HOW TO READ CLASSICS | Tips & Tricks

[@emule.sifier]

another tip from my own experience with the classics is that you shouldn't go on reading more chapters if you are too exhausted to even focus. Just take your time and if you feel like you've had enough, just it put away and continue tomorrow

[@ferosiety]

Marian Iancu d

[@UserName-fb2co]

❤️

[@EmmaRiddle543]

@Joey Brodie This is on every video I’ve watched, even music videos.

[@UserName-fb2co]

English is my second language and I feel frustrated when I had difficulties reading English classics but knowing that you could take months in one classic is making me feel better and courage me to continue trying..

[@spookythomas4574]

Watching other reading blogs like this, they also find it hard to read in one go or very quickly. They parcel it out within a month or so depending on the size. I do that as well and English in classic literature can be challenging lol.

[@juli3836]

Why don't you read them translated to your language?

[@BasicallyBrittx]

I'm currently reading Les Miserables which is a very very intimidating book and I do really really take my time with it. Sometimes I don't read it for about a week but fortunately it's very easy to pick up again and I'm like 350 pages in now! I'm positive that I will finish it! Great tips!

[@chambeet]

Basically Britt How’d you end up liking it?

[@racheldemain1940]

So am I!! It's a big book. I read Hunchback first to get a feel for his style of writing and that helped.

[@islombekabdullaev4692]

The same is here, yet I put it away a month ago at the point when that wondering ex-prisoner got away with the priest's stuff.

[@islombekabdullaev4692]

Actually, I am reading Les Miserables in Russian and those two volumes are rather intimidating.

[@hasmikhambardzumyan9113]

I made a break while reading Les Miserables and regretted, because the book became less interesting to me. Breaks ruin the impressions and emotions you gained about the heroes

[@AsdfAsdf-mi6ks]

Something that helped me was reading along with an audiobook.

[@melissaeddon7034]

Asdf Asdf sammeee

[@AsdfAsdf-mi6ks]

@@Noah-wv4td lolol I always listen to mine at like 1.8 speed XDD so I can listen faster than I can read. It's really nice. I get lots of books done because of it.

[@shrutipandya3905]

Audiobooks don't give you a time to think

[@kismetau]

@@shrutipandya3905 you can pause anytime and read the book in parts. To me reading is also not about speed.

[@nekonii9247]

Ahhh this works so well for me

[@greenobeeno1]

Something else about classics that may help new readers who are intimidated: Just read the first chapter and read up on the book afterwards. Often the research I do after one chapter gives me the inspiration and drive to continue. And don't feel like you're cheating if you skip over some lengthy prose as long as you understand the themes and points the work is making.

[@liviamartin3641]

greenobeeno1 Great Tip! I also sometimes use guides (crash course literature is great for the classics they have videos on) and follow along as I go through the book. Most classics are heightened by discussions of themes and other analysis!

[@Robeeh2]

Really heartening to hear someone encourage young people to give the classics a go. Brilliant keep up the good work. x

[@itsdivyag]

Studying A Level Eng, i really needed this haha

[@davidbencomo6747]

I am reading Oliver Twist... Watching Trump dealing with the boader... Not intentionally...

[@fayhemacdonald6619]

This was from 3 years ago so I'm not sure if I'll get a response but is it good to do a level english? I'm thinking of doing it

[@kae3977]

@@fayhemacdonald6619 Depends on why you're doing it.

[@lindaw8958]

Oh, thank goodness you said that it takes you a while to read Jane Austen! I though I was the only one. Emma seems to be taking forever for me to finish.

[@phurmthegoat4840]

Are you done yet?

[@JamiesChaos]

I was reading Pride and Prejudice and it was taking me 30 minutes to read 10 pages. I felt so dumb 🤦🏻‍♀️ now I’m reading Sense and Sensibility and I’m intentionally going very slow and taking notes as I go 🤣 I feel less bad when I take notes.

