I Cannot Read Classics

Last week was really boring. I started reading a classic, Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. I had bought the book years back from Fountain's secondhand book stall. The specialty of the copy is that it is a UK Penguin Edition of 1972 with a beautiful cover page. It also has one more surprise inside the cover page, a portrait of Jane Austin, by her sister Cassandra, which has now kept in the National Portrait Gallery.

But somehow, could not finish even 20 pages and stopped reading. I got confused with characters and so many references. This was the second time that I kept it aside. One of my friends said it’s not of my type book. He may be right because he has read it and I am not.

Then I started with another classic Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence. And guess what? I couldn’t read that over 50 pages (though more progress than Pride and Prejudice). The book has metaphorical language which I couldn't digest.

Even love making scenes described in the book are so metaphorical that by the time the two caresses each other, one can achieve orgasm twice in reality. May be I should consider the period when it was written.

But now I am worried that why I cannot read classics? I think I need to read Italo Calvino’s Why Read The Classics, which I saw with a friend of mine to understand them.