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How to read the classics
Reading thoughtsTips&Tricks

5 tips to read those classics you’ve been avoiding

So, you bought a famous classic book that you really want to read someday? And you are starting to wonder if someday will really come?

I know that feeling.

There’s a deluxe version of Anna Karenina looking skeptically at me every time I stand in front of my bookshelf, because I’ve been avoiding it.

I don’t worry, though. I’ve learned to deal with this I want to read the classics but not right now, thank you”. I hope my findings might be useful for you!

Last week I wrote my thoughts on feeling ashamed for not reading the classics. I want to make it clear that this post’s intention is not to convince you to read the classics. But rather, is about finding the reasons why we tend to procrastinate those reads and how to overcome them.

There are many reasons that could make you hesitate about reading one of those ‘must-reads’ everyone has been talking about since last century.

  • Most classics are HUGE. And that meas a HUGE commitment. Want to read War and Peace? That will be 1,440 pages. You could read The Hunger Games trilogy instead and still have 285 pages to spare.
  • The language might put you off. I have a friend who finished Don Quixote and couldn’t read anything else for over a year. He said it required all his concentration to go back and forth between the story, footnotes and dictionary. At the end he felt so drained that, even though he liked the book, he doesn’t recommend it unless you were born in the 1600’s.
  • They have a reputation. I mean, they are THE classics, they are in the canon of the most influential and important works that shaped the western culture (-small thing, huh-). Who wouldn’t be intimidated by that??
  • Someone made you read them. And you are an anarchist. It’s understandable. Maybe your teacher made you read The Catcher in the Rye and you could have liked it, if reading it on your own terms. But reading as homework? Way to kill the appeal.
  • They aren’t relatable.  You might not feel comfortable in the shoes of a girl from the XVII century whose only purpose in life is to get married to a good family. You might also have a problem with some hints of racism, misogyny and general discrimination.
  • They don’t look cool. And I feel like this is truly an important matter. Would you rather pick a book with an interesting and modern design or one with a plain cream colored cover without a picture?

From listing these reasons, I’ve been able to stop avoiding the classics and I’m always reading one of them (-since I read 2 or 3 books at a time-).

Here are my best tips. 

1. Stop thinking that books belong in one of only two categories. Either old, serious and boring or modern, funny and entertaining. Thankfully, it’s not like this. I think we need to put some of these classics off their pedestals and, given the chance, we could find they are as enjoyable as the non-classics. I get why they might give you the impression of being boring or mighty, since their covers tend to be either plain looking or harcovers decorated with gold and silver. I think a makeover could help here. For example, look at these covers from the Penguin’s Deluxe Editions and Graphic Deluxe Editions. They are so colorful and pretty that I’m sure more people would pick them up with interest. I would re-read Lord of the flies if I got an edition with this art (which reminds me of Danganronpa).

How to Read More Classic Books?

They say we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. But seriously, who doesn’t? Don’t you go to a bookstore and pick the coolest looking book? Or the one with the wittiest title?

2. Give them a second chance. Many times I’ve read a book or watched a movie I hated, only to give it a second chance years later and find I really like it. Maybe you hated Pride and Prejudice because you didn’t get what everyone likes about it, or because your teacher made you read it and write an essay. And now you hesitate to read Anything by Jane Austen. It’s okay. Maybe it’s not your style. But what if your taste has changed? What if Emma or Sense and Sensibility are more suited for you? You are older now, you have read more. It’s not homework anymore.

3. Let the book grow on you. It’s not fair if you only read two pages and throw the book away because it’s boring. Stories have evolved with time and now we are used to start with a cliffhanger that makes us read the whole first arch in one sitting. Just look at Marvel’s films. Most of them start in the middle of a fight that we now nothing about, they know how to captivate with action. Older stories, on the other hand, tend to start with a narrator describing the setting, the landscape or every feature in a character’s face. It might be a slow start but most times it is worth it.

4. Look at them as the works of fiction they are. Maybe you don’t find the characters or the situations relatable. It makes sense, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look at them from outside. There’s a reason you might like Game of Thrones even if you don’t relate to the terrible people in the story. You can safely read about a world completely different from your own and still find something familiar. Love, hate, anger, need for adventure. Every novel has a human side that doesn’t get old.

5. There’s no shame in putting it down. If you are not enjoying a book, don’t make it a chore to finish it. It will only make you hesitate from reading ANYTHING. (Like my friend with Don Quixote). It will make you curse Tolstoy with all his characters and Russian names, and yawn when someone names the sisters Brontë. Put those books down and pick them up when you think is the right moment. You could read the author’s biography or watch a movie based on the book to refresh your desire to read more. Don’t feel bad if that means the book will be unread for a couple of months, or years. In the end, what good is a library of books you’ve already read?


Are you currently avoiding a book you want to read? Which one? Is it Anna Karenina? 🙂

This article has 1 comment

  1. Rachel

    Thanks for the tips! i struggle with reading classics because of the language used most of the time, and they’re so hard to read! it’s more difficult when you can’t relate with anything that is happening in the book. definitely going to try to pick up classics again (hopefully soon)!

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