Hard read

[Retired W4]

The Art of War by Sun Tzu translated from works dating back to ~500 B.C. is a little hard to follow sometimes. Still wading through it.

 

[mtgianni]

Many decades ago when I was in university I did an Italian Literature in Translation course which was The Divine Comedy. I still have my textbooks, the translations by Dorothy L. Sayers (except the last, which I think was completed by someone else after her death.) An extraordinary work. Dante pretty much "set" the Italian language, with the result that a modern Italian can read Dante with relatively little difficulty, compared to us trying to read Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, which was written 80 years later.

We probably did parts of Paradise Lost in school but I don't remember much about it.

Now when you've cut your teeth on your current literature, take a deep breath and start chewing on some James Joyce (!)

I find Chaucer entertaining but a difficult read. I believe the King James bible set the standard for English as Inferno did for Italian. We can read Shakespeare with out a modern translation but Canterbury Tales usually has a modern translation on the opposite page. I find it easier to get the old languages if spoken aloud rather than read to my self.
I am in a few book clubs and read a lot. Most of it is educational and history but tend to read adventure for my own personal pleasure.

 

[IAM Rand]

I get about 100 pages into Atlas Shrugged and then find something else. One day I will prevail.

 

[Onomea]

Many decades ago when I was in university I did an Italian Literature in Translation course which was The Divine Comedy. I still have my textbooks, the translations by Dorothy L. Sayers ...

That took me aback as I only knew Sayers from her Lord Peter Wimsey novels. Learn something new every day!

I used to read a lot of serious literature. In my twenties I thought Tolstoy's War and Peace was my favorite book.

In grad school I was required to read literally hundreds of scholarly books, and was quizzed on them as part of my oral exams. I received my final degree forty years ago, and I've been binging on mostly pulp fiction ever since.

I guess my enduring favorites are now J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and C.S. Lewis's Narnia series. I reread those every decade or so.

I do feel I should read classic literature again, though. I think it would be good for me.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I am a dedicated reader but non-fiction only. Prefer to read about real people, real events.
Truth is often stranger than fiction-read Firearms Curiosa by Lewis Winant.
I found Ayn Rand's newsletter and essays a much better introduction to her philosophy than her novels. She was pretty direct and to the point, you got what she was saying very quickly.
Our English language has changed quite a bit from Shakespeare's, and Chaucer is written in Middle English. Seen videos on Youtube that ask "How far back can you and speak English and still be understood ?" 1625 would be a stretch.
In my youth I was puzzled by the King James Bible, all the "Thees" and the "thous" and the "thys" and the "thines". When I studied foreign languages-French, Latin, Russian, German, Italian I learned about the informal and formal forms of address, the informal has disappeared from English.
Dante, Milton-Alexandre Dumas, Jules Verne. Back the, the printed word -for those who could read-had a magic to it, and given the scarcity of other forms of entertainment, people tended to visit books rather than just read them. Like a mini-series, a serial-a soap opera. Jules Verne's books are as much a travelogue as they are a story.
Regarding Bonhoeffer, there is a joke about Germans. (I am of German ancestry, German surnamed, have studied German.) If a book is unreadable it must be profound."









































































































































































































De8ic

 

[Fredo Batali]

In the middle of "The Romanovs" Good for about half an hour at a stretch then nap time Buddy "The Wonder Dog" loves nap time!

De Oppresso Liber

 

[Rudi]

When you get to War and Peace, you'll be done.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I completed my college senior level required literature reading list in the 9th grade.

I do loves me some reading.

 

[pawngal]

When I was about 10, my Mother had to give the library permission for me to check out books from the adult section, I was done with that kid stuff. Before I was a teenager I had read all of Steinbeck, Jack London, most of Hemmingway and who knows what else. I read Rise and Fall of the Third Reich when I was 12 or 13. I plan to re-read it soon. I recently re-read On the Beach, fiction yes, but could it happen?

 

[Eddie Southgate]

That is about the best explanation I've seen.

I remember reading The Scarlet Letter in 10th grade English. I don't know if Hawthorne ever wrote anything else, but I will never read it because I don't like the way the man writes.


I've seen two movies of The Last of the Mohicans. It looks like an enjoyable story. I can't get through Fenimore Cooper's writing. I don't like the way Steinbeck writes. I don't like the way Hemingway writes.

These all might be great authors, and the books they write might be literary classics. But if I got to force myself to read them?? I read for pleasure. If I don't enjoy it, I don't do it.

I love James Fenimore Cooper , John Steinbeck , William Gilmore Simms , Nathaniel Hawthorne . I hate to read Zane Gray and Louis L 'Amour and any number of other of the western writers because the seem to feel that if they don't spend 2-4 pages describing the setting of each scene acted out in their books that you wont understand what's going on. Cooper can get a bit long winded with his descriptions but not usually to that level . My wife tried reading a few pages of one of his books and said I was insane for reading them . I own a Darley illustrated copy of every book he ever wrote and have most of the Simms books. The language can be a bit daunting until you get used to it but I love it.

 

[mckenney99]

I was forced to read certain books in a college prep high school class. I absolutely hated Tale of Two Cities, Animal Farm, Watership Down, Diary of Anne Frank and others that I have traumatically blocked from my memory.
I butted heads constantly with the teacher over the supposed symbolism underneath the written words. When I asked the teacher HOW she knew certain characters and passages were supposed to represent something other than what was actually written she would huff and puff. When I had the gall to ask her if she had spoken to the author or could she provide the authors notes reference the claimed symbolism, I was considered a trouble maker. The teacher constantly insisted that I needed to accept her interpretation of the writings and when I balked she attempted to punish me by having me stay after school. That however didn't fly because I worked a full-time job and was released from school everyday early to go to my job.
I probably would have failed the course if it weren't for the fact that the teacher was my Grandmothers next door neighbor.
It wasn't until I got into college and I discovered the early writings of Stephen King and a few other writers that got me back into reading FOR FUN again.

