Throughout elementary and high school, you probably all read classic books. And, without a doubt, you probably were bored with them. I know I was when I was young. I was miserable when I was forced to read Great Expectations or A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and Shakespeare just became bland. But these classics have now become more of an interest to me. I'm surprised to have actually purchased A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, when I thought that I would never enjoy his literature--especially after reading it in high school.
Don't get me wrong, I still read modern books: I read the Stieg Larsson trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest), and I read my share of JK Rowling's Harry Potter books. I still have Stephen King's horror, true crime mafia stories (don't worry, I'm still interested in the mafia haha), and, of course, the beginnings of a Scott Pilgrim graphic novel collection. I've even walked outside the box of horror and read John Dies @ The End by David Wong (that was definitely an interesting read). But now I also have Dracula by Bram Stoker, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins, and as I mentioned earlier, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
Reading the classic novels is definitely a big difference from today's literature. The attention to detail, the language... It's almost surprising. Author's today have tried to keep this detail alive. Stephen King, for example, gives a history of the setting of his novels. Justin Cronin also uses this detailed method, and he's just hit it big with The Passage. The attention to detail can often be considered a 'harder read', though. I know that it was sometimes difficult for me to follow through on a book that had too much detail (lack of attention span?), but then I'd step away from the book for a few days, then return to it with fresh eyes.
Which brings me to my next thought. A lot of people I know read one book at a time. Yeah... I have about 3-5 books going at once. Why? Probably my attention span. If a book really catches my attention then I'll devote most of my reading time to that book, but otherwise I often switch between book-to-book to keep my attention up and keeps me reading. Am I crazy?
Currently Reading:
(technically)
- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
- The Passage by Justin Cronin
- Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
I need to start writing better blogs =P
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