I always had trouble getting into older literature until I learned a little trick. Read it out loud to yourself. It takes longer, but it ups my reading comprehension and my enjoyment. Before television and radio, people used to read aloud to each other, and books were kind of written to be consumed that way. My general rule of thumb is that if it's older than 100 years, read it out loud (this is for fiction). Two books I'm reading that way now are A Passage to India and Resurrection by Tolstoy. And I just finished O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. That's an example of a book that I'd read before, silently, and couldn't get into. Reading it out loud, I couldn't put it down.
Thank you for sharing your experience Malachy, you are an inspiration for us to get our heads out of the "dumb" box. It felt like I was witnessing treasures from an ancient civilization. Schooling was such a waste of time.
For anyone interested in the beautiful Heritage Press hardcover books, there is currently a listing on eBay with 300+ Heritage Press hardcover books for only $600. THAT'S $2 A BOOK, FOLKS! Unfortunately, it's local pickup only and they are in California and I live on the complete opposite side of the country. 😭
Looking forward to your vid on haiku, I lived in Japan for 2 years, but never really got into them! I’m still slowly making my way through the Iliad & Seneca’s letters, plus tried reading R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface, but might dnf, just cannot stand the main character! 😅
Stay tuned for the haiku video. I hope to bang it out sometime in the next week! Which translation of the Iliad are you reading? Not familiar with Yellowface.
@@greatbooksbigideas it’s the Robert Fagles Penguin Classic edition. I’m enjoying it, just been too busy to finish it yet! R.F.Kuang is quite popular on booktube, Babel was another popular book of hers, but it’s contemporary… Think Yellowface came out last year…
Thanks for the reviews of all these books. It encourages me to read more broadly. I'm a little envious of your reading speed!
I always had trouble getting into older literature until I learned a little trick. Read it out loud to yourself. It takes longer, but it ups my reading comprehension and my enjoyment. Before television and radio, people used to read aloud to each other, and books were kind of written to be consumed that way. My general rule of thumb is that if it's older than 100 years, read it out loud (this is for fiction). Two books I'm reading that way now are A Passage to India and Resurrection by Tolstoy. And I just finished O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. That's an example of a book that I'd read before, silently, and couldn't get into. Reading it out loud, I couldn't put it down.
I’ve done this trick myself and it works!
Thank you for sharing your experience Malachy, you are an inspiration for us to get our heads out of the "dumb" box. It felt like I was witnessing treasures from an ancient civilization. Schooling was such a waste of time.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
For anyone interested in the beautiful Heritage Press hardcover books, there is currently a listing on eBay with 300+ Heritage Press hardcover books for only $600. THAT'S $2 A BOOK, FOLKS! Unfortunately, it's local pickup only and they are in California and I live on the complete opposite side of the country. 😭
Looking forward to your vid on haiku, I lived in Japan for 2 years, but never really got into them! I’m still slowly making my way through the Iliad & Seneca’s letters, plus tried reading R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface, but might dnf, just cannot stand the main character! 😅
Stay tuned for the haiku video. I hope to bang it out sometime in the next week! Which translation of the Iliad are you reading? Not familiar with Yellowface.
@@greatbooksbigideas it’s the Robert Fagles Penguin Classic edition. I’m enjoying it, just been too busy to finish it yet! R.F.Kuang is quite popular on booktube, Babel was another popular book of hers, but it’s contemporary… Think Yellowface came out last year…