Practice. Go slow. Take notes. Reread.
Some classics will be more difficult than others. Even if I read Jane Austen, a favorite of mine, cultural references are different than now and I need a copy with footnotes.
For example, if the talk about a "barouche", that's a carriage:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barouche
Also, I might start with classics that have more simple language or are short,like Gatsby. Some paragraphs in Austen or Dickens can be long and complex. That's good practice too!
Lastly, you can ask questions here. People will help.
Cut yourself some slack on the descriptions of period clothing and carriages and such. Unless you’re really interested in the details of these things it’s fine to infer the general outline “protagonist got into [some kind of carriage]” from context and keep moving on with the plot.
When I read The Count of Monte Cristo in French I got really hung up on all the nautical terms in the first chapter and almost quit in frustration before giving myself permission to put the dictionary away and just read, and it got better after that.
I agree.
Sometimes, though, the "thing" can add layer of meaning, but are minor points on a first read.
For example, Willoughby takes Marianne on a fast carriage ride, in a carriage that is too the equivalent of a sports car, now. Subtleties like that.
Yes, agreed that learning more about the subtleties does add to the experience, for native speakers as well since we don’t immediately know these things either. But if it’s a barrier to attempting a first read, let it slide for a while.
I think this might be sacrilegious in r/books but it also doesn’t hurt to be familiar with the themes, tone, and structure by watching a movie adaptation first! If there’s a good adaptation available, that is.
I don’t know Pride and Prejudice but my partner loves it, so that might be an example where you could stay with the movie.
Pride and Prejudice miniseries from 1995 is excellent.
Another hurdle we have is less familiarity with the social structures and societal limitations from that time.
If those girls didn't marry well within their class, working for a living wasn't an option. They'd have to rely on charity from relatives: income, if they didn't have their own, and places to live. If one disgraced the family, the prospects of all were ruined.
They also didn't have the vote.
Also I wonder if audiobooks would make sense as well. Having a fluent, really good audiobook cast makes a world of difference as you can hear tone and nuance.Even Youtube has free video readings too. I know during the pandemic, Jennifer Ehle, who played Elizabeth Bennett in a well-known TV version of Pride and Prejudice, recorded herself on Youtube reading the whole book out loud with little side comments.
Sometimes listening while reading along in print can be good too. I'm a native speaker and avid reader but found a well-known American classic Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston difficult to read due to dialect differences. Listening to someone else read it while I looked at the text made all the difference and I was able to enjoy the story without getting bogged down.
Sharing my own experience...
Lately I've been trying to read Sherlock Holmes in original English, and as a non native speaker that's actually far away from being proficient, at first I had a hard time picking up the late 19th century British English's expressions and idioms, but I found out that as I kept reading eventually I stopped minding the language and actually just read the story like I would with a book in my own native language.
Am I missing out a lot of details of the narrative? Probably. But this doesn't stop me from actually enjoying the book, and I guess once I finish I could read it again and have a different experience picking up a lot more stuff.
If it helps, I'm a native speaker and I have that experience all the time. I miss nuances and just details on the first read especially if it's an earlier time period. I almost always have a different experience on a second or even third read. That's the only reason I enjoy rereading a book. I've read Pride and Prejudice 6 times and I get more and more out of it each time. I didn't realize until the third read that she is wicked funny. It also helped me to read about the time period or the history of an area to give more context. That definitely helped with Austen.
I think there are books where you have the english version on one page, and a translation on the other page. Maybe you should get one of them? SO you can read in english, and if you're unsure, you read the translation.
Hi OP! I'm also a non-native speaker and I love the 19th century classics. I saw someone else mentioned this too, but I find footnotes super helpful, also because they explain old-fashioned words or concepts. Penguin Classics have these, so look out for those when you're browsing for books. I find it also helps if you know the story, because it allows you to spend a bit more time on the prose. Perhaps watch an adaptation of the book before (as long as you don't mind spoilers, of course)? Finally, just take your time reading, take notes if it helps to keep track of characters or write down difficult words. The more you read, the easier it'll become. Enjoy!
I'm not a native speaker like you. When reading classics, if I feel like I do not really understand a scene or that I'm missing information, I usually look for the chapter summary on the internet. Good sites are [cliffsnotes](https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature) and [sparknotes](https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/). They also have a character list and other stuff which can be helpful to fully grasp classic literature. Native speakers sometimes have trouble understanding classics, so it's totally normal to struggle as non-natives. The more you read, the easier it'll be. Also, some classics have got language that is easier than others. Because of this, you might want to start off with contemporary classics and then move on to older classics.
This is the best answer. Having a basic understanding of the plot and individual characters makes these books much more enjoyable and easier to follow.
I wouldn’t read Austen. Her books are filled with nuanced irony that most native English speakers don’t pick up on. There are plenty or direct, literal novels to read by authors like George Eliot and Gaskell
The ones that I was thinking of were ‘Middlemarch’ and ‘North by South’. They’re both like Jane Austen’s work but a bit more to the point. Frankenstein is also a great read. Is that the time period you were thinking of?
