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.

There is a book series called No Fear, there is a Shakespeare and a Literature series. It’s handy for ESL, because it had the old English on on side and the modern English on the other, page for page. Might be an option for you.

Thank you!

Continue on. Time spent plowing on feeds pattern recognition. Becomes comfortable. Always surprising how quickly the brain adapts to older language norms. Process reveals incredible words and ideas fallen out of favor. Even less so the content but form, genealogy work surprised me how quickly the brain adapts to reading handwriting even of the very old and less familiar varieties.

You should try reading them in your native language, unless your goal is to read them in English specifically, but if that's the case you could try reading smaller books in English and increase the page count with time so your brain becomes less tired of reading in a language that not yours. It worked very well for me. "Classic" is a very open term so there are a great variety of vocabulary and styles that can make them easier or harder to read.

Take breaks to write down your thoughts about it. Doesn't need to be long . But that way it give your brain a chance to relax for a second. And you have your thoughts on paper.

Start with children's classics like A Little Princess and Peter Pan.

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What's your motivation for reading them in English? Those are extremely well-known books; there must be Norwegian translations available. And wanting to read the original is understandable, but where does that leave War and Peace?

If you just want to read the books, read them in Norwegian. If your motivation is to improve your English, start with easier books (young adult, and/or things you've already read, maybe) and then work your way up to more challenging material.

Pride and Prejudice and a Tale of Two Cities are written in an English style which is 150-200 years out of date, so even native English speakers find them a little difficult. With War and Peace, since it is a Russian novel, why struggle through an English translation? Might as well get a Norwegian translation.

War and Peace is the outlier, because I was gifted an English translation, and I want to be able to read it. As for why I want to read them in English, I suppose it's a pride thing. I consider my English very advanced, so it irks me that I'm hitting a wall when it comes to these books. So yeah, I guess I just want to improve to a point where they're not as scary, hahah

This does sound helpful! I'll give it a shot :)

Seek out a bi-lingual edition. I imagine they may be available for certain classics. I think the only alternative is to "bull doze" as you say and treat it as a learning experience.

Kudos to you for making the attempt in any case. Many native speakers can't be bothered to read the classics!

I got an English translation of War and Peace as a gift, so I want to do my best to read it. And I understand that they might be difficult to read by even native speakers, but they read them somehow right? I'm just trying to get to that somehow hahah

Modern Y.A. versions of the Classics.

The series that I think well of is the 1940's-1950's era JJ Little and Ives "Library Edition" classics. Original language modernized for mid-20th century high-schoolers, and the language used is completely understandable for today's readers. In particular, The Count of Monte Cristo is a magnificent adaptation of the original.

1. The Deerslayer / David Copperfield
2. Robin Hood / Last of The Mohicans
3. Jane Eyre / Wuthering Heights
4. Treasure Island / Captain Courageous
5. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer / The adventures of Huckleberry Finn / The Prince and The Pauper
6. The Count of Monte Cristo / The House of the Seven Gables
7. Lorna Doone / Pride and Prejudice
8. Robinson Crusoe / 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
9. Two Years Before The Mast / Moby Dick
10. The Red Badge of Courage / A Connecticut Yankee
11. Ivanhoe / Kidnapped
12. A Tale of Two Cities / The Three Musketeers

Another series that I'm looking at is the Globe/Fearon "Adapted Classics" from the 1990's. I haven't read too many of them, but I have read 11 abridged/simplified YA versions of Les Miserables, and the one on Globe/Fearon (ISBN 0835904733) is the one I keep going back to because it's great (and yes, I have read unabridged, but reading YA is a better experience).

Most of the classics have been republished in comic book form. The illustrations may help.

For Pride and Prejudice. I had the book in Spanish, so when I would get confused I would go to that book and re read that part to understand Sadly, I don’t have the Spanish version of Sense and Sensibility, but I got a manga version and that kind of helped. Tried to read “Howl’s moving castle” but I had to get it in Spanish because I couldn’t understand anything after certain chapters

I read a lot of classics but didn't like the 3 that you mentioned. Steinbeck and Hemingway have simpler sentence structure and are more accessible.

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.

I haven't read Pride and Prejudice, so I just gave it a go, and got bored within about 5 minutes. It's so wordy! Good luck!

Dickens is a bit better.

You may find the longer works of Charles Dickens a little easier if you first read A Christmas Carol. It’s much shorter than A Tale of Two Cities, has a familiar plot, and the style is more direct.

I think that Oliver Twist is usually considered the easiest to read of Dickens’s longer works. Reading one 19th century novel will make you more accustomed to the language and writing styles of the day and your future reading will be easier.

Don’t feel bad if you can’t finish War and Peace - it’s notoriously long and difficult. But it is definitely worth the trouble!

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.

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.