How Did You Get Into Literature

[aamir]

Basically, because I only decided to take up classical books recently, I would just like to know a few things.

How did you get into it?
What was your first classic book?
How many books have you read, and in how long?
Could you list the books you've read?
How long does it take you to normally read a book?
How long does it take you to get into a book?
Who are your favourite authors?
What are your favourite books?
Could you show me the ropes to classical literature?

Thanks in advance.

[dfloyd]

the first classic I read was Oliver Twist, unabridged. I was 8 years old. To post all the books I have read would take up all the memory alloted to these threads. There is no showing all the ropes about classical reading. You just read and read and read. You can't say how long it takes to read a book because they are all different lengths. without skimming or speed reading, I read about 600words a minute. My favorite authors are Homer, Aeschylus, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Doctor Seues. My favorite books are The Iliad, The Oresteia, the Great Gatsby, and The Cat in the Hat.

[aamir]

Wow, that's incredible! I'm 15 and I'm only reading S&S right now. 600 words a minute??? That's even more incredible. I read about 60 words a minute, considering I need to process the information in my head so as to understand what the author is trying to communicate across. Did you get the 600 words a minute thing from experience or is it natural?

[Modigliani]

How did you get into it? It was forced upon me in the first years of my academic internment.

What was your first classic book? Depends on your definition of 'classic', but I think I tried to read 'A Tale of Two Cities' when I was 10 or so.

How many books have you read, and in how long? Aucune idée. Certainly not as much as I should.

Could you list the books you've read? No.

How long does it take you to normally read a book? This depends on the specific attributes of the book in question. Sometimes hours. Sometimes years.

How long does it take you to get into a book? Generally speaking, a long, long time. My critical thinking often gets the best of me and I find it difficult to endure the reading part of processing literature.

Who are your favourite authors? Oh, I don't do favorites because my preferences change with the wind. But I'll humor you: I like Shakespeare, Nabokov, Vonnegut, Camus, Scott Lynch, Dylan Thomas and many, many others.

What are your favourite books? 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs'. ;)

Could you show me the ropes to classical literature? There are no ropes. Only thick forests and rooms of mirrors.

[aamir]

I don't get the last part of what you said.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Basically, because I only decided to take up classical books recently, I would just like to know a few things.
Wise move.

How did you get into it?
Chance, blind chance. Stumbled across a box of old books and never looked back.

What was your first classic book?
I don't know really, possibly Frankenstein or Robinson Crusoe.

How many books have you read, and in how long?
Don't know, probably up to two thousand or so, in about the last 15 years, it is hard to say.

Could you list the books you've read?
Er, not really.

How long does it take you to normally read a book?
Anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks, it greatly depends - of course there are different levels of reading, you can read Shakespeare forever and never really read Shakespeare for instance.

How long does it take you to get into a book?
Again it depends sometimes instantly, sometimes books speak to you over longer periods, slowly upon greater reflection, sometimes you don't get into a book at all.


Who are your favourite authors?

Oh, Wilde, Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Woolf, Hemingway, Maupassant, Emily and Anne Bronte, Homer and Dante (but I need to read more translations) Euripides, Hardy to name a few.


What are your favourite books?

Those written by the above writers.


Could you show me the ropes to classical literature?

I would help in any way I can, but as others have implied read, read and read again and take some advanced literature classes if possible, reading books on their own is only half the secret.

[Lokasenna]

How did you get into it? My parents always encouraged me to read. I cannot remember a time when I wasn't a prolific reader.

What was your first classic book?
My Uncle sent me The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Three Musketeers and The Lost World one birthday... to the best of my memory, those where my first.

How many books have you read, and in how long?
A quick maths calculation tells me I've read somewhere in the region of 2500 books in the last decade. Probably pushing 3000 if you make it 15 years.

Could you list the books you've read?
2500 of them? Not a chance.

How long does it take you to normally read a book?
Depends on its length. I can polish off a Renaissance drama in a couple of hours... Spencer's Faerie Queene took the best part of a month.

How long does it take you to get into a book?
Sometimes I'm hooked from the first page, others it might take longer. I'm usually sorted by the third chapter. Sometimes though, you just don't get into it... I always very loathe to abandon a book, but on occasion I've just had to put it aside.

