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albertnormandy t1_j5htrya wrote

Why force yourself to read something if you find it boring? Those books were written in the 19th century, so even native English speakers would find the writing archaic and tedious.

Also, War and Peace was written by Tolstoy in Russian, so make sure you get a good translation instead.

But at the end of the day, my only advice is to keep bulldozing. Read summaries as you go to keep track of the plot and characters if you get lost.

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periphrasistic t1_j5i21wv wrote

Talk about a self limiting attitude. I’m trying to imagine a life being a prisoner of the moment in history when you happened to be born, unable to venture outside it because the culture of other eras is “boring” and “tedious” and “archaic”. Seems like a pretty menial existence. You do you, I guess.

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albertnormandy t1_j5l7u6n wrote

I’ve read plenty of old books. The fact that they’re old doesn’t make them “good”. Sometimes you just don’t feel like slogging through old writing.

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periphrasistic t1_j5lch58 wrote

The vast majority of published material doesn’t stay in print. The stuff from centuries past that is still readily available, actively discussed and referenced, and still exerting influence on our culture are not doing so because of their age but in spite of their age. Time has a great filtering effect. You’re not obligated to like, for example, Moby Dick, but if you think people still talk about it only because it’s old, then you have things precisely backwards. Which is why it’s worth putting in the effort to learn to read books that otherwise seem archaic and strange: the only reason you’re aware of their existence is because so many people over so many generations have continued to find something of value there.

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