Setting aside time for "doorstoppers" and classics

[Natalie]

I have come to the conclusion that if I want to read a classic novel or a "doorstopper" , then I'm going to have to set aside a certain period of time to tackle them . The level of difficulty involved always makes it easy to avoid reading them . So I'm giving myself a set amount of time to read them . From now on Sundays and Mondays will be dedicated to classics and doorstoppers . Tuesday through Saturday will be for regular novels .
Has anyone else made a similar decision about classics and doorstoppers ?

[Dee]

i read middlemarch on the metro a couple of years ago - it was relatively short chapters - so i did a chapter at the beginning of my commute and when i jumped on to head home (had about 40min each way) - it took me about 3 months total

i'm getting ready to start Les Mis - and my plan is going to be similar, but i am listening to it - doing a portion each day on my commute into work

[Tabitha]

This is a nice idea. I've had Drood sitting on a shelf for ages, but after reading the atrocious The Accursed, I'm "once bitten" when it comes to doorstoppers; really have to do my homework, read reviews, make sure they're worth it.

I'd love to give Ulysses a go though. Maybe a summer reading doorstopper. Ooo.

[Karin]

Sometimes I read them at a chapter a day before I'm allowed to read all my other reading, but other times I enjoy them so much they sort of take over my reading time.

[Quoleena]

I ventured to the realm of doorstopper classics a few years ago. I started with Tolstoy. I ended up loving Anna Karenina. While I enjoyed War and Peace, the lengthy descriptions of war strategy got to be too much at times. I still enjoyed it though. The one I've read 3 times is the 1492-pager, The Count of Monte Cristo. It's my favorite.

[Renee]

I have 2 books on my nightstand The Passageand The Talisman that I really want to read but keep putting them off. And these books are not all that long. May try what ya'll are doing and read a chapter or two a night and see if the books suck me in.

[Diane]

I have an upstairs book and a downstairs book - Upstairs is easy reading, downstairs is something that is more intelligent/challenging. That way I can satisfy all my tastes.

[Diane]

After plowing through Portrait of the Artist as a Young man - I gave up on Joyce, so will never try Ulysses. (feeling gulty)

[Andrew]

I'm struggling with this at the moment. I did most of my reading on my work commute for years, but I work a lot closer to home now and the bus portion of my journey (on the days I don't walk the whole way) can be as quick as 10 minutes. That's fine for the page-turning genre stuff that takes up a fair amount of my time, but it's not great when I'm trying to tackle a brick-thick classic.

[Pamela]

I find if I read a variety of books, I can usually get through a doorstopper -- although I don't read them too often. So I'll read something short or light in-between the doorstopper or something particularly heavy. I've even found myself stopping the doorstopper and reading a short story occasionally just to break it up a bit.

[Carolyn]

I too have an upstairs book and a downstairs one - like you, a lighter read upstairs.

[Carolyn]

Re James Joyce: I truly appreciated Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, was riveted, in fact, by a [Roman Catholic] view of his world. But I never did read Ulysses, only parts of it.

[Esther]

I am a monogamous reader - on book at a time - otherwise I get distracted and one book gets neglected. But I also read mainly on my commute and lugging round a brick causes me physical pain (as I discovered with the HB version of A Casual Vacancy)
This makes any bricks a real challenge for me.
At present I am trying to devise a strategy for reading Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady which at abt 1,500 pages is in no way portable, in fact I will probably have to rest it on a table while I read.

[Victor]

I'm experimenting with a "one chapter at a time" approach, not necessarily for classic books, but for long books in general. I like that it's taking me a year to get through a book with no guilt feeling, because I'm monogamous to that one chapter at that one time. Haven't had any problem jumping in and out of them. There are so many longs and classics I really do want to read, but I can't bring myself to commit without this kind of a scheme.

[Carolyn]

Right now I'm living inside Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth."
I love it.
Rennee, I'm going to try The Passage, and The Talisman, because of your recommendation.

[Diane]

I'm reading Gai Jin by James Clavell - enjoying it every b it as much as Noble House.

[Carolyn]

Yes, one day I'll return to James Clavell too.
Re Edith Wharton's House of Mirth, I was lucky enough to hear a library talk about this book and learned things I would never have picked up on my own:
The persuasive theme of public versus private. Of Miss Lily Bart as the first Kim Kardashian - famous for being famous.
Of a portrait of a republic of Nature. A heroine who brings attention to things no one wants to pay attention to ...

[Pamela]

Right now I have so many books at hand, I have been avoiding my 'doorstoppers.' I slowly made my way through The Accursed — I think I tolerated it better than you, Tabitha — and immediately followed with two novellas.

I've got about 100 more pages to go in my current read, In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin — which I wouldn't say is a doorstopper but heavy none the less.

[Donnalee]

I usually pick a classic to read during the summer such as Gone With The Wind or War and Peace. I devote to reading just that along with book club books (in two book clubs).

[Karin]

My current doorstopper is a group seasonal read, Our Mutual Friend, which I haven't read before.

[Alastair]

I've been making a real effort to return to some classics recently and have actually been pleasantly surprised, especially with The House of the Dead. Working my way through Moby Dick now and I'm enjoying it; many chapters are short and readable and Melville has a great voice, notwithstanding some of the chapters have way more info on whaling than I ever thought I would need!