 

[steelslaver]

I have read a lot. Several of the "classics" have left me wondering about the actual meaning of the word "classic.

One of m favorite Authors was James A. Michener, he was wordy, but a least he was painting a picture. His book Caravans written in 1963C predicted both Russia and the US would become involved in Afghanistan. I liked Steinbeck, but it took a while to get used to his methods. Clavell is another favorite.

 

[sjmjax]

Atlas Shrugged was a life changing read for me.

But, I’ve long contended that she could have greatly benefited from a good editor. She tended to be unnecessarily long winded.

 

[gym cat]

Reading is to be enjoyed. It shouldn't be like an unpleasant homework assignment.

I'm not sure I ever had a pleasant one!!!!!

 

[lkabug]

I enjoy reading. I read a lot, having said that, I'll say if I don't enjoy the book, article, or whatever I will but it down. As I told my son and daughter many years ago. "Read, Read, Read. You can take a vacation without ever leaving home. Read to learn, read to enjoy"
I have read many of the classics, I can't say I enjoyed all of them.

 

[Kinman]

I've gotten to the point where I have read most of the great fiction and tend to read more non-fiction and historical books of particular interest. A friend recommended "Legacy of Ashes" and "The Mission" written by Tim Weiner. I'm well into Legacy of Ashes and have a hard time putting it down. It points out the abject failure of the CIA to provide anything close to what its original intention was basically to be able to give the president concise information on what is going on at any time and place. The wasted Billions of dollars that in most cases ended up in the hands of the communists and others we were dealing with, not to mention the debacle in Iran and Syria. For those of us that are ill informed about this particular time and history of the US I find it a very good read and will of course do my share of fact checking and now that so much of this information has been released it is available. I'm just getting into the McCarthy era and the end of the Eisenhower administration.
I order them and read them at my leisure on a Kindle, I got so caught up the other night I ran the battery down, plugged it in and kept reading.

 

[Muddyboot]

I tried Milton. He's tough with a capital "T." Paradise Lost is one of the most boring things I ever trudged through with some gems but lots of extremely wordy filler. Pass on any more Milton. I found "The Inferno" fascinating and it probably matters what translation you read. Heavy but wonderful and one of those books you're afraid you're gonna finish too soon - helps if you know a bit of medieval and Renaissance Italian history as to the characters involved. Dostoevsky is worth the effort especially "The Brothers Karamazov." No better analysis of the human condition than Dostoevsky. Get over him being Russian.

Another one that is deeper than the Marianas Trench is Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship" if you're interested in Christian philosophy. I typically read a couple pages, put it down and contemplate what I'm trying to absorb, then pick it up again a day later, reread the last three pages and then move on to another three to six, repeat. I love books that make me do that.

And don't sell "Atlas Shrugged" short for a more modern novel with real substance. Any Rand penned a real masterpiece in my opinion. I wish everyone had to read Atlas Shrugged to graduate from high school.

Bryan

I've read" Atlas Shrugged" and enjoyed it. Thanks for the recommendation on some of the other books, I'll add them to my list.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship" looks right up my ally.

 

[Muddyboot]

That is about the best explanation I've seen.

I remember reading The Scarlet Letter in 10th grade English. I don't know if Hawthorne ever wrote anything else, but I will never read it because I don't like the way the man writes.

I've seen two movies of The Last of the Mohicans. It looks like an enjoyable story. I can't get through Fenimore Cooper's writing. I don't like the way Steinbeck writes. I don't like the way Hemingway writes.

These all might be great authors, and the books they write might be literary classics. But if I got to force myself to read them?? I read for pleasure. If I don't enjoy it, I don't do it.

Though I don't always enjoy the books I read, I still think I get something out of them. It's hard to explain, but the struggle to me
is a form of discipline and finishing what I started, difficult or not.

 

[biku324]

I tried Milton. He's tough with a capital "T." Paradise Lost is one of the most boring things I ever trudged through with some gems but lots of extremely wordy filler. Pass on any more Milton. I found "The Inferno" fascinating and it probably matters what translation you read. Heavy but wonderful and one of those books you're afraid you're gonna finish too soon - helps if you know a bit of medieval and Renaissance Italian history as to the characters involved. Dostoevsky is worth the effort especially "The Brothers Karamazov." No better analysis of the human condition than Dostoevsky. Get over him being Russian.

Another one that is deeper than the Marianas Trench is Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship" if you're interested in Christian philosophy. I typically read a couple pages, put it down and contemplate what I'm trying to absorb, then pick it up again a day later, reread the last three pages and then move on to another three to six, repeat. I love books that make me do that.

And don't sell "Atlas Shrugged" short for a more modern novel with real substance. Any Rand penned a real masterpiece in my opinion. I wish everyone had to read Atlas Shrugged to graduate from high school.

Bryan

'The Grand Inquisitor' sub-book in the Brothers Karamazov could have been written yesterday.

The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Grand Inquisitor, by Feodor Dostoevsky

 

[Muddyboot]

I read many of those classics as a younger man. These days I find myself gravitating more toward "lighter" material with one exception - The Holy Bible.

I find the Old Testament a little more difficult the new but still read it often.