How to get into reading classics and literary fiction?

[BunchofPocus]

I do like to read but mostly I read young adults books, chick lit and other genre type books usually with a strong (cheesy) romance element. Nothing wrong with any of that but I am now in my 30's and I just want to read better books!

I have a friend who has always had more literary tastes and has read a lot of classics and I also find her to be wise and insightful which she says comes from reading so much. I saw this https://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2013/CastanoKidd.htm
which would seem to back up her sense that reading books has helped in this sense.

I asked her how to get into more literary fiction and classics especially, she recommended books like Dracula and Frankenstein as good entry points for classics but I just couldn't get into either of them, they were both such a hard slog even though I know both stories are good. For literary fiction she recommended an entry point list including works by Angela Carter, Kazuo Ishiguro, Banana Yoshimoto and Ottessa Moshfegh but again after trying quite a few I just can't get into them, my friends description of them sounds great but when I try to read them I just get bored.

I feel a bit defeated because I really wanted to elevate my reading and to feel like I was actually learning something while being entertained but perhaps I'm just not smart enough?

How about trying Ann Tyler, Carol Shields or Ann Patchett? You could also try writers like Jessie Burton - I have very similar tastes to yours but also an English Lit degree so I've read my fair share of classics and those authors are a good step to more literary writers.
I'd also recommend listening to a few classics as audiobooks. Read well, they really lure you in and help with some of the denser prose.

I'd absolutely recommend reading George Orwell. Start with 1984. It is so relevant today unlike a lot of the older ones.

You don’t need to go straight into the heavyweights. If you like chick lit/romance I can see why you didn’t instantly take to Frankenstein.

What about something like:

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I would consider all of them to be ‘classics’ even if they’re not Austen or Eliot.

God I love Anne Tyler! One of my favourite authors ever (and I have an English Lit degree, have taught it and read a LOT). Try looking at Persephone books too - lots of rediscovered works by female authors, that all seem to be readable, relatable and often very funny. No need to slog through dense serious stuff if that’s not your bag.

@Butteredtoast55 Actually Anne Tyler is on the list my friend gave me but I haven't read anything from her yet so I will try an Anne Tyler next. My friend said she does tend to prefer writers either from the British Isles or in translation so she doesn't have many US writers on her list, but perhaps I would prefer them.

I did try an audiobook of Anna Karenina but I think it was just too long so I will look at audiobooks with a shorter length first.

@CanIPetThatDawg Are Dracula and Frankenstein heavyweights? My friend read them in her early teens and a few times since. I do like the idea of reading Rebecca, I've seen the film and enjoyed that.

@AtomicBlondeRose I'm going to the Persephone Books festival in the spring - I can't wait!

Just don't read 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas. I enjoy classic literature but Jesus was that slow going. Nothing happens.

Perhaps rather than aiming for "classic" books, you start off by trying some non-romance contemporary literature? I really enjoyed The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, which has an element of romance to it I guess, but it's a real thinker of a book.

Between the Lies by Michelle Adams is also an excellent book, with elements of it taking place during the Holocaust. It's a thriller and has lots of twists and turns to keep your interest.

Stephen King is another phenomenal author, I really enjoy his writing style and way of storytelling.

Richard Osman's books are just hilarious and I recommend them to anyone.

If you can expand your reading interests to some contemporary authors with different writing styles, then you'll find it easier to read the more classics. The key with your friend is not necessarily "what" she reads, but how much she reads. Although there is obviously much to be learned from the classics, simply reading a variety of genres that you enjoy (think what kind of films you enjoy?) will help expand your world viewpoints :)

I can see why you didn't take to Dracula. How about Jane Eyre instead?

Are Dracula and Frankenstein heavyweights? My friend read them in her early teens and a few times since. I do like the idea of reading Rebecca, I've seen the film and enjoyed that.

I suppose they're not heavyweights as such, but if you don't have a taste for 19th c gothic they might feel a bit of a slog.

My one to avoid is Jude the Obscure.

Plenty of serious, high-brow literature is easy and entertaining. Books weren't written for dissection in university seminar rooms.

Dickens: David Copperfield
Thomas Hardy: Far from the Madding Crowd
Jane Austen: Emma
Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights
Joyce: Dubliners
Ian McEwan: Atonement
Evelyn Waugh: Brideshead Revisited
Hemingway: For Whom the Bell Tolls
D. H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers
Henry James: Turn of the Screw
Truman Capote: In Cold Blood
Oscar Wilde: Dorian Gray
Anita Brookner: Hotel du Lac
Nemirovsky: Suite Francais

All would be considered classics, yet all are entertaining. Even P. G. Wodehouse has highbrow admirers, and no one could be less serious. As a master of the English language few can touch him (when he died people compared him to Shakespeare).

You should read whatever you like, and not be influenced by what your friend wants you to read.