[@TattyPenguin]

These are things that I try to do, but it's wonderful to see someone say 'hey, that's okay!' It took me 2 and a half years to read War and Peace, and I still really enjoyed it in spite of putting it down, picking it up, reading other books at the same time, etc. I often find it better to read large classics on kindle as it makes them feel less cumbersome and being able to up the font size to something reasonable makes it feel like I'm actually moving through pages, rather than being stuck on one page for a good 20 minutes! This was a wonderful video, thank you! :)

[@vinireads]

I think a tip that worked wonders for me was to not ignore the bits or words I didn't understand and looking them up at the very instant I came across them in the book. This paces the speed down, but in the long run, it develops vocabulary and also gives a better understanding to the context. Sometimes, these words or references are repeated in other classics and then I have the edge of going over it smoothly because I am already familiar with the concept.

[@ruqiyaibrahim2]

But how about if you don’t understand most of the words and then you have to keep on searching up and then it makes the book bothersome

[@vinireads]

@@ruqiyaibrahim2 it does make it bothersome in the beginning, like the first few books, but if you go on without being discouraged, it significantly contributes to your growth and eventually it gets easier and as you'll know more words, it'll get less bothersome as you read the forthcoming books.

[@theoperaghost6112]

I've been reading more classics, the great Gatsby, phantom of the opera, pride and prejudice, all that good stuff. but I've been wanting to read Hamlet for a long time, but I've been intimidated by it because Shakespeare is just insanely difficult for me. I feel like this will help me, at least a little :)

[@ShatteredRippleBooks]

I like the tip about just reading one or more chapters. That's actually how I read all books because I'm a slow reader. I really want to read more classics and I'm really enjoying your videos 😊

[@jasminefoo5970]

Please do more videos on classic literature!! I don't usually watch booktubers but I love your channel because of how high quality it is!! Especially your videos on classic literature!!

[@biffplaylist]

Many will disagree, but I also think there is no shame in watching a movie version beforehand. Sometimes classics can be confusing or hard to get into, so I find if I watch the movie before hand it'll help me be more engaged because I already have a better understanding of the plot. Yes, a lot of movies can be wrong, but think of it as an outline when going into reading.

[@Magicmike57]

For some reason I could not get into pride and prejudice :( I will not give up on the classics, though. I'm interested in Charles Dickens works.

[@pistoffpussycat5778]

Dickens is the best! Short chapters, suspenseful, descriptive...especially good on cold, rainy days with coffee or tea!

[@lambykin842]

@@pistoffpussycat5778 Ah, really? I’ve found myself so bored by Oliver Twist, but enthralled by different author’s works like Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. haha. I guess it depends on the reader..Or the experience may have been running by the fact I had to do it for school..Aah, perhaps I’ll give it another go some time.

[@RachelLouiseAtkin]

I'd love to see you talk about your opinions on the label of 'classics' and whether it's a good idea to separate them from general fiction. Sometimes I think branding something as a classic automatically makes people see the work differently, even though every single one fits into it's own genre just like contemporary fiction. Do you think they should be normalized?

[@tachyondecay]

Oooh, interesting question! While I agree that "branding something as a classic automatically makes people see the work differently," classics ARE different. I think it makes sense to separate out "classics" from previous centuries. The works that typically get called "classics" have survived for a reason and are more often than not considered together than apart; it would feel odd if we separated Shakespeare out into "sci-fi" and "fantasy" and "rom-com" and "historical fiction". Genre labels are anachronistic to classics. Moreover, the novel form itself has changed so much over the years. Again, if we simply shelved classics within contemporary genres, the transition from a contemporary novel to the denser, more didactic, or more epistolary "classic" would be jarring. By grouping them together, classics can be considered within their historical context-and we can prepare ourselves for reading them, as Lucy's tips help us do! I am more concerned with WHAT gets labelled a classic and the biases among readers and publishers that go into canonizing our literature.

[@RachelLouiseAtkin]

+Ben Babcock I see where you are coming from and do agree that many classics offer you a different reading experience in terms of the language and historical context, but couldn't you say that for all fiction? No two voices are the same and contemporary books can be just as dense and culturally overwhelming for a reader as a classic can. Treasure Island is a classic one can get through very easily, but Infinite Jest terrifies me. I think placing classics in their genres gives a reader better expectations for what we are going to find inside the novel in terms of themes and plot. You mentioned Shakespeare though and I agree with you about him alone - I don't think of Shakespeare in the same way as he is a playwright rather than novelist, so wouldn't make sense to put him into fiction as plays aren't generally included in that category anyway. But yes, I've had some strong views on this for a while and am eager to make my own video on it :)

