Oh definitely-it's a valid statement. When my bookclub did a Jane Austen, those who had not read her before had trouble-until one of the members mentioned that she couldn't pick it up and put it down as she could a modern book-she needed time to get into the rhythm of the writing. It is a different kind of concentration-I think it takes more patience-to get to the end of the sentence, sometimes (think Henry James)! If a reader is used to reading while listening to music, or some other sensory distraction, they may find that they need to limit those to really be able to follow the text in a book written 100 years ago or so. Young people are so good at multi-tasking-they can IM, talk on the cell phone and play a video game with friends all at once and keep it straight: there was even a study I saw that showed that their brain-wiring has changed a bit from the previous generation-it may just be their reading style has to be adapted for these books so they narrow their focus. No texting! ;-) (jk)
Good for them for challenging themselves to read the classics. So much literary allusion is lost without having that background.

I found as an adult student (English major) that I didn't have nearly as much trouble reading Shakespeare as others did and attributed it to having grown up reading the King James Version of the Bible.

One man, a business major fulfilling general academic requirements, really sounded off in class once about being required to take such "non-essential" courses as the literature one. The teacher attempted to straighten him out by telling him an education was more than a degree in a single subject, but I don't think she got through to him. I fear I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

I agree that you get into a sort of rhythm when reading older books. In fact, I have sometimes read one so long that I find myself thinking in the cadence of the writing; but I'm probably a little weird.

Business Major? Didn't he realize he would have to write compelling proposals at some point in his career? I would have glared at him too. When I first read Shakespeare I kept going back and forth, looking up word meanings until my teacher finally said, "just read it", That's the key really, if you just plunge into the book your brain clicks over and the meaning follows.

I, too, grew up with the King James version of the Bible; however, Shakespeare gave me a lot of trouble! There were so many footnotes, so many unfamiliar idoms, etc. I think it was only when I saw Zeffirelli's marvelous film of "Romeo & Juliet" that I began to let the sheer poetry of the Bard wash over me and just enjoy the beauty. Later on, I discovered his sonnets and these reached me more easily than the plays, with their obscure (to me) historical references.

I am another reader here who dislikes dialect, and found Huckleberry Finn almost impossible to read, although I great admire Mark Twain (aka S. Clemens). Ditto for the English dialects in the classic Mary Webb books....

Semirelevant reading:

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Autumn of the Multitaskers

Ever since I first heard it, I interpreted multitasking as a self-compliment by the scatter-brained.

My son also put himself on a classics reading program over this past year while he was bored in honors!! English. He stuck with whatever he started including A Tale of Two Cities, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Crime and Punishment. Huckleberry Finn also took him some time due to the dialect. By Christmas, he asked me if I could find him some shorter books as the wordy ones take him two weeks, and as he said, "and it can be a long two weeks." It's helped that his English teacher is doing what she can to work with him and another determined literature appreciator in his class. He agrees that it's hard to multitask when reading the classics. He tried Pride and Prejudice, but just couldn't relate to that at all!

I checked out those 2 sites above and I have to say for myself, I disagree. I am actually reading more now than I used to and I have always been good at multitasking, even before I knew there was a word for it. I think the general rule of, everything in moderation, applies to the technological world just as to every other thing that comes along. They used to say that TV was rotting our brains, ruining our eyes. I love the internet and I think in many ways it has enhanced my learning because now when I am reading something or see something on TV I hop on the computer and get more information. Do I think everything I read on the internet is the gospel, no, I simply consider it another source and include, TV, books, movies, documentaries as all part of a package for learning. As for TV, in this house we primarily watch PBS, History Channel, Discovery Channel etc. In fact, when I am in line at the grocery store I have no idea who the people on the cover of those gossip magazines are because I don't watch network TV.

Oh, this just made me think of a wonderful story of my daughter when she was 13.......I home schooled her for a year and I had her read Hamlet and then we watched a movie of it. She was transfixed! My younger kids came home from school and were being very noisy and she told them to be quiet because they were bothering her! A 13 year old mad because someone was interrupting her viewing of Shakespeare? I bet that doesn't happen too often.

I find that when I am reading a book that was published serially - like Dickens - I enjoy reading it in the segments as it was published. I read it fluidly for the segment, and then take the month's break.

