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Thread: Books you want to read, but don't feel ready for yet.

  1. #1

    Books you want to read, but don't feel ready for yet.

    I think it was Darcy who mentioned on another thread that he didn't feel ready yet to read The Divine Comedy and The Brothers Karamazov, and I was curious if other members have certain books they really want to read, but currently don't feel like they quite can, for whatever reason.

    A few off the top of my head:
    The Divine Comedy: I'm fascinated by this work, but I can't help but feel if I read it right now, I won't quite grasp the scope and depth of the work. It's something that I really want to put a lot of effort into.

    Canterbury Tales: I've read a bit of this in a modernized translation, and greatly enjoyed what I read but I don't feel ready to read it in the original english just yet. I know a lot of people say that it's not too hard once you understand the basic words and so on, but I still feel daunted by it whenever I flick through.

    Faerie Queen: I think it has something to do with the length. I have no problem reading long novels, but I'm not sure if I'm quite ready for a 1200 page poem, regardless of my love of poetry. The longest epic poems I've read are The Iliad and The Metamorphoses, both of which I loved, but I think I may a read a few more epics before moving on to this one.
    Last edited by Pierre Menard; 03-22-2012 at 06:44 PM.
    Vladimir: (sententious.) To every man his little cross. (He sighs.) Till he dies. (Afterthought.) And is forgotten.

  2. #2
    In the fog Charles Darnay's Avatar
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    Good question. But what makes you ready? Is it historical knowledge? When I first read a tale of two cities I knew very little about the French revolution so I guess I was not ready. Or is it a state of mind?
    I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...

  3. #3
    Different for different people I think.

    State of mind comes into it a lot though, as far as I can see. I know a lot of people who read a book when they were young, couldn't stand it, read it a few years later and loved it. I can also think of people who were older, but had significant changes in their life that changed them as a person. This could also change ones perception of a work or how/what they read.

    For me, it's a bit of a state of mind thing, also mixed with my experience with literature. I mean, I love literature and the classics as well as other works, but I'm only 20, and have so much to read. It's probably reasonable to assume certain works would become less difficult after exposure to certain other works that are similar, but a little easier to read.
    Vladimir: (sententious.) To every man his little cross. (He sighs.) Till he dies. (Afterthought.) And is forgotten.

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    One word: Ulysses. I treid reading it a couple years ago and wasnt ready, and I don't think I am still, but I'm getting closer. Maybe next year.

    And you should try The Divine Comedy. It's not that difficult.

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    BadWoolf JuniperWoolf's Avatar
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    The Divine Comedy really isn't that hard. There are a lot of references to early 14th century Italian politics which you won't get, but no one does so don't worry about it. If you have a grasp of Greek and Roman classics, you'll be able to get quite a bit out of Dante.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi View Post
    One word: Ulysses.
    Same here. Someone told me not to read it until I'm forty, so I'm waiting until then.
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    I don't get this thread. If you want to read something, then read it! If it's hard, why do you think it will get any any easier?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi View Post
    One word: Ulysses. I treid reading it a couple years ago and wasnt ready, and I don't think I am still, but I'm getting closer. Maybe next year.
    Tried it three times, I don't think I'll ever be ready. So it's now on my "I give up!" pile.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi View Post
    And you should try The Divine Comedy. It's not that difficult.
    I agree. Try Mandelbaum's translation.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf View Post
    Same here. Someone told me not to read it until I'm forty, so I'm waiting until then.
    Tried that - didn't work... but I now feel less guilty about not finishing things, not guilty at all, in fact. Maybe that was what "someone" had in mind?

  8. #8
    Registered User Aylinn's Avatar
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    I will not be original.
    One word: Ulysses.
    I once tried to read it, but after the first page I realised I'm too young. I'm waiting to get old and wrinkled. I hope then I'll be able to understand it.

    Quote Originally Posted by mal4mac View Post
    I don't get this thread. If you want to read something, then read it! If it's hard, why do you think it will get any any easier?
    Because some books are not good until you gain some life experience. There are books that I read now that I know I would not have enjoyed few years ago.

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    somewhere else Helga's Avatar
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    I own the Canterbury tales in the old language , not sure if I'll ever be ready to read it....

    There are three books I have been planning to read for a few years and they are on my summer reading list 'The Divine Comedy' 'Metamorphosis' and 'Anna Karenina'. I don't know if I haven't read them because I wasn't ready or just lazy, these books are pretty big.

    When I was 13 I read Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet, I wasn't ready.
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    TobeFrank Paulclem's Avatar
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    I put off War and Peace until last year, and I prepared for it. It was worth it, and being older I definately got more out of it.

    I read Graves I Claudius when I was in my early twenties, and I read it last year. The two experiences were not the same, though I enjoyed it both times. I just knew more about Rome and Roman politics this time round, and so the experience was better.

    The best example of the difference is with Eliot's poetry, which I first came across when I was 18. I liked it, but I found it difficult to intellectualise why. I recognised quality lines though, despite the attitude current at that time that Eliot was an intellectual snob. I just knew I'd come back to Prufrock and The Waste Land, and I did over a number of years. I gradually understood more and more of it.

    It's the same with Phillip Larkin - I now get a lot out of his poems. He seems to have been perpetually middle aged.

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    Registered User Desolation's Avatar
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    I've been "preparing" for Ulysses for a long time, and I'm hoping to be ready by June 16th this year. I'm gearing up with books that range from being directly inspired by Joyce, to friends of Joyce, to stream of consciousness, to otherwise long and difficult in general.

    Also in this category, I suppose, would be Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. It's not that I don't think I would understand it, but rather that I'm waiting to clear everything else off of my to-read list so that I won't be tempted to stray away from it.

    I'm holding off on works like The Divine Comedy, The Odyssey, Paradise Lost, and Shakespeare's plays until I get them assigned in college. There's no particular reason for this.

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    TobeFrank Paulclem's Avatar
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    A friend of mine read The Odyssey in tandem with Ullyses, as there is a link between the two. He said The Odyssey illuminated what was happening in Ullyses, and he found it useful.

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    Watching You RicMisc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Desolation View Post
    I'm holding off on works like The Divine Comedy, The Odyssey, Paradise Lost, and Shakespeare's plays until I get them assigned in college. There's no particular reason for this.
    The Odyssey is amazing, or at least I thought so. I have read the major part in Ancient Greek and the other part in Dutch. It took me a couple of months to get through it but the stories and Homer's writing are great. The things he does to keep his metre (dactylic hexameter) are not always a treat when you have to translate everything but it was definitely worth the time ..
    So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past - The Great Gatsby

    Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice - Polonius (Hamlet)

  14. #14
    Remembrance of Things Past. I tried to read it a little over a year ago and couldn't.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by mal4mac View Post
    I don't get this thread. If you want to read something, then read it! If it's hard, why do you think it will get any any easier?


    You honestly think that people don't build on their experience with literature?

    I mean, even if I use my short life as an example, I probably started reading more of the classics when I was about 17 and the more I've read over the last 3 years, the easier some of the classic works have become.
    Vladimir: (sententious.) To every man his little cross. (He sighs.) Till he dies. (Afterthought.) And is forgotten.

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