[@tachyondecay]

Rachel Louise Atkin I think you're operating with a slightly more generous definition of "classic" than I am. To me, a "classic" is a pre-WWII work of literature that is generally remembered and read to this day. (WWII is a fairly arbitrary cutoff date, but I'm generally aiming for stuff that is a century old.) Infinite Jest is far too recent a novel for me to consider it a "classic" as I've been using the term, though I totally get how that label could be applied to it. My issue is that genres are a 20th century invention and retroactively applying them to earlier works feels very revisionist to me. I think it's worthwhile acknowledging, say, Journey to the Centre of the Earth or Frankenstein as precursors to science fiction. We can certainly _call_ them science fiction and consider them in a study of that genre. But neither Verne nor Shelley had an understanding science fiction as we understand it now. For this reason I find it more _useful_ to group classics together by period and context than by genre. And yes, you make a good point that contemporary fiction also defies genre. I'm not a huge fan of genre labels in general. They are largely a marketing gimmick, and while they occasionally serve a useful purpose in everyday conversations, getting hung up on genre leads to generalizations and makes it easy for us to forget the merits or flaws of individual works. It's certainly worth looking at contemporary fiction through contextual, etc., lenses rather than genre. Still, I like the label of "classics"-but maybe that's because I've narrowed my working definition more to a point where it _is_ useful for my purposes. If you do make a video, send me a link! (I'm also @tachyondecay on Twitter.)

[@RachelLouiseAtkin]

I don't think I made myself clear, I apologise. When referring to Infinite Jest I meant to show that as a work of modern fiction it can be as complex, dense and hard to read as some classics are, (I don't consider it as a classic either!) We have been taught to go into the classics expecting it to be difficult and chore-like whereas this could be the case with any book. I like to call a classic anything pre-1900 and after that it becomes a modern classic. Whilst it's useful to categorise by historical context I think it all comes down to how much you believe context to influence your reading of a book. I personally just don't think how long ago something has been written should play a part in how one views the worth of such book. Yes, it should inform your beliefs on why writers have chosen to do certain things with their novel, but I have a problem with classics being treated as harder to read or less interesting etc just because of how long ago it was written. I think genre is important. Most people go into bookshops and gravitate towards the genres that they know and love and it's more useful for shoppers. I agree it's become a marketing gimmick but that's just a side effect of the modern age. Whilst classical authors wouldn't have had this in mind when writing, modern readers always will and therefore find it more useful. "Classic" to me shouldn't be a genre because of its separatist connotations from other literature I think it should have its place by, just so it becomes more accessible in the minds of people who are intimidated by the "classics" shelf. Thank you! I'll go and find you on Twitter, given me some interesting points to think about.

[@tylereston5264]

Ben Babcock - I see what you mean there, there is the obvious exception with “true novels” a term that’s been thrown around a lot recently, A lot of classic DONT fall into a specific genre. What would you call Atlas Shrugged or East of Eden? I would even go as far as Tom Sawyer. I mean yes it’s an “adventure” novel, but is it really? It sorta blurs the line. While something like Eden or Atlas is sooo all over the place that it’s hard to put it into a box. Besides the whole “true novel” debacle, I do agree with you! Dracula for example is really just a horror story. Pride and Prejudice is an amazing romance novel, yet it is just a romance novel. I also agree with you assertion that a book being a “classic” makes people look at it differently. I hate when someone looks at a book through nostalgia goggles, or they only like it because it’s Steinbeck or Fitzgerald or something. and there are over-rated classics for sure. It’s thrown around too much too, I’m a huge Harry Potter fan and if someone comments tells me “it’s a classic” one more time I’m going to kill them. 😂 I think there still needs to be a separation between the two, but the term is too watered down. I mean can you really imagine not giving something like Frankenstein or Gatsby the respect it garners? Like... imagine seeing Gatsby, Emma and Twilight all on a shelf together. No thank you 😂 Certain books have earned to be distinguished from the best, I mean I think when something is a “classic” it has very important morals and meanings hidden in it. Political and social commentary, historical fiction book are how we.. learn and how we share ideas. There’s a reason you hear the phrase “changed my life” regarding books for than anything else. I do think a book can deem a higher standard of books that deserve to be recognized in their own space. But just once more way I agree with you, I hate when it detracts from other books, too. People won’t read something because it’s new and I HATE that. As if nothing new is ever good, as if classics weren’t new at one time. 😂

[@chambeet]

Love those glasses! But yeah, I’m trying to get into classics more. Thus far, I’ve read the Iliad, Odyssey, the King James Old Testament, and Moby Dick thus far! Something worthwhile in all of them. Melville especially impressed me.

