My Struggle with the "Classics"
So I pretty much remember all thorough my school years, never really liking the books that they forced us to read. You know, those required reading books. They were never my thing sadly, none of the stories really grabbed at me and it was a chore to read them.
I feel like most of my friends had at least one that they enjoyed, but I was like, ugh no. It was so not my kind of read and I barely was able to finish each of them. There was one that I don't think I finished reading because it was hurting my brain. That one was Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed. I tried, I really, really tried to read and finish it for my Conspiracies in Literature class, but once it had a chapter that repeated itself I was done. It was already getting so complicated and a bit convoluted that I was like...my brain cannot take this anymore! It hurt! I remember another kid in class felt something of the same as he threw his book across the room one day! Lol. I couldn't even do that to the book I loathed! LOL.
Other books I remember friends enjoying were The Great Gatsby or The Catcher in the Rye and both of those annoyed me to tears. That I watch reruns of the classic Roseanne episodes and Darlene becomes obsessed with the latter even annoyed me to tears.
I really think I could not get into these particular books because at this point I was in my paranormal game! There were tons of paranormal books for me to read and I was at my happiest...until I had to read these books for school. Granted, this was when I HAD to read multiple books, so I figured, what's one more going to hurt among the 2 or 3 I was balancing...I needed one of mine to keep me sane!
I admit I did try to find paranormal-like classics. I read Dracula and it was entertaining enough at the time, but I don't know how well I'd do with it now. Lol. There was maybe a few more attempts to read classics with a spooky take but that didn't last long as I was like, this is not enjoyable for me, I'm going back to what one of my professors might have called "trash" books. She might not have said that exact word, but she said something that I didn't find very complimentary to the type of books I read. Which I think she was applying this basically to anything that wasn't deemed "classic" or "literary" by professor standards. She was a fun professor and all, but I basically kept my personal book deep inside my backpack for her classes! Lol.
I don't know, despite being an English major I just could never really get into the classics. I do still enjoy the Brothers Grimm fairy tales and all the other OG fairy tales! I mean, those were meant for adults, so I guess we can call them literary classics? Right? Lol. And of course, I did finally meet my favorite classic near the end of my school years with The Count of Monte Cristo! Definitely think it was the revenge plot that hooked me in. Revenge is a dish best served cold after all! And at some point I would like to try to read Frankenstein just to give it a whirl as I think that's the last "classic horror movie" book I wanted to try out.
What about you? What's your take on the literary classics? Were they required reading for you in school? Did you enjoy them? Hate them? A mix of both? Do you still read them now or want to read them now?
