A great example why books shouldn't be forced on anyone.

[Magda]

"Pan Tadeusz" for years was and still is a mandatory read in Polish schools. While I fully understand why people responsible for creating such lists place this and many other great books in there, I have to say that it seems to be killing a pleasure of reading "Pan Tadeusz".
It's not a book that everyone will love, I think it may a difficult read for many as it's an epic poem, written in 19th century Polish and this renders it a challenge to read.
It's obviously a very important book for Polish people due to patriotic reasons, but I also think it's simply an interesting story: you find there a romance, a fight, a battle, a wild adventure, a feast. And it's a fantastic poetry, I appreciated Mickiewicz only after leaving college and I hated the guy dearly when I had to read this and others of his volumes. However I am not sure if this can be properly appreciated in translation (and I mean no offence to translators at all): poetry is in a way a soul of a country. How do you translate the soul?
Shakespeare is so much better read in English.
On the other hand recommending learning Polish just to read one book would be a crime I guess ;) Anyway this tome is well worth reading and I honestly thing it's one of the best things I've ever read except shouldn't be force on college students ;)

[BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...)]

I've only read three parts out of the twelve so far, but I'm really enjoying by Dutch translation.

I know what you mean though, as we have a similar system concerning older Dutch books in secondary school. I have mixed feelings about it: No one would read those books at a relatively young age if they weren't compulsory and it was only because I had to read them as a teenager for my secondary school exams that I bought them later on in life (and appreciated them a lot once I reread them). I would never have bought them though if they hadn't been compusory reading material for my secondary school exams...

Books like these are an important part of our literary history, and as I said, not many people would read them if they weren't compulsory reading material in secondary schools. Well, at least they were in my days :-)

[Cos]

I need HELP. I want to ask about good winter books to read but have no idea where to post. Completely lost on this website.

[BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...)]

Costa wrote: "I need HELP. I want to ask about good winter books to read but have no idea where to post. Completely lost on this website."

A Listopia is always a good way to start, or, if you are a group member, you might also post a message in your group. For a Listopia, just type 'winter' as a search term and see where it takes you. One of the Listopia's you'll see will when you type 'winter' is Best Books to Read When the Snow Is Falling. It's just an example, as there are several lists to browse, and it all depends on your taste which book(s) you will pick...