Sound Off Sunday (3)

Sound Off Sunday is a weekly event hosted by Reading Between Classes.  This is your chance to speak your mind.  Each week will feature a new question or topic on which you can share your thoughts.

This week's Sound Off topic is: Classics

I, Zabet Reading, am a resolution breaker.  The one and only resolution that I made this year was to read one classic novel a month.  "I am an English Teacher" I told myself.  "It is shameful that there are so many classics I haven't read."  I thought "Hey, one a month is nothing, you read tons of books in a month".  I made it through three.  Pride & Prejudice, The House of Seven Gables and Frankenstein.  Not only did I find each book painfully boring, but they also began to turn me from reading in general.  I am a one book at a time kinda girl but instead of reading, I was doing ANYTHING else.  It was taking me over a week to finish each book and, during that time, I wanted to claw my eyes out in frustration.  

Perhaps I am simply not patient enough for classic novels.  I can appreciate a well written turn of phrase, but I require that it be backed up with a story line that holds my interest.  It seems like each time I pick up a classic novel I end up question WHO exactly, decided to make these novels classics.  And, how many poor teenagers out there are claiming themselves to be non-readers because the required reading for their classes is painfully dull and difficult.  

While I am talking about Classics I can't help but talk about a disturbing (and irritating) trend in YA.  That is, the precocious main character who adores classic novels and spouts Shakespeare like a Lit Major.  COME ON! I was a voracious reader as a teen, I grew up to be a Lit major and an English Teacher but even I didn't read and re-read Jane Austen and dream of a handsome, wealthy but stand-offish young man who would learn to love me in spite of my myriad of unforgivable faults.

I will probably still force myself to read a classic once in a while, at the very least so I can seem intellectual and snobbish when the topic arises.  But, I probably won't enjoy them and I am fairly certain that I will not believe it when someone else tells me that they do.  

Next week's Sound Off Sunday topic will be:  Do Not Read Shelves (on Goodreads, LibraryThing etc)