Who are your favourite authors?
An assortment of anonymous medieval poets and saga-writers, Snorri Sturluson, Marie de France, William Langland, Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, John Milton, William Blake, William Godwin, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, H P Lovecraft, George Orwell, T S Eliot, J R R Tolkein and Evelyn Waugh to name the principle offenders:redface: I could have made that list much longer, but I thought against it...

What are your favourite books?
Crikey. Pretty much everything by the above.

Could you show me the ropes to classical literature?
My advice is to never be put off by a novel's reputation as a classic. Read it and enjoy it in your own way.

[aamir]

Thanks lokasenna.

[blazeofglory]

I got interest in literature automatically. Since my babyhood I took liking to literature; it was a natural inclination and it just engaged me. I could spend hours on books.

Suddenly I switched to English literature and it was really a great struggle to be able to read books in English and more than that to write things in English. The reason why I chose to write in English is it is an international language and of course I could come across large audiences through English in point of fact.

Today I feel a little comfort with it and English has enabled me to read world literature for a great many books are found in English which could otherwise be not possible to read at all.
Now through English I can read a variety of books and of course it has enhanced my reading habits.

I am basically a Nepali writer and write poems in Nepali and now I write as a bilingual.

[Bakiryu]

How did you get into it?
Well, my father taught me how to read earlier than i can remember, i didn't really get into it, it was just there. Did anyone teach you how to run? You just learned.



What was your first classic book?
The Count of Montecristo.


How many books have you read, and in how long?

I really have no idea. I read on average 4 to 5 books a week depending on the complexity of the work. But i'm a naturally fast reader, i work on slowing down you i can actually enjoy my books more.


Could you list the books you've read?
Maybe, could you list all the times you've seen the stars?


How long does it take you to normally read a book?
Like I said above, it depends. If it's a silly book with no depth or complexity of language (like a romance novel), about one to two hours. If it's something more advance from one to two days or even more. It depends on the book.


How long does it take you to get into a book?
just glancing at the cover and reading the first page.


Who are your favourite authors?
Dumas, Plath, Tolkien, McKillip, Gaiman, Asimov, Tolstoy, Poe, Wilde, Lovecraft, to name a few. (There a long, long list there and some people i may be forgeting.)


What are your favourite books?
In general, I'm really into sci-fi. I love reading The Lord of the Rings or the Silmarillon, or silly fantasy epics :)



Could you show me the ropes to classical literature?
there aren't any. Just read what you like.

[mona amon]

Wow, that's incredible! I'm 15 and I'm only reading S&S right now. 600 words a minute??? That's even more incredible. I read about 60 words a minute, considering I need to process the information in my head so as to understand what the author is trying to communicate across. Did you get the 600 words a minute thing from experience or is it natural?

Read at your own pace, aamir, and enjoy your books. There's no hurry. At fifteen you have several years of reading ahead of you. ;)

My first classic was Jane Eyre.

I take at least two days to read a book, and a month or more if the book is long or I'm busy at that time.

[blazeofglory]

This reading habit was birthed spontaneously for me of my own accord; for Things in print always wooed me and fascinated me. I am a man of letters and words always engaged me. I started with religious texts, with Sanskrit. As a kid I had no access of modern books and all I had were classics and they were incomprehensible to me but that did not bother me. I just engaged in books, played with books, talked about books with those likewise interested fellows. I had little time for play and work. I am now a scholar and still books dominate me and I am intoxicated with books. All kinds of books in point of fact and to be totally absorbed in a world of books and deserting the rest is a queer thing but now drugged into books absorbingly. In fact I think about books, read books, think about books and even dreams books and even when I am on travel books are companied and this obsession with books draw me into a world of fantasy .

While this interest in books has made me creative in life I am really lost in thoughts mostly and I take it really as some venturous thing in point of fact. This world of imagination, fantasy, reflection is something that pep up my life and I wander a world of dreams, reveries and contemplation

[aamir]

Wow, all those are answers are so fascinating!
I wish I could maintain reading a heavy amount of books for years to come.

[Warwick]

How did you get into it?

How did I get in to literature? Well, my mother taught me to read prior to infant school and nurtured a love for the written word. However, if I was to thank anyone for developing that appreciation, I would have to single out my English Master, Mr Collins, his patience, perseverance and not least his love of the written work was to have a lasting and far reaching effect. His ability to make one think and become a part of and not merely an observer was the basis of my enjoyment.

What was your first classic book?

