TL;DR: I'm trying to read again due to many things, but mainly because I want to better understand references used in the things I like. I still can't, so I want to try shorter classics to get my motivation going. If any recommendations come to mind, my preferences are in the last two paragraphs.
Hi! I'm sure this question has been repeated by many over the years, but I'm trying to improve my reading comprehension, vocabulary, and practice my critical thinking skills as well as prepare myself for some tests to help boost my chances at a foreign scholarship.
Classic literature has piqued my interest as of late, as my interests tend to reference them often, but they tend to be dragging, or are just incredibly long for my attention span. I was really into reading in my childhood, especially when I was only 7 as I had a record of staying in the library for so long. However, COVID caught up to me and my attention span deteriorated over time. I'm in high school now, and English is taught here as more of a foreign language class than a class where we get to discuss about classics, so I resorted to teaching myself. That's when I realized, despite reading the books that directly references things I like (for instance, Crime and Punishment), I can't really bring myself to understand it the way I want to because it's so long. My friends tell me that Russian authors tend to ramble which requires extra attention to be able to power through, but no matter the author, I just can't really do it. This is how it's always been for me; introducing myself to new things because the things I am already passionate about reference them. With books, though, it takes time, and it makes me sad because I truly want to be able to fully understand the parallels of this work with the things I enjoy and why they referenced it.
I acknowledged my current abilities and decided to swim around in shallower water to get started. I'm really enjoying Poe so far, and plan to read The Phantom of the Opera after I'm finished with this anthology. If it helps, my favourite genres have a lot to do with horror, murder mysteries, or crime in general, but I also enjoy reading children's classic lit and fairy tales, particularly that of Hans Christian Andersen's. I like works where the psychological state of a character is described more in-depth too, which is why I really liked Dostoevsky and The Telltale Heart. I am also interested in philosophy. Other works I've enjoyed are American Psycho, No Longer Human and The Metamorphosis (though I fell asleep halfway so I might need to read again) and I like Agatha Christie's books, if these narrow it down.
If it counts for anything, some of the works referenced in my favourite media include Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, William Saroyan's Human Comedy AND Balzac's Human Comedy, Daddy Long Legs (if these give you an idea of what I really like, PLEASE be my friend), I am a cat, and the entire Bible (not kidding). I was hoping to get some recommendations for other works of the author or works adjacent to these listed that I can get started on, so if there's any that comes to mind, please tell me! Thank you 🙂
by Popular_Weakness2499