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Roxy
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Caithness.
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06-09-2019, 11:59 AM
21

Re: Do we really need to read the classics?

I had to read some of them while at school, to be honest I struggled with them, I simply found them boring and hard to get into. My wee mind likes books that keep me guessing and are entertaining....But that's just me.
Just downloaded a new Ian Rankin today, looking forward to getting stuck into that..
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06-09-2019, 12:04 PM
22

Re: Do we really need to read the classics?

Originally Posted by Roxy ->
I had to read some of them while at school, to be honest I struggled with them, I simply found them boring and hard to get into. My wee mind likes books that keep me guessing and are entertaining....But that's just me.
Just downloaded a new Ian Rankin today, looking forward to getting stuck into that..
Another great Scot.........
Yes, I've read some of Inspector Rebus books.
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06-09-2019, 12:13 PM
23

Re: Do we really need to read the classics?

Do any of you find there are some authors you just cannot read - although you can enjoy dramatizations of their work?

I loved the 'Inspector Morse' TV series - but cannot read Colin Dexter. The same with P.D.James (Adam Dalgliesh ), Ruth Rendell (Wexford), and Ian Rankin (Rebus). Enjoy watching them on TV but just cannot get into the books.
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06-09-2019, 06:23 PM
24

Re: Do we really need to read the classics?

I didn't like Morse books or TV, same with Wexford. I only started to enjoy Rebus when Ken Stott took over from John Hannah. I like both the Books and TV about DCI Banks.
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06-09-2019, 07:36 PM
25

Re: Do we really need to read the classics?

In the students union lounge at Manchester U there was / is a --- private library --- of books that were hardly Mills and Boon. The French based Olympian Press was well represented as was the Ophelia press, likewise French based. Classics such as The Ballad of Eskimo Nell* were to be had (and learned) along with a wide variety of stuff that was decidedly illegal in the 60's but would not be now.

Nothing really nasty, though opinions might vary in the case of some such as the writings of the Marquis de Sade etc. but later in life while working towards my MBA I wrote a short thesis on the place of the thoughts of Machiavelli in modern business management that was very well received.

Some of us, though I wasn't one (really) seemed to spend more time in that library than the legitimate ones!
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07-09-2019, 12:06 AM
26

Re: Do we really need to read the classics?

I always used to struggle with the Shakespeare plays because I only ever read his stuff in school.But seeing it actually performed really brings it to life.Which is not surprising really,I suppose.
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07-09-2019, 12:28 AM
27

Re: Do we really need to read the classics?

Originally Posted by Devo ->
What is a classic? Who decides what is and what isn't?
I must admit that when I saw the first list my original reaction was that they weren't classics at all. Surely the works of Homer, Virgil, Ovid and Sophocles (sp?) are the classics.

As for needing to read them - No! Though I only enjoyed Latin classes because we were reading The Iliad which was a ripping yarn. (Even that is odd because the story would have been written in Ancient Greek wouldn't it?)

Anyway my personal 'must read' authors are people like Franz Kafka, Vera Brittain and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, advice steadfastly ignored by my kids.
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09-09-2019, 01:54 PM
28

Re: Do we really need to read the classics?

Originally Posted by Rehab44 ->
Bloody behave will ya?
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09-09-2019, 01:58 PM
29

Re: Do we really need to read the classics?

Originally Posted by Bruce ->
I must admit that when I saw the first list my original reaction was that they weren't classics at all. Surely the works of Homer, Virgil, Ovid and Sophocles (sp?) are the classics.

As for needing to read them - No! Though I only enjoyed Latin classes because we were reading The Iliad which was a ripping yarn. (Even that is odd because the story would have been written in Ancient Greek wouldn't it?)

Anyway my personal 'must read' authors are people like Franz Kafka, Vera Brittain and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, advice steadfastly ignored by my kids.
I also like a few Kafka books but unfortunately he was known for not finishing them which is a bit annoying. My favourite is Metamorphosis.
Rehab44
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09-09-2019, 03:37 PM
30

Re: Do we really need to read the classics?

Originally Posted by The Artful Todger ->
In the students union lounge at Manchester U there was / is a --- private library --- of books that were hardly Mills and Boon. The French based Olympian Press was well represented as was the Ophelia press, likewise French based. Classics such as The Ballad of Eskimo Nell* were to be had (and learned) along with a wide variety of stuff that was decidedly illegal in the 60's but would not be now.

Nothing really nasty, though opinions might vary in the case of some such as the writings of the Marquis de Sade etc. but later in life while working towards my MBA I wrote a short thesis on the place of the thoughts of Machiavelli in modern business management that was very well received.

Some of us, though I wasn't one (really) seemed to spend more time in that library than the legitimate ones!
Olympian press that take me back a bit, plain covers, no pictures, just the title and author
 
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