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Classic Books

animal farm

sorry... i'm new here so i was reading through the old threads...

i noticed that most (maybe everybody) found Animal Farm really good... My friend and i read it but he enjoyed it more than me(i think) because he studied history... So in order to enjoy "classics", must one always analyse the books? personally, i prefer to read a book first to formulate my own opinions before reading other people's views/analysis... maybe i'm just an ignorant fool... :confused:
 
I don't think you need to read a study on a book to enjoy a classic. On the contrary, I think classics should have the critical comments at the end and not in the introduction - for some reason, classics' editors assume that readers don't mind knowing in advance how the book ends or that they already know.

But knowing the historical background to a book helps to enjoy it, because it helps to understand it. This has nothing to do with reading about other people's ideas because it's not about the book itself but about its context and you could get that information from many different sources which do not even mention the book. It doesn't mean you need to prepare for reading a particular book. Most often what you already know will do. The other solution is getting annotated versions, so you can read the notes when you think you need clarification and ignore them the rest of the time.
 
musiqueperson said:
sorry... i'm new here so i was reading through the old threads...

i noticed that most (maybe everybody) found Animal Farm really good... My friend and i read it but he enjoyed it more than me(i think) because he studied history... So in order to enjoy "classics", must one always analyse the books? personally, i prefer to read a book first to formulate my own opinions before reading other people's views/analysis... maybe i'm just an ignorant fool... :confused:
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A good book should send us "ignorant fools" scurrying to the references for more info because we now want to know more about the topic. One book should lead to another..
 
musiqueperson said:
sorry... i'm new here so i was reading through the old threads...

i noticed that most (maybe everybody) found Animal Farm really good... My friend and i read it but he enjoyed it more than me(i think) because he studied history... So in order to enjoy "classics", must one always analyse the books? personally, i prefer to read a book first to formulate my own opinions before reading other people's views/analysis... maybe i'm just an ignorant fool... :confused:
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Welcome to TBF!! :D

Um, I liked Animal Farm, not because I've studied history, just from the simplistic "man are no better than pigs" story. I had heard many ideas before reading, such as "all animals are equal, some are more equal" kind of line, and thought it was interesting to read those familiar ideas in their original format.

I agree, much better to read a book because you want to, and because you enjoy it, than to waste hours of your life reading something you can't stand because you think everyone else appreciated it. I must be an "ignorant fool" too then, but it suits me :)
 
abecedarian said:
A good book should send us "ignorant fools" scurrying to the references for more info because we now want to know more about the topic. One book should lead to another..
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Yes!! I get the strangest looks when I pick up a book because one tiny part of it, might just explain one tiny part of something else...

Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder, got me reading up on Philosophy and philosophers for years (and still is). The original story was probably not all that well-written to be honest (and confusing!), but it has subseqently taught me so much. And then the philosophy led to religion, and to history, and to law and politics even. Very clever!
 
thanks lots

thank you all... i really appreciate your replies...

and yes, i've decided to heed all your advice and read the particular book first then read other books/comments/reviews about it to understand it better... maybe even reading the book itself a second time... ;)
 
abecedarian said:
A good book should send us "ignorant fools" scurrying to the references for more info because we now want to know more about the topic. One book should lead to another..
Click to expand...

this is totally how I read. I call it literary archeology. I read something that interests me and I have to go find everything I can about the book and the subject.

One of the things that I love about Alice Walker so much is that in her essays she talks about the things that inspire her, so if you like something she's written you can always go back to the source material. It's how I've discovered people like Flannery O'Connor and Zora Neale Hurston.
 
venusunfolding said:
One of the things that I love about Alice Walker so much is that in her essays she talks about the things that inspire her, so if you like something she's written you can always go back to the source material. It's how I've discovered people like Flannery O'Connor and Zora Neale Hurston.
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I love Alice Walker, and have read some essays, and will be reading these other authors now!
 
In Search of Our Mother's Gardens really gave me lots of other stuff to read. Alice was responsible for rescuing Zora Neale Hurston from obscurity. Flannery O'Connor is great too. She's a southern writer. She's been compared to Faulkner, but I think she's a lot easier to read.
 
musiqueperson said:
sorry... i'm new here so i was reading through the old threads...

i noticed that most (maybe everybody) found Animal Farm really good... My friend and i read it but he enjoyed it more than me(i think) because he studied history... So in order to enjoy "classics", must one always analyse the books? personally, i prefer to read a book first to formulate my own opinions before reading other people's views/analysis... maybe i'm just an ignorant fool... :confused:
Click to expand...

Thank you musiqueperson - my email just told me someone had replied to a thread I had contributed to years ago! Thank you for reminding me to find ten minutes to come here once in a while :)

You don't need to study history.... it's amazing how much you learn by reading a good fiction book, you learn without realising it! (and I never read those introduction notes before I read the book, it wasn't always the butler who did it!)
 
lies said:
I'm reading Wuthering Heights right now, and I guess that could be considered a "classic" as well.

I don't really like it though... It's really weird; I wish I could appreciate books from this period more, as I'm sure they're worth it, but I can't seem to bring myself to liking them. :(
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Stick with it. I enjoyed it even more the second time around. And draw yourself a family tree for the Earnshaws and the Lintons - helps you to keep track of who is who!

Oh, and always remember - 'Wuthering Heights' is neither a 'girly' novel, nor a 'romantic' novel. I don't think you can categorise it at all, it's unique.
 
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