Don't give up

We've all been there: you want to read a particular book, a classic for example, something you felt that you should have read years ago but never did (Ulysses, say, or Middlemarch or A la recherche du temps perdu - if you are really pushing it). But somehow you just seem to be unable to do it.

Well, here's a fantastic video made by Ashley (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3...) on how not give up on difficult books:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8LQTk...

And on a personal note:

My own way of dealing with books I find difficult / not enjoyable but want to read nevertheless is to read no more than 50 pages at a time, i.e. 50 pages per reading day. And I just read those pages, whether I feel that I understand them or not, and no matter whether I particularly like them or not.

It sounds a bit like doing homework and in a way it is. But I find that this is a good way of being able to finish any book. Actually finishing the book builds up confidence and overcomes the frustration of not being able to read a book because it is 'beyond me.' Once I read the book I ask myself what I liked and didn't like about it and I also read what other people thought of the book.

And ever so often I then read the book again, for pleasure...