I agree that one cannot read these books in bits and pieces, starting and stopping within a chapter, or in small bits.

Too, when these books were written, reading aloud was a very popular form of family evening entertainment-no TV for after dinner time-killing. An expressive reading voice was valued-and could get the owner out of other household chores. Much more pleasant to be reading the nightly chapter rather than darning the socks.

I have started to download classics to my Kindle. This way I always have something to read. I don't seem to have a problem with the language or length of sentences. Reading Henry James immunized me!

Oh yes-James is not for the fainthearted-but if you succeed in the quest for the end of the sentence, the rewards, though metaphorical, are huge.

I was one of those business majors in college who thought why do I have to take some of these liberal art classes...now I ask myself why didn't I try to pay attention and learn more when I was taking some of the classes outside of my major. When my kids get to college I'm going to try to push them to take more English, history, western civilization and art classes than I did!

I'm starting to go back and read more classics now.

I'm so pleased that this thread has come up as I have been reading "Mansfield Park" after finally getting to see the TV production. I found some of the words from that time had such a different meaning, like 'genius' which seems to refer to 'intelligence'. I could not quite understand why Edmund and Fanny were shocked at Mary when she remarked that her uncle had remodelled a cottage. It did not sound very disrespectful to me or am I missing something? When I read the line that "Never had Fanny more wanted a cordial." and thought that nowadays it would be written as "Fanny needed a good stiff drink!" I wondered if someone should update the books to make them easier to read and comprehend.
Does anyone know what new style of hairdressing made William think 'mad' when he first saw it?
I have enjoyed this book and wished that I had not been put off Jane Austen when "Northanger Abbey" was required reading at 16 for an exam. We were read a little of a Gothic novel by our English mistress to compare and all voted it far more interesting, much to her dismay!

People of their social standing did not live in cottages.

>I wondered if someone should update the books to make them easier to read and comprehend. No, please. One of the beauties of Austen is in the richness of her language and its period appropriateness. Reading the classics allows us to look back and see where our language has been and how it has evolved. How much more lovely is "Never had Fanny more wanted a cordial" than "Fanny needed a good stiff drink." And, really, she didn't need a good stiff drink-she needed a little elderberry wine. Changing the book into modern language will change the characters into modern characters, with a different mindset and values and behaviors.

The classics can be a joy wasted on the young-but why should they have all the fun?

I see what you mean cc, changing the language could really change the story and characters. I think it is good for our brains to strain a little and read them as written. It seems like we are now discovering that there have been errors in translation in such books as even the bible that change the whole context.

I think it would be nice to have more books with annotations to explain the period language and background. I have a copy of the Annotated Anne of Green Gables; a big book with notes in the margins for easy access. Probably there would not be a big market for them.

Anne of Green Gables needs to be annotated? I feel old.

I haven't read a real classic in a long time, but even after having immersed myself in Georgette Heyer or even Barbara Pym, I find I start talking like the books -- longer sentences and better vocabulary! It's kind of fun, actually. I had been on a huge Heyer binge one summer and the son of friend remarked, "Oh yeah, Mrs. -- talks like the dictionary."

I agree, you do have to get into the rhythm of the writing before the story can flow, and I know I need good blocks of reading time to do that. I would love to re-read all the Austen (and I've never read Northanger Abbey) but I know I can't if I'll be constantly interrupted. Maybe when the kids are in college ...

Regarding footnotes and period language, the book What Jane Austen Ate, What Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool (recommended by someone here a while back) was a great help to me in sorting out Austen-era curricles, dragoons, whist games, groats, and what-have-you. With the Shakespeare, outside of school I have always just muddled along and tried to guess the meanings of unfamiliar words from the context. I really can't read the plays at all, I need to hear them (or see the movie) in order for any of it to make sense.

Im with you, Deborah. Annotated Shakespeare has been used in high schools forever-but Anne? Oh dear.

Sadly, I am not young, but apparently just slow enough to enjoy the Anne annotations. Although in high school 30 years ago, I did manage to read Shakespeare without them.

I didn't mean to tease you, smallcoffee-but I am curious-do the annotations deal with vocabulary, like slang, or historical context? I often have students reading that series, often at my recommendation, and they do occasionally ask me what something means-but I guess I am just surprised that there is enough there to annotate.

