“A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.”
This quote really spoke to me. I’ve read Bronte, Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare and Poe and all the literary giants responsible for what we call “The Classics.” The stories were great, very ingenious and wonderfully fraught with high emotions and deep meaning.
Yet, to be honest, the writing bored me to tears. Yes, I know that this is something a writer should never admit to. I know that it’s important to support the best in literature and ensure that each generation, upon each generation, continue to value these masterful works. But honestly? I skimmed some of the more ‘descriptive’ passages to get to the story itself.
Think about it. It’s few and far between that you hear readers say that one of the classics is their favorite book. Ask them, and right now they’d say, “Twilight, hands down.” Or maybe, “Harry Potter still rocks!” A few years ago, it might have been, “The Lovely Bones” or “The Secret Life of Bees” or maybe “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”
Yet when they talk about the classics, they talk about it in terms of authors, “My favorite Jane Austen is Emma.” Or maybe, “I absolutely adore Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.” The underlying message to me says they respect and admire these authors, but of the lot to choose from, those were the best of the bunch—not necessarily a completely favorite book.
Now before someone comes in and says this is completely false because they know so-and-so who is a genuine classic fan, or they profess to be one themselves, let me just be clear right off the bat that I know these folks do exist and I say, more power to them!
I, however, fall more into that category about everyone wanting to say they’ve read the classics, but would rather not read them. I want the action and the romance, the supernatural and paranormal, the horror and the comedy, and I want it in modern language that doesn’t leave me feeling like I spent six hours translating after two hours of reading.
What about you? Are you a Closet Classics Complainer? Or do you count one of the classics as your absolute all-time favorite novel ever?
Warmly,
Jenny:)
J.R. Turner is the author of the Extreme Hauntings series. The first book, DFF: Dead Friends Forever is available at Amazon.com, Kindle, Fictionwise, and Echelon Press.com
This quote really spoke to me. I’ve read Bronte, Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare and Poe and all the literary giants responsible for what we call “The Classics.” The stories were great, very ingenious and wonderfully fraught with high emotions and deep meaning.
Yet, to be honest, the writing bored me to tears. Yes, I know that this is something a writer should never admit to. I know that it’s important to support the best in literature and ensure that each generation, upon each generation, continue to value these masterful works. But honestly? I skimmed some of the more ‘descriptive’ passages to get to the story itself.
Think about it. It’s few and far between that you hear readers say that one of the classics is their favorite book. Ask them, and right now they’d say, “Twilight, hands down.” Or maybe, “Harry Potter still rocks!” A few years ago, it might have been, “The Lovely Bones” or “The Secret Life of Bees” or maybe “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”
Yet when they talk about the classics, they talk about it in terms of authors, “My favorite Jane Austen is Emma.” Or maybe, “I absolutely adore Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.” The underlying message to me says they respect and admire these authors, but of the lot to choose from, those were the best of the bunch—not necessarily a completely favorite book.
Now before someone comes in and says this is completely false because they know so-and-so who is a genuine classic fan, or they profess to be one themselves, let me just be clear right off the bat that I know these folks do exist and I say, more power to them!
I, however, fall more into that category about everyone wanting to say they’ve read the classics, but would rather not read them. I want the action and the romance, the supernatural and paranormal, the horror and the comedy, and I want it in modern language that doesn’t leave me feeling like I spent six hours translating after two hours of reading.
What about you? Are you a Closet Classics Complainer? Or do you count one of the classics as your absolute all-time favorite novel ever?
Warmly,
Jenny:)
J.R. Turner is the author of the Extreme Hauntings series. The first book, DFF: Dead Friends Forever is available at Amazon.com, Kindle, Fictionwise, and Echelon Press.com
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