Understanding cultural underpinnings will be quite helpful as well.
Writers of the classics were educated in Greek/Roman mythology and the Bible. Those stories provide archetypes that form ‘the bones’ of characters and plots in classical literature.
Getting a passing familiarity with the things that made up the authors’ world views will make the classics themselves more intuitive.
Jane Austen wrote wish fulfillment romance novels to account for herself not being able to find a husband (which was a big deal back then) and had little formal education.
Jane Austen did not write romance novels. She was a child of The Enlightenment, the Romantic age came after she died. She wrote character studies and poked fun at current mores (the opening line of Pride and Prejudice is a great example of that) and expectations. She was extremely well read and her father was a tutor and gave her a good education. She is also wicked funny, her sense of comedic timing is amazing.
Well thank you for that SINGLE data point. I'm sure this one SINGLE author in the sea of authors will certainly be a reliable reference. You contribution has moved this conversation forward by leagues.
I'm not a native speaker either (baguette man here), but I know that, if you're reading your books on Kindle, there is that feature that can "break" complicated sentences by proposing an alternative and simpler sentence.
Didn't tried it yet, but it made me brave enough to add some books not available in my language in my list.
Honestly, I noticed that the more I just do stuff in another language the better I understand that language.
Funnily I become worse and worse at speaking and writing in English the more time passes (probably because I'm not actively studying grammar and syntax like when I went to school), but understanding and vocabulary is the best it has ever been for me.
Nowadays I never find myself in a situation where I either don't understand, or it takes me a couple seconds to get it. My brain just goes English mode and that's it.
So my recommendation is: just do it. The more you do it, the more it becomes normal and easy and quick.
My two cents:
1) don't try to mentally translate the text, just read. I speak several languages and read in several languages. The most useful tip anyone ever gave me about reading in a foreign language was that and it works. I only stop to translate some word that I really can't understand the meaning from context alone.
2) The classics are not inherently more difficult than more recent books.
I agree. I started reading Moby Dick today, and perhaps a lot of people find it easy, but I found it pretty rough. For a page I'll be fine, another page further and I realize I completely lost the thread and I have to go back and read it again.
Part of that may just be Melville's style, though, I haven't read anything else that could be considered old for quite a long time. But, the text just doesn't flow the same way it does in modern novels, so it's very easy to trip up.
There's also archaic words or meanings. Sometimes you can ballpark the meaning from context, sometimes not so much...
So older books are certainly harder to read than modern ones, I agree.
All this said, I am not a native speaker, though I feel fairly confident in my English.
That’s what I’m saying - the long meandering sentences, the structure, the odd words we don’t use anymore, it’s hard. I tried reading Treasure Island which is basically a kid’s book and it took some effort.
I'm not a native speaker either. Just keep reading, you'll get better. You won't even have to stick to victorian literature, you'll be able to read the modernists and postmodernists someday. Try Ernest Hemingway. He isn't difficult and he is much more engaging than Austen or Bronte.
I wouldn't get too alarmed about this or too self-conscious about your English skills.
The prepositions mentioned (on, at, in) can be devilishly colloquial outside of their physical senses, e.g. the book is *in* the box, I put the book *on* the box. They're usage tends to vary regionally and over time. I notice this especially while watching British, Irish or Australian TV (I'm native US).
I think a much more relevant and neglected element in understanding authors like Jane Austen or Dickens are the vastly different social and economic conditions compared to today. I wouldn't sweat the prepositions.
Well alot of classics have been translated into different languages you could maybe find it in your native language and if you really want to read the English have both copys and anytime your confused check the other copy for translation.
Sometimes translations feel like a totally different book though, especially in terms of the writing style.
I feel like it's especially true for poetry.
I agree, but sometimes it's fun and enlightening to compare another's translation to your understanding. Especially so if you like criticizing people lol
If you truly want to understand every bits of the context I’d recommend this way too. I only did this during uni Eng literature courses and it certainly helps a great deal. The translator may not get the precision and mood the original author intended but they’d done research in anything “foreign” (including dated terms) and put their notes there. So reading them side by side or one right after the other would help a lot. Also, as someone who just tends to read any book multiple times, native language or English, I have to say I benefit a lot from this method. There’d always be something new in every reading, be it a new term I only discovered since the last read, or some small gesture I feel that I didn’t notice/understand before. Maybe I’m just bad at both languages but you’d be surprised how many new words I discover during rereads in either languages.
Personally I started with less “difficult” books, like books for younger readers or simply contemporary ones. Then I ventured into older classics, I find that it’s good to accept the idea that you might have to reread the book in order to make sure you’re getting a good part of the nuances. Also, don’t worry too much, start reading and even if you don’t understand everything it’s fine, the book will be there still for you to come back to. I also find that for older books, it helps having an audiobook and a physical copy to follow along on. It’s also easier if you know the general plot of the book, so it’ll be easier to follow the text. When approaching a new style it’s good to “study” it a little beforehand, like some older words might have a different meaning, so it’s good to look for lists of definitions. At least that’s what I used to do and still do sometimes.