[@Sarah-ot3kw]

I'm so interested to read Middlemarch! It's been one I've been interested in for so long!!

[@KatherineWoodfine]

Great video! I'm currently reading Middlemarch for the third time - I read it first when I was at school and then again at university, and didn't enjoy it at all - but I know so many people love it, so I thought I should give it another go. This time I'm enjoying it lots more - just goes to show that sometimes you have to wait for the right time before you can appreciate a particular book.

[@estefyhengja]

Katherine Woodfine The same thing has happened to me several times

[@lorddoctorschnitzel2472]

Great video, it helped me a lot and one year later after I watched it for the first time, I am so in love with classical books, thank you!

[@amelian9677]

I always follow up a classic with study guides too!

[@IOxyrinchus]

I would highly recommend LitCharts. It provides summary and analysis, chapter by chapter, of many classic and contemporary novels. There are also themes and symbols it goes into in depth and highlights them when they appear throughout the chapters. Look them up, you won’t regret it. Their app is also free, they are awesome. That helps me a lot when reading classics. Or just chapter summaries in general.

[@aryanugraha28]

you're so underrated. you deserve at least a hundred thousand subscribers!

[@sushmita4713]

Some tips i would suggest - draw family trees if there are many characters in the books and mostly there are and the first name last name jumbling will help. And also to keep your pace study and fun watch relevant movie if it has any along with the book. Of course be vigilant of spoilers when doing this

[@daeelly]

I am currently re-reading The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence. The thing about classics and novels, in general, is to read them at the time they make sense to you or are relevant to your experience and time in your life. It's nonsense to read Dostoievski when you are at a time in your life where Nabokov makes more sense to you. Just read the author/novel that speaks most to you in that time of your life.

[@lizwidner1208]

Great video! Thank you for this! I've always wanted to read more classics, but I was always intimidated because I had a hard time understanding Pride & Prejudice in high school. Now that I'm 26, I'm ready to give it another go!

[@dominiklovereading4290]

When I first discovered booktube I was shocked how little people here read classics. I was raised on classics and I read them more than any other books, I think that YA books are one-day literature. of course I also read YA sometimes but all the YA books are very similar to each other, and I mean they are mostly for teens, they can't really teach you anything. I am currently reading "An American tragedy" and I was so shocked when I checked my goodreads page and no one from booktubers read it! I mean it's your literature, your American author and no one even care to check out this monumental work that is so deep and beautiful.

[@GrinMonister]

First: not everyone likes reading the same things or the same genres. If people don't wish to read classics they're completely entitled to that. Second: just because a book is made for teens doesn't mean you can't learn something from it. Third: not everyone reads for learning purposes or to help develop their sense of the world or themselves. Some people like to read just because they enjoy it and it makes them happy (aka for entertainment). Also, just because a book is by an American author doesn't mean everyone from America needs to read it (if that was the case people would do nothing but read and have not time for anything else).

[@tachyondecay]