It has been so long ago, but possibly Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.

How many books have you read, and in how long?

Hundreds, in over 6 decades.

Could you list the books you've read?

I doubt it,

How long does it take you to normally read a book?

That varies, possibly a few days or maybe a week.

How long does it take you to get into a book?

Not long. The thing is do not give up too soon.

Who are your favourite authors?

Laurie Lee, John Steinbeck, Jane Austen, E M Forster, William Shakespeare, John Buchan, Charlotte Bronte, Honore de Balzac, Thomas Hardy, Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, there are too many to list.

What are your favourite books?

Now there’s a charge? I’ll just list a few. As I walked Out One Midsummer’s Morning. – Such beautiful prose utilized by the author Laurie Lee and his ability to capture a moment and take you along with him. Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday by the great story teller John Steinbeck. The frivolity of Austen versus the hard reality of Charlotte Bronte. I could go on and on…

Could you show me the ropes to classical literature?

There are a number of aspects. You could read for the best of reason, simply to enjoy. Then you might wish to go deeper, thus a book with an appendix, and extensive notes would be useful. Since we are referring to literary classics, some of the terms used are no longer familiar, thus books that carry this information can help the reader to better readily understand in the light of the time that the novel was initially constructed.

[aamir]

Your answer to the last question is really inspiring, because I love to know the background and history of the books I'm reading.

[Zee.]

i got in to literature when i was really little because i used to hate hearing my parents argue, so i'd grab a book and pretend i was in it. that's why i fell in love with them.

[aamir]

I can't read a book very well if noise surrounds me.

[blazeofglory]

In fact books have always been friends to me, and I had some moments I was even on the verge of suicide and people oftentimes do it when they have nothing to fall on. Literature has saved me and now I am so happy that I write a lot and share with people all I that I feel. As a kid I wrote plenty of poetry and later on for some reasons I was distant from it and now I am hooked to it.

[Helga]

My dad read a lot of books for me and usually it were some classics, both Icelandic and other... it was definitely his influence that got me into it. the first classic I read was an Icelandic book by one of my favourite Icelandic writer.

[prendrelemick]

A great thread this aamir.

How did you get into it?
I ran out of steam reading a Wilbur Smith novel, and decided there and then to search out quality.
What was your first classic book?
Can't remember, probably Call of the Wild, by Jack London, as a child.
How many books have you read, and in how long?
Hundreds, over about 40 years. I reckon 20 to 30 per year.
Could you list the books you've read?
No, far too many, but it always suprises me how many classics I havent read yet.
How long does it take you to normally read a book?
2 days to 2 weeks, I often have a couple on the go at once, a sure sign that I'm not impressed with one of them.
How long does it take you to get into a book?
Nowadays, straight away. Even if its a slow start I enjoy the anticipation of the story to come.
Who are your favourite authors?
Homer
Jane Austin
JRR Tolkien
Leo Tolstoy
Terry Prachett
Charles Dickens, the usual suspects
What are your favourite books?
My all time favorite is The Illiad. Then anything by the above authors. White Teeth by Zadie Smith, was very good, but seems to be falling short of the title of "Classic."
Could you show me the ropes to classical literature?
You have found the ropes when you joined this forum. Just read and enjoy, as you are with S&S. The only thing I would say is that it helps if you have a grounding in Classic Greek literature and mythology, they are so often alluded to. But I'll repeat again, just read and enjoy.

[The Comedian]

How did I get into literature?

So, I'm in a high school English class. We're reading The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne. I sort of like it -- in the way one likes an inane movie.

Then, the teacher asks why Hester made her "A" so prominent, so beautiful, when it was meant as a "brand of shame." (I remember these words exactly).

*My interest shoots up -- I had never thought that such questions were possible.*

Then, a student who was much wiser than me said this: "New rules. She's changin' the rules."

When he said that, my internal Comedian said this (I quote here for accuracy): "Holy ****! You mean you can do that! You can just change the rules. Like that. Just change 'em. ****"

It was the whole game: literature that moves us beyond the mundane of our experiences, the dialogue that we can have with each other about meaningful, even dangerous ideas and texts. I was hooked like a catfish that swallowed the bait: in the guts.

Still am. Hester Pryne is to this day the my favorite heroine.

[Pryderi Agni]

I was literally born into it, because my entire family reads-and even creates-literature at a small scale..