Comments on: “It doesn’t have to be Tolstoy or Joyce”

By: Sheree @ Keeping Up With The Penguins

Sheree @ Keeping Up With The Penguins — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 08:30:13 +0000

Yep, it’s the magic of incremental effort! I’ve found the most effective way to read more is to put it on my daily to-do list: floss teeth, buy groceries, read book. It just becomes a non-negotiable part of my day. Some people might hate making it a “chore”, but I find it makes me more fiercely protective of the time I spend reading (“No, I’m not ‘just’ reading, this is something I HAVE to do!”). I just recently finished The Life And Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and that felt like a suuuuper long read. I also read Moby Dick a while back, which was about the same length I think. Both of them got read little by little, as you described. I’m planning on reading Don Quixote before the end of the year, which is going to be the longest one I’ve ever tackled, wish me luck! (Ulysses is also on my list too… eek!)

By: Deborah

Deborah — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 17:51:28 +0000

I’ve only been keeping track of my reading for the past few years. The longest so far this year is David Copperfield which I loved, especially after I hit the midpoint.

By: BarbN

BarbN — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 19:52:25 +0000

Perfect summary of reading Joyce. For reasons that have nothing to do with my own interests, I spent way too much time in grad school reading Ulysses. The unfortunate truth about it is that you don’t really start to get it until your third time through, and with all the great books out there, who the heck has time to read it more than once? It’s not even something you can drop into conversation without sounding like a complete snob—other than this comment, I haven’t mentioned it in years now. So, yeah, spend your time elsewhere.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 12:44:45 +0000

In reply to ErinH.

@ErinH – ok, I LOVED the whale facts in Moby Dick. I think of them as “set pieces” and they gave some color to the reading experience. But I do see how others might find them a strange distraction from the plot. (I try to keep in mind with 19th century writers that they were the day’s cable – they’re trying to provide entertainment to fill the hours, not competing with a million other things people could have been doing).

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 12:43:09 +0000

In reply to Joan Odean. @Joan- I don't think this is cheating at all! I think you get a lot more out of books like this by reading some of the commentary on it, or even the Wikipedia page, so you can keep track of characters. If you were reading it as part of a class, your professor would help with that, so why not do it on your own? I definitely kept referring to Wikipedia for W&P and KL when I was having trouble keeping minor plot lines and characters straight. Same with Middlemarch. That one took me a long time to get through. I was setting goals (e.g., read 20% this week) up until at least halfway through before I started wanting to read it.

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 02:52:25 +0000

I’m a college professor, specializing in Victorian literature, and sometime in graduate school I stopped reading many new novels since I felt all my reading time needed to be focusing on whatever Dickens or Thackeray I hadn’t read yet. A couple of years ago I started listening to audiobooks if I wanted to indulge in the latest bestseller, and it’s totally amazing how much you can listen to while walking the dog or doing dishes. Even with a two-year old and a full time job (and reading to prep for the class, which I do after the two-year old goes to bed), I’ve found so much more time to read for fun.

I do sympathize on the long books being intimidating–I think I lost my students on Vanity Fair this past semester (though it’s been successful in the past).

By: ErinH

ErinH — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 02:27:32 +0000

I didn’t know you could sort Goodreads by #of pages – learn something new every day!
Apparently my longest is “War and Peace”….though the one that *felt* the longest has to be “Moby Dick”. Just horrible. Whale facts ***shudder***
I love long books – when I’m enjoying them!

By: ErinH

ErinH — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 02:26:26 +0000

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Sun, 19 Aug 2018 13:25:58 +0000

In reply to Kathy Johnson.

@Kathy- I might tackle one of Stephen King’s books sometime. I have a hard time reading more than one book at a time – which is a problem as I’m 80% of the way through Infinite Jest and want to finish, but I have a professional obligation to write and review a book this week!

By: Joan Odean

Joan Odean — Sat, 18 Aug 2018 15:57:35 +0000

When I was posted at the US Embassy in Moscow (I was in the US Foreign Service), I decided it was the perfect time to tackle War and Peace. But, with a demanding job, I knew that there might be some days I could read ten pages and some days I could get through more. Not wanting to lose the thread of the story (which is easy to do!), I bought the BBC 20+ hour DVD set (which starred a very young Anthony Hopkins), bought the Cliff notes, and jumped in. It might be “cheating,” but I found I got so much more out of the book when I consulted the Cliff Notes first for the chapter I was reading, then read the book, and finally watched the corresponding BBC segment. I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful novel and remember most of the book twenty years later. I remember reading the book on the train traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Four Russian men, sitting across the aisle from me at a table, saw what I was reading and, in halting English, they enthusiastically talked to me about Tolstoy. I also visited landmarks frequented by Tolstoy, including his home outside of Moscow. Good memories…..

Now if I could just get through Middlemarch. I have attempted to read that book so many times and cannot, for the life of me, get interested in it.