"… all the YA books are very similar to each other, and I mean they are mostly for teens, they can't really teach you anything." WHOAAAA hold up. Dude, check yourself. ANY time you begin a statement with "ALL [blank] are [blank]" you should think twice. It works sometimes, but not often. This is a very shallow reading of YA books and it's disappointing to see that from someone who seems so invested in reading. Your juxtaposition of "mostly for teens" with "they can't really teach you anything" leads me to make the uncomfortable inference that you consider most teenagers incapable of or uninterested in learning as they read. While GrinMonster's earlier reply to you saliently makes the point that efferent reading is far from the only experience one might desire, please don't underestimate teenagers. (If this is a misreading of your comment, then I apologize.) Let's break down that statement into its two assertions. First: "all the YA books are very similar to each other." This is demonstrably false, and if you watch or read more of Lucy's reviews, then you'll quickly see why. YA is a diverse spectrum of literature (it's not accurate to call it a genre, really, because it encompasses the traditional genres). The Wrath & the Dawn, Renée Ahdieh’s reimagining of Arabian Nights, has very little in common with Laurie Halse Andersen’s Wintergirls, which is a bleak and brutal depiction of anorexia. These two books again are night and day with something like Code Name Verity or Rose Under Fire, both by Elizabeth Wein, which feature excellent young women protagonists against the backdrop of WWII. If you've found that YA "really can't teach you anything" then you haven't tried hard enough. Is there fluffy YA out there? Totally. But there's fluff in any part of literature. There are SO MANY YA books that "teach" stuff that my head is exploding trying to figure out which ones to mention here. Wein's two books, already mentioned above, are a perfect example. They feature so much info on World War II, including a young woman’s experience living in a concentration camp. The ENTIRE Animorphs series is a treatise for children and adolescents on the horrors of war. How to Build a Girl, by Caitlin Moran, is about growing up fat, female, and poor. Asking For It, by Louise O'Neill, is about the horrors of rape culture. Even the incredibly popular (and therefore quickly criticized) Harry Potter series teaches about heroism, friendship, loyalty, and racism. The only way not to be learning from YA is to be deliberately avoiding learning because you've convinced yourself you can't learn from YA.That is a regrettable stance from a passionate reader. Don't shame people for reading what they read, or for not reading what they read. (Just to be clear: if YOU don't particularly like most YA books, even the ones I mentioned above, that's totally fine. But don't go declaring an entire part of literature superfluous as a result.) There is room in a community for so many voices. The fact that the booktube community happens to be biased towards one aspect of reading and not another is dependent on so many factors and is linked neither to the quality of what they're reading nor the quality of the readers themselves.

[@lunarose7490]

I am SO exited. I have made a decision to restart my reading days and I ordered ‘The great Gatsby’ , ‘Wuthering heights’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice’. They should arrive soon but I’ve never really read a book as long/ complex as those. Thank you for the tips, I’ll be sure to try them out soon!

[@jam-yh3bl]

I read very quickly so I find it very difficult to read classics as I miss out a lot and can't always understand it, but hopefully with these tips I'll finally finish a classic! Thank you!

[@kayagaffney5922]

same, I know I'm really late but it's nice to hear someone with the same problem

[@nicole2462]

As part of my course I have to read a different classic almost every week and it's not easy. The mindset is so important but I still struggle a lot

[@charlottesreadsthings211]

Even as someone who enjoys certain classics (charles dickens being a favourite) and having done a degree in English Literature, I still find them intimidating. Your tip of reading a chapter a day is a really good idea!

[@TheLittleMisfit]

This video is great! I am actually trying to make my way through Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. I am playing the role of Eponine in my college production of it and they want us all to read it. It is a monster of a book but breaking it down, as you also have, I find I'm A LOT less terrified of it. I think that you make another great point in saying that the book isn't going anywhere. I think that with booktube there is a pressure to read as much as you can as fast as you can. I feel that it is important to remember that we read because we enjoy the experience not the race.

[@lucythereader]

I'm glad you find it less terrifying now! And good luck with your production!

[@elag1144]

I kinda read Pride and Prejudice in 1 night... but i read it online.. I saw the movie (2005 version) that day and I fell in love with darcy so i just had to read it, and i couldnt wait till I found it in my native language so i just read it online, and not sure if it was the complete work I havent even checked how long it is supposed to be, i just couldnt put it down and after reading it i found out it was a classic and I was like "oh okay, i should get more into classics" so I have gotten into classics this summer, and I hope I can read some of them 😁

[@amroezzeldien5407]

Hello .. I'm an English literature student and i find it difficult to read some heavy books such as Shakespeare works and D.H.lawrence etc.. so are there any tips to read them especially they are wrote in old English

[@rottenotter8714]

Hi! I don't know if you need this now or not but if you find the classics hard. If there are words or structures that you don't understand, don't worry and definitely don't give up, just keep reading. You don't have to understand everything. You can still enjoy the book without understanding everything. Though I do recommend going back but if you can't, that's okay. Because usually when you're done with these books, you always learn and grow. You won't have such a hard time reading "Romeo and Juliet", if you've read "Macbeth" first.