I read everything from Dickens, Austen, George Elliot, to Enid Blyton. I enjoy Nina Bawden's books and love all of Antonia Forest.

I do think there's a lot of book snobbery around.

Definitely Jane Eyre. A good introduction to classic literature with so many references.
Rebecca is a marvellous book.
I too have a degree in Literature; in my opinion no one writes better than Colin Dexter (Morse) x

Life is too short to read books you don’t enjoy. The classics are obviously “classics” for a reason, but that doesn’t mean that everyone has to like them. Read what you enjoy. (And I say that as someone who does enjoy reading “the classics” as well as other genres!)

However if you really want to give them ago and are struggling to read them the traditional way, try audiobooks.

I would stay away from "classics" and start with modern fiction. There is such a number of genres and writers which aren't part of the romance thrope.

While I love Austen, I hate most of the writers they always recommend as must read. I tried various together with teen DD when her English Lit teacher recommended them but neither of us really got into the style or wording and some defintiely drag on.

I think you need to find a topic which interests you and go from there. For me a book needs to have at least a satisfying ending (one of the reasons I read romance), anything ending dark or sad goes straight on a non-pile, I have too much of that in real life.
I love crime and mystery, cosy and thriller but they have to be well written.

You could also try factual books, modern society, history, travel, biographies.

Being wise and insightful is not restricted to reading the classics but reading well written books.

Another entry point could be to focus on a period of history that interests you, and there will usually be a political, artistic, and literary movement during that time. And music as well.

For instance, The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Goethe, is strongly associated with the Sturm und Drang movement in the late 18th century.

Perhaps try something lighthearted, The Diary of a Nobody could be a good starting point, it’s quite a short book. I’ve read it loads of times and it always gives me belly laughs.

They don’t all have to be heavy going & serious.
Get a copy of Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. Written in Edwardian times & one of the funniest ones you’ll meet, not all old books are dire & dusty. My old English Professor’s favourite book ever.

Literature graduate here too. No need to start with the classics if your ambition is to expand your horizons and experiences. Sometimes the rhythms and flow of the language doesn't come naturally to us and it feels hard going. How about picking books from the Booker long list instead? For example, I remember 'Disgrace', by JM Coetzee having a massive impact on me, and making me really think. There are so many books that do that, and don't need to be the classics.

i found Dracula incredibly dense to read, a real slog. Took me a month reading every evening. In contrast, new JK Rowling i read last 700 pages over one long flight back from Asia.

Stuff like Little Women are good (and the 3 sequels) and then Sense and Sensibilty are fairly easy reads.

I think that perhaps a good place to start - or start over if you read them as a child - would be with “older” fiction that’s still light. C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. Francis Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden or A Little Princess. Tolkien - skip The Hobbit and go straight for The Lord of the Rings. Kipling’s Captains Courageous.
There are so many turn-of-the-last-century writers whose books were pretty much aimed at young people then, but are delightful and relaxing reads for adults now. And then from there you might enjoy the more “heavy” stuff.

Even the sweet children’s books by Jill Barklem have - in my opinion - a more advanced vocabulary and a more proper writing style than most modern books for adults! And let’s not forget Brian Jacques for another delightful, vocabulary-rich, complex storyline set that entertains adults and children alike. All those are stepping stones to more “deep” books.

And for subtle references and wide vocabulary and rich writing style, hop on over to E. B. White or Robert Lawson or Louisa May Alcott; again, books with rich vocabulary and deeper plots that expand horizons. (I personally love Alcott’s Eight Cousins and its sequel Rose in Bloom, and White’s Charlotte’s Web makes me tear up as an adult.)

Have you tried Alexander McCall Smith? Not classics but so funny and wise. He himself is a very erudite learned chap. Absolute page-turners.

Iris Murdoch's novels would be considered classics and can be read on different levels. Very entertaining.

Or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah.

If you do want to tackle the classics and keep getting in a tangle, I suggest using a study guide. Read the chapter summary from the guide before you read the chapter. This is what I do so I can keep tabs on exactly what's happening.

(I'd recommend Jane Eyre for starters - don't be put off by the school stuff, when she gets to Thornfield Hall it becomes utterly brilliant.)

Why don't you look at some of the books discussed on The Queens reading room? It's Camilla's book group. They discuss 4 books every quarter. All sorts of books. Various authors etc talk about them.
I read the wonderful book by Amor Towles - 'a gentleman in Moscow' because of that group.

Great idea for a discussion, OP.

I would also recommend Rebecca and any of Daphne du Maurier's short stories. Easy reads and entertaining.

If you like crime/drama but also humour as well, the Kate Atkinson Jackson Brodie series are excellent (also a good TV adaptation). Case Histories is the first one.

How about some of the accessible classics? The Great Gatsby is short and beautiful to read. Or Madame Bovary? It is one of the first books written in a modern style and both an easy read and a page turner.