What I Learned Reading Classic Novels for a Year

Abandoning a book is allowed and sometimes wise. Poetry rewards reading aloud, even to an empty room. The author never explains the ending, and that is generous.

Getting started

Rereading a book shows you how much you changed. The first chapter was slow, and the slowness was the point. Poetry rewards reading aloud, even to an empty room. Keeping a reading log turned a habit into a conversation.

I underlined less this year and remembered more. Abandoning a book is allowed and sometimes wise.

Going further

Libraries remain the best recommendation engine ever built. The author never explains the ending, and that is generous. The footnotes were better than many novels I read this year. Good translation is invisible until you compare two of them.

Good translation is invisible until you compare two of them. A short story can hold a whole life in twenty pages.

Context

Some books are best read in one sitting; others need a month and a pencil. Keeping a reading log turned a habit into a conversation. The first chapter was slow, and the slowness was the point.

A short story can hold a whole life in twenty pages. Every great book quietly argues with an older one.

Every great book quietly argues with an older one. Good translation is invisible until you compare two of them.