[@amroezzeldien5407]

@@rottenotter8714 thank you so much 💙

[@dannySG61]

What I did was to read the Bible, the King James translation specifically. Once that is manageable, no classic is too difficult. That did wonders for me, really! Also, bearing in mind that a lot of classics will have references to Biblical themes and characters, so it would help our interpretation if we know the Bible.

[@logann-mackenziefroste563]

Awesome vlog! I have always wanted to read classics because my cousins have read them and I feel like I am not smart enough since I have t read any classics. I also have ADHD and dyslexia and so I only read books that I really enjoy and that I can get into. Even reading for school is difficult which is why I avoid taking more English classes than I have to, I would rather take math classes.

[@CaitlynAnneReads]

I have been trying to read Pride and Prejudice for the last 2 years! I am enjoying it, but I just need to take my time with it.

[@elvireaurouge6042]

I really liked your video! You gave us really good advices! I tend to put pressure on myself when I read a book and specially a classic like "I have to finish it in a week or so" and most of the time, it just stopped me because it's mostly unrealistic... I will try your way and try to stop pressuring myself because reading has to be a pleasure. Plus as a non native in English, I really love your accent :)

[@malcolmfreedman6898]

Can you look at Great Expectations Malcolm

[@amazingsupergirl7125]

I’m not overwhelmed by classics but it’s because I love older writing styles and eras. But, when I’m in the middle of a 1000 page book I generally end up reading at least one short book in a day then going back to the long one. It’s because I’m dying for closure. It works for me.

[@JuliaSapphire]

Great video! So hopeful and insightful thanks :) x

[@charlenesims9063]

i got 3 books from the library on the go! but the 2 classics i have i got a short time to read and they are a bit think. north and south,evealina,and what matters to jane austen. evealina i am almost done and can take it out again if i have to.but the other two are loaners from another library and cannot get renewed. but that is ok,because i cand write down the book and chapter and what is going on. and when i get it again then i can finish reading. i always take my time with books and have no set time to finish,because i get frustrated if i put myself in time restraints,this way i can enjoy the books and take in what the novel is about.

[@misscoutts6193]

Very good tips; thank you. I am hoping to read all the Brontes books in the next couple of years: which one do you recommend i should begin with?

[@mehranzo546]

Thank you, it's ok to look up dictionary too many time when read classics?

[@UnrealB]

This video really helps and has motivated me to start reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time!! 💜🖤💜 I used to read loads of classics in high school bc I love how writing has changed through time. But I got in a bad reading slump that lasted over a year!! And I only just managed to get out of it half way through last year, and classics are just a bit intimidating atm.😁💜

[@JuliaCheri]

These are great tips! I started reading classics a few years ago and Jane Eyre actually became my favourite book ever :) I'm from the Netherlands, so obviously English isn't my first language and because I read all my other books in English as well, I wanted to do this for classics too. Can be quite challenging, but you just have to keep going! And I use a lot of google translate to figure out old-times English words and phrases :P (also good translations aren't very easy to come by and often very expensive).

[@lucy856]

I really appreciate your tips

[@alexalovesbooks]

Love this video! I'm always intimidated by classics (it's usually the length and the language that get to me), so it was really cool to hear all your tips. I'm gonna definitely try some of your ideas (like the chapter goals, which sounds super helpful)!

[@shelleylawrence8397]

That's exactly how I read my classics-I read X amount of chapters per day and read something else also.

[@smileygirl301]

Is there anyone else who doesnt know that much people who like classics? I wanna talk about it but most of my friends dont read those kinda books. I am I would like to talk about those books. Just dont know where to find the right people. Does anyone have any tips?

[@imanazam1510]

smileygirl301 bit late but I love classics the brontes dickens etc I'm currently reading persuasion and surprisingly I'm enjoying it though it's definitely not for everyone. I'm planning to read Madame bovary as soon as it arrives in the post lol Which classics do u enjoy? Which classics do u find overrated? What classic do u intend to read next ?

