tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694092506511551308.post7349674712068857306..comments2023-04-12T10:45:21.979-04:00Comments on Deathday Letters: Reading the ClassicsShaun Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01480241164653893038noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694092506511551308.post-90382973835890151082012-04-13T01:21:09.299-04:002012-04-13T01:21:09.299-04:00I went through a "read improving books" ...I went through a "read improving books" phase when I was young* and foolish* and it was a miserable slog through things I didn't understand and didn't enjoy. Now that I am old* and wise** I only read what I want and I stop if I don't like it. Here are a couple of the paths I took to falling madly in love with the classics:<br /><br />THEY EYRE AFFAIR by Jasper Fforde. Clever and wildly imaginative fantasy, based on/in the story of JANE EYRE, which I hadn't read at the time. The two books enhance each other and the modern eases the transition to the classic.<br /><br />E.M Forster. I started with MAURICE after picking up the movie (quite good) and being thunderstruck that a real gay love story was based on a novel by a dude born in the 1800s. MAURICE is phenomenal and E.M. Forster understands people so well and writes them so sympathetically but not without humor, at times scathing but also fond. <br /><br />* -er<br />** allegedlyLeahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08803573206327241275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694092506511551308.post-8159967915345868672012-04-12T13:00:20.818-04:002012-04-12T13:00:20.818-04:00I need to read some classics as well. However, the...I need to read some classics as well. However, there are just way too many to narrow it down.<br /><br />One author that has re-entered the spotlight is Edgar Rice Burroughs thanks to John Carter. Most of his sci-fi books have a tendency for the protagonist to have a romance with a princess, but they are all pretty interesting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694092506511551308.post-44229693553752853482012-04-12T11:52:46.361-04:002012-04-12T11:52:46.361-04:00Hmm. I try to read a classic every year, just beca...Hmm. I try to read a classic every year, just because, but some are certainly better than others.<br /><br />I really like Dickens, and he's certainly easier to follow than Joyce or Faulkner, but I think I'll read Fitzgerald this year.<br /><br />I still haven't read The Great Gatsby, and I even went to the same high school as the author.Matthew MacNishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03264738483763244969noreply@blogger.com