Friday, June 4, 2010

Foodless Friday: On Reading

My husband is trying to read Moby Dick. Having never read it I had not idea how long or short this book was. He showed me the book after checking it out at the library and boy did it look like a lot to read - he got it about 3 days ago. Today I see him reading this book and he is halfway through it. I thought he was doing really well, until he told me that he was really only on chapter 3 and had read only 15 pages... obviously he was not as engrossed in the book as I thought he had been (he never tried to make me believe that the whole book was Moby Dick.) I was fooled for a few minutes though!

My most recent experience in reading a classic was Les Miserables (unabridged). I'd previously read the first part, and this time I got about half way through the book but was unable to finish it due to needing to return it to the Library - I'd already renewed it twice! I also was burnt out reading it. Next time I decide to read it, I'm going to start halfway through it!

What classic book have you tried to read most recently? Were you successful?

6 comments:

  1. The only book I've never finished was a classic, actually - Don Quixote. In large part, this was because the thing was falling apart and it was too tiresome to try and keep the pages in between the covers and in the correct order. But I also might have been not really able to get into it and looking for an excuse.

    One day I'll pick it up again - this time, not an old copy of my mom's from the basement!

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  2. Anna Karenina...3 years ago...summer...don't think I'll ever finish it.

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  3. The first time I tried to read Pride and Prejudice, I got through the first 20 pages and couldn't finish. I did pick it up again, and it was really good.
    Some classics I do recommend are The Count of Monte Cristo, Silas Marner, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ivanhoe (a bit slow at first, but I did enjoy it overall), and The Scarlet Pimpernel. (Personally, I like the Scarlet Pimpernel over Tale of Two Cities--both are the same time period and location).
    It would be interesting to see how "classic" is defined, though, because some classics are just weird.

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  4. The unabridged version of Les Miserables is crazy!!! I am the person that I have to read every word in the book and that book goes through a couple 100 page stretch rambings that are uneccessary towards the plot.... especially at the very beginning.... you learn so much about the bishop I sat there and asked myself when is the story going to start.... and it didn't until about 100 pages into the book... madness. So if you would like to revisit Les Mis I recommened the abrigded version. It will be more enjoyable because the story is awesome... all the 100 page fluff runs are not.

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  5. I actually read the abridged version before attempting the unabridged version - and I would suggest to anyone to do the same in reading Les Miserables.

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  6. I just finished Gone with the Wind and was rather shocked that I did. I loved the writing and the storytelling, but the story wasn't at all the sweet romance that I thought it was going to be. Somehow I do feel smarter now after knocking off almost 1000 pages.

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