[@smileygirl301]

Hello Iman, I am very curious about Madame bovary as well! I would like to know your opinion of it! :) I also love the brontes very much! Mostly Charlotte Bronte and her book 'Jane Eyre'. It might be a bit disappointing for you but i thought that 'Wuthering Heights' from her sister was overrated. It was good written and all but I don't know, it didnt really grab me... :/ Maybe I have to re-read it once again. Which classic I want to read next? I have recently bought Middlemarch from George Elliot and Far from the maddening crowd by Thomas Hardy. I heard good things about those books, luckily I have a whole vacation to read it :D Did you read them and what did you think of them?

[@imanazam1510]

smileygirl301 I just got far from the madding crowd recently as well but I haven't read it , but from what I've heard it seems good although be aware hardy puts a lot of description in his books ( pages about rolling hills etc) since far from the madding crowd is shorter than his other books it shouldn't be as slow ( cough* mayor of casterbridge). I liked wuthering heights but I can see why u found it overrated because i wouldn't necessarily describe it as gripping either. The classic I find is overrated is the great gatsby some of the language is nice but every character is an arse in the truest sense of the word .

[@smileygirl301]

Iman Azam Which book will you read first? Far from the maddening crowd or Madame Bovary? I also heard warnings about his love for talking about the environment but if we are honest, dont a lot of writers from that time write in such kind of style as well? They had no Fotos or Facebook or Instagram. I believe it was their way to describe places that people had never seen, in that case I find it interesting. Is there a big book that you want to read but are scared of? My goal is to read Moby Dick once in my life. It seems the writer has put lots of information about whales which scares me but then again, no one ever saw a whale in that time or very few people. I guess I should pretend to know nothing of it just like them.

[@imanazam1510]

smileygirl301 good point tbh I try to have that mindset but it's hard when you're confronted with 4 pages about a field in Dorset. I'll probably read far from the madding crowd first since I've been reading slow depressing books and could do with something that doesn't end with death or misery , also the film has Carey mulligan so I do this odd thing where I save books for certain experiences? Like for Jane eyre I saved it for when I started my gcse year or three musketeers during Ramadan. So that's what I intend to do for Madame bovary though after typing I've realised how weird that is

[@ARLimitless]

currently reading my first classic Tom Browns school days.

[@r.a.p5121]

I really loved this video! It was very helpful and I love your mannerisms of speaking; and the enthusiasm about books too! This was the first video i saw but I am definitely going to check out more! I am just starting with A Tale Of Two Cities.

[@hannahbillieperry9892]

Love this video! I haven't read a classic since I left university - might have to dig one out in the next couple of days now!

[@qudsiakhatoon9737]

Agree with every word you said about reading classics.

[@meggsb]

Some great advice. It's a shame I can't take my time to read the classics for college though. :/

[@catherinelaister-smith543]

I'd love to see a video of some of the classics you'd recommend, particularly to people who are fairly new to older books! : )

[@mi3lla]

i never read classics but my mom had gbe most beautiful copy of pride and prejudice, everyone talks abt it so i figure ill give it a go.

[@gracieg7036]

I’m 16 and I’m trying to get into classic literature so I have a larger understanding of it and have a larger love of it as I really love reading... in your opinion what would be the best piece of classic literature to start with

[@ruqiyaibrahim2]

Me too but I tried to read classics so much times since I was 12 and then I gave up but I’m desperate to actually read the real book what I mean is that I read really summarized and easier vocabulary versions and loved them

[@annoldham3018]

If you like George Elliot, try the mill on the Floss.

[@shriyakher5082]

can you please do a video recommending classics for beginners?

[@carolineharnish5633]

Have you read " The Hacienda" by Lisa St. Aubin de Teran?

[@TheBookCastle]

Love this video! I love classics :D And I do most of these, especially reading about the book while reading, I feel like that really helps :)

[@andrea_2022]

Thank you for this video! It helped me a lot !

[@insufferableknowitall4998]

Can you please recommend some children's classics? I've already read The Secret Garden & a couple others. I also want to read Peter Pan & The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz

[@emmawills8551]

Treasure Island!

[@racheldemain1940]

Middlemarch is beautiful, you won't notice how many pages there are once you start. It's my Favourite after Alice in Wonderland.

