I’m so glad it’s not just me that feels inferior cause of it. That’s sick a wonderful point, everything changes and evolves like sports as you say, but you’re right story telling is no different. You really made me feel better saying that :D. Thank you for reading the post and writing such a thoughtful comment. 😀

Ok theres a question, I strongly suspect there are several dozen more, I have attempted a lot of them. But off the top of my head: Pride and Prejudice, Great Expectations, The Time Machine, Dorian Grey, Jane Eyre, crime and punishment, Wuthering heights, Lord of the flies (really hated that) Little Women, sense and sensibility to name just a few I have attempted.

I’ve read Madame Bovary… does that count? What about Of Mice and Men – read that too (and loved it – but surely its a modern classic?) and 1984 (although not sure this counts, but I tried it again recently and got pretty far, Ive not actually given up yet, just put it down for a bit.

I’m not completely opposed to them, I just haven’t found the ones for me yet.

Ah wonderful, well thank you for taking the time to come and read the post :D. Alas, I can’t read French, but the English translation of Camus’ La Peste was brilliant enough for me. I will go and have a look at Tristram Shandy 🙂 thank you

Bottom line – the more people do something, the better it gets. Think about watching a sporting event a century ago? We’ve changed and finessed things so that the players are better and so is the game. The players from a century ago would get their butts kicked on the field now! I think it’s the same with writers. But people love romanticizing the past!

That’s not to say we can’t learn from these classics. We certainly can. But they have to be taken in context. To say that they are still the best novels ever written seems, frankly, ridiculous to me.

The course is hard but then again it should be. The same for me, numbers and me don’t go together, I was a client manager, I wasn’t involved in the tax consultancy side. I did a Hemingway wish list on Amazon but via The Book Depository, to save some money; trouble is the title I wanted most can’t be delivered to Switzerland…eh?? Strange but true. Have you read The Kraken Wakes by Wyndham? Marvellous story-telling. 😀

Ooh wow what’s the course like? Tax evasion sounds…. Erm, well numbers terrify me! I’m better with words! My friend lived in Basel for a while. Ok wow I didn’t know there were that many of his books im going to go search in Amazon and add to my wish list ?

I bought William’s complete works last year, but I Always have something else to read beforehand and just never get round to it. Looking forward to the blog-to-come.

I have 9 Wyndhams, and Always on the lookout whenever I go back.

I’m in Southern Switzerland, near the Italian border. Been here since 2001. I worked until recently in the finance (tax evasion) sector, but I realised it said nothing to me about my life (to quote Morrissey) so I’m now studying my Cambridge CELTA certificate in Milan to teach English as a second Language.

No I got that it was Ni if I put no that was a mistake. I was making reference to Monty Python’s Knights who say ‘Ni’ if you haven’t watched it don’t worry!!

Hmm. I think of mice and men would be classed as a modern classic as would mockingbird. I do think there is a chronological age to the classifications but maybe I will google that as im not confident. But feels that way if we have a class of modern classics.

But ha, yes we do – although and I will blog about this at a later date – I love shakespeare….

I need to read more Wyndham.

Your not in the UK? Where are you?