is neither comfortable nor fun.
If you’re an audio learner, you can try out audiobooks. If you don’t have access to physical copies of novels, you can test out e-books. It depends on your style of learning and your preferences.
Start with the least discouraging format when you dip your toes into Captain Ahab’s Sea.
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.