[@Edwingcr]

i love the classics... salutes from Venezuela¡

[@suchabookaholic2351]

I have to read The Portrait of a Lady and Moby Dick for school, they are pretty intimidating so I think I'll really need your tips :)

[@hh-fr9gi]

I'm reading my first classic and I'm finding it hard to understand it's concept.

[@katieevans7781]

Hi! Love your videos! I was wondering if you've ever read The Good Earth; it's a favorite classic of mine but I never hear anyone talk about it. And the advice about giving yourself time is very true.... it took me four years to read Pride and Prejudice because I constantly picked it up and put it back down, but that's okay. At the end, what important is that your reading.

[@veyniacchp]

I'm a reader and I love most genres of books, but something about classics drives me CRAZY. I just can't read them. But I read at least one every year for school. I could just take regular classes and not have to read them, but honor's classes are the easiest classes I can take without getting bored. Then I get bored and I'm a nuisance.

[@steampoweredpixel]

The only classic I have read so far is Anne Frank; The Diary of a Young Girl... I have enjoyed it so much, that in fact I have been continuously rereading it since I was 12! 😍👍

[@hollyp8467]

Great channel :) I'd be interested to hear about classics you think are really worth the hype, and those that you think probably aren't worth bothering with x

[@aimanzahidah]

hi, can you motivate me on how to get a spirit to read. I really want to read but sometimes I become very lazy to do so.

[@youcanreadit9364]

Thank you for the video. Have put Middlemarch into my queue :)

[@satishsingh8297]

How do I read difficult books?

[@sammiegirl883]

Why are big books so hard for people? It may take time but it's about the adventure. How many of us as kids devoured the Harry Potter books which are huge? I love big books because I get to stay with it longer. I've read 200-300 page novels and got sad that it was over so quick. So appreciate those big books.

[@lienhoaa12]

#1: #2: read at your own pace #3: do your research afterwards #4: ignore people's opinion!

[@comarsavar1497]

Which accent is yours ? I liked to much

[@annie1butme]

What a great video, I loved your tips! :)

[@Optropicraft]

I'm reading the Scarlet goddamned Letter. I'm 70 pages in. It needs to be done in around 3 weeks.

[@coal4k]

Have you read Franz Kafka yet? He's the greatest writer who has ever lived.

[@podcastea311]

thank you for these great tips! ^^

[@john005_]

I have been on War And Peace for years :s only 1/6 of the work in

[@eliatolentino7970]

Is Jane Eyre hard to read/understand? I'm planning to read it

[@BeatrixOnyx]

Late reply so sorry if you've already read it. Jane Eyre was the first classic I read. I found it to be an easy read and I would recommend it as a starter book for getting into classics.

[@misscoutts6193]

@@BeatrixOnyx thank you: that may answer my earlier question.

[@romeo9893]

I have read les miserables and my copy has 1347 pages or something like that

[@lucythereader]

That's a LOT of pages!

[@rraine3]

love your channel :) x

[@lucythereader]

Thank you - that is very kind of you! xx

[@readingistherapy5007]

Thank you, this Video was so so helpful :)

[@kelli117656]

I found this video helpful.

[@h.hholmes.492]

U are dead ass beautiful do you know that ? She is an angel bruh

[@HollyTheBookLover]

This was so helpful! :D

[@arciebaric3067]

You're so gorgeous. A master piece of being.

[@saccocho9721]

Me who think finishing classics in a week is already long enough👁👁

[@tomfrombrunswick7571]

Middlemarch bit of a slog issues very much 19th Century stuff

[@cosmiclatte8716]

Your so pretty, I honestly can see you as a famous actresss.

[@aabhinavkaushik7958]

Camera is too close.

[@18mviews59]

that accent though

[@eboniestevenson231]

Fun fact: the author of "middle march" is actually a woman.

[@dee6738]

Great video. You have beautiful eyes by the way 😉

[@freddiehudson4154]

R&

[@tomruffles7764]

Everybody should read Middlemarch, so a good one to promote, especially when attention spans seem to be shrinking. But I found the constant jump-cuts in your presentation distracting and probably unnecessary, unless you are a lot less fluent than you appear, and needed heavy editing

[@misscoutts6193]

What is good about "Middlemarch", in your opinion? I also noticed flash editing but why was it necessary?

[@kateormand2936]