Is your TBR list getting longer by the day and somehow you still haven’t managed to get through the Classics? It isn’t too late to re-discover the books you might have dreaded long ago in high school but are curious about today.
I don’t love New Year’s resolutions … but getting started on the Classics sounds pretty good
There are a few important things to consider if you’re up for tackling this formidable task:
- Don’t force yourself to read what you’re not interested in. If The Odyssey by Homer still makes you uneasy, opt for a love story by Jane Austen instead. You’ll have a better chance of finishing what you started.
- Don’t be intimidated by the language, it does take some getting used to, but you will find as you go along that it gets so much easier. Believe me having read a lot of period pieces and historic correspondences for my book, your brain makes the adjustment.
- If your still tentative about starting, consider an audiobook for your first foray into the Classics. You can “read” while you drive or work around the house and you will realize if it’s a book you want to make part of your library. Audible has a good selection to choose from.
Here’s a list of books I recommend as good representations of what are universally considered “classic” literature:
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- 1984 by George Orwell
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- For whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- The Odyssey by Homer
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain - Macbeth by William Shakespeare
This list is absolutely incomplete, but it’s a good start. So, pick up a book this holiday season and give it a try. I don’t think any part of you will regret it and you might actually follow through on that New Year’s resolution.
Come back and let me know what you chose!