Yes, the notes do explain vocab. and background of sayings of the day. Along with historical info about PEI, literary references are also explained. Comments about LMM"s life experience and even recipes are included. The intro. includes a bio and timeline of the author. There are numerous appendices including book reviews from the time. Chances are this book would answer any question the truly enthusiastic Anne reader might have.

I have a 13 year old son who loves to read. I just last year got him slowly to jump into some classics. He likes Jack London and Mark Twain. It is so much easier to start the kids young but only if they like to read. I started reading classics in high school because of a wonderful teacher. He inspired me to read. I cried when I read that he was murdered in his own driveway by a former expelled student.

smallcoffee-oh! that's so much more than annotations-that's a superedition! Did you get it on PEI?

I have to brag a little.....I was fortunate when I was 12 to vacation on Prince Edward Island, see LM Montgomery's home and many of the other Anne inspired attractions there. My parents loved PEI so much that they extended our vacation an extra week. What a marvelous place it is and still I remember it fondly.

The Annotated Anne sounds wonderful. I just heard a short program on NPR - apparently Anne is 100! She is very popular in Japan, and many Japanese visit PEI because of the books. (How nice to hear something good in the news for a change.) I must look for that book at the library.

Have I told you all that my husband and I went on a bus tour of Eastern Canada a few years ago? On long travel days, the guide showed all the Anne videos; and then we visited the PEI Montgomery house. He was really disappointed to find out that Anne wasn't a real person.

cc: The wording says that the Admiral bought a cottage.I think that there was a difference between a 'country cottage' and a labourer's home. After getting the bad news in Edmund's letter, she could have wanted something stronger than elderberry wine, like Madeira, which she had been given before for a headache! I wasn't serious about the update, such a bit of tongue in cheek humour!
Carolyn: My grandfather thought that a radio family actually existed. When one was 'killed', my mother protested that people had sent wreaths to the radio station, she thought flowers for the actress would be a better show of appreciation. My grandfather was quite indignant, wreaths were proper for the funeral! He was quite amazed when told that the Archers were not a real family at all.

annpan, the Archers is still going strong after 50 something years, (a UK radio 'soap' about an imaginary farming community in the English Midlands, 15 mins a day, 6 days a week)
Some farming friends used to listen to it and then decide when to cut the hay/barley/put the cows out for the summer. They didn't seem to realise that the script had been written weeks before and the weather and conditions in Ambridge might be quite different from where they lived.
When the actress who played 'Doris Archer' heard the Queen Mother listened each evening, she became quite regal herself as though she was broadcasting to an old chum.

cece, Someday I hope to visit PEI. I've had my book for some time and probably got it on Amazon. It was available in the library but I had to have my own copy. Anne's world is a place I like to revisit especially during stressful times. I read that LMM was actually feeling deeply depressed, disappointed in love, and coping with her grandmother's terminal illness (Marilla's based on her)when she was working on this book. She was astonished at how successful it was.

Deborah and smallcoffee,

Just a suggestion... Your son and daughter might find it easier to listen to the audiobooks of the classics. The narrators are usually trained actors who don't just "read" the sentences, but actually give each character his/her own voice, inflections etc. Plus, the sentences which seem to go on too long for modern readers, no longer seem wrong or wordy, but work.

Veer: thanks for that info. I did not realise that the Archers were still going. They must have gone through thousands of storylines in all that time!
I have been reading the revised paperback version of "What Jane Austen ate..." and found it very informative. Just a couple of mistakes still in referring to lower case dukes earls etc. specifically. Otherwise I enjoyed it apart from someone scribbling and underlining, luckily in pencil. It is a wet weekend now, nothing much to do, so I might take an eraser to it before returning it to my library. (Oops! I originally wrote 'rubber' but believe that might give the wrong mental image to some people!)
Rouan: What a good idea. I will try that myself when I have to rest my eyes and cannot read or watch TV for a while.

This morning our newspaper book review column included Jane Austen for Dummies. The reviewer said, contrary to what one might think, it was written by a very knowledgeable Janeite and is quite a good book.

That series usually is-the "For Dummies" title is regrettable-why not "For the Curious" or something positive?

I picked up Annotated Anne at the library yesterday and have hardly put it down. The margin notes are fascinating. I will have to look for this one among the used books sources.