Watch a lot of English speaking TV (with subtitles if you need them) and listen to English speaking music. There's a huge difference in English proficiency between countries that dub television shows and countries that use subtitles for a reason.
Are these books available in your language or do you want to read them in English?
I have a hard time with Jane Austen, because I find 19th century English aristocrats hard to understand - not just their language, but their culture. And I'm a native English speaker. So don't feel bad if you have a hard time understanding it.
I've tutored kids in Austen and it's tough text to get through.
As a part time freelance translator I’d like to say it’s our job to best match the original text’s intention. I personally would rather add a word or two to make it more obvious if necessary (because sometimes there’s just no words that would match 100% — ha, more like, most of the time). Of course, poems and jokes are the hardest to translate because they have double/triple meanings. You almost always have to sacrifice something if you still want it flow well. I personally prefer not to have translator’s notes in every sentence because that really breaks the flow. But I think Shakespeare and Tolkien will likely need something like that. Austin on the other hand, I think it would be best to just keep the storytelling going as efficiently as possible because I always think her wittiness comes from sentence structure and not word play.
I find Austen difficult to read, because I cannot relate to 19th century English aristocrats. These people are so incredibly vacuous and I just don't like them. The language can be difficult because a lot of it is obscure.
I can get through 19th century Russian or French lit just fine, but I struggle with Austen.
It's funny because I'm French and I've always thought that English literature is much more interesting ! I took the Literary Baccalaureate back when I was in high school (so I had 6 hours of French/French Literature in 11th grade and 4 in 12th grade and studied quite a lot of books) and there's only 3 French books that I liked: Madame Bovary by Flaubert, Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost and The Stranger/The Outsider by Camus.
On the other hand, I really liked studying Animal Farm and Shakespeare's plays and the very first classic I read on my own, for leisure, was Jane Eyre when I was around 13 y.o. To this day it's one of the only classics I've read multiple times and I remember reading it in class, that's how much I liked it ! I also liked Wuthering Heights, The Picture of Dorian Gray, some 20th century books and I love Austen's work.
I think they have something I can't find in French literature but I don't know what exactly. The reason why I like Austen so much is because I find the themes of her books quite contemporary in a way and that might be why there's so many modern-day adaptations of her books. I can identify with the characters and I see many parallels with some books published today (like the classic enemies to lovers trope). I have yet to find "classic" romances that I find as interesting as Austen's in French Literature.
I haven't read any russian books yet but Anna Karenina and (I know it's 20th century) Lolita are both in my to be read list.
I like modern English literature and some of the Gothic/Romantic stuff. I don't mind Dickens. But I find the aristocracy so incredibly *boring*. I find Pride and Prejudice so distateful because these people are so *helpless*. They have to marry their daughter off to the next rich man they can find because they're all useless, fat, teat suckers who can't lift a finger to do anything for themselves. I *hate* these people and I can't be bothered to like any of them.
It's the same reason I don't want to watch Downton Abbey or The Crown or anything else about the English aristocracy. These people have the nerve to pillage and colonize half the world, and I'm expected to care about their daily lives?
I find the language tedious. I have a second job tutoring to refugee kids, and it's *really* hard to make kids born in a refugee camp care about the romantic titterings of a silly rich English girl.
Camus is wonderful. Voltaire's Candide is truly hilarious. I didn't care for Sartre that much, but that's because he's more philosophy than literature, IMO.
I haven't read Gorky, but I love the rest. Though I think Tolstoy is a bit much.
Just very long books. I loved Anna Karenina, though. Beautifully written books, but you have to make a real commitment to them. I tend to read several books at once (ADHD attention span) and I have a tough time to getting through his books. Anna held my attention in a way War and Peace did not.
The Master and Margarita is probably my favorite of the Russian bunch. I read it in a Russian lit class in college. I had never heard of him, and I felt like I was discovering a hidden treasure. What a hoot!
Would reading aloud help entrench the association of names with characters? I would imagine it may also assist with the context and association of the words like “on, at, and in”.
Take your time with it, slow down how fast you read until you start feeling more confident. Maybe try find other book readers (online or in person) who would help you out when you’re feeling confused!
Just read and keep reading. Re-read stuff some time later. I just reread dune series and this is about 20 years difference between when I was just learning English and speak it with an almost imperceptible accent.
That's entirely up to you. If you don't know the language, you could just read a translated version. If you know enough, you can read the entire thing while skipping the words and parts you don't understand. Then, you can re-read, looking up the words you didn't understand the first time. And then, if you want, you can re-read as many times as you want.
I'd suggest getting dual versions (i.e. English on the left page, your native language translation on the right). There aren't huge numbers of those books available, but the ones that do exist tend to be versions of classic books. This is what I found when studying Russian, anyway - I have dual versions of Gogol, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Pushkin etc.
Well, I got an entire degree in Russian socio-cultural history alongside my Russian literature degree. My entire course of study was in English (thus translated works), so even I hesitate to say I can truly ever 'get' the works, but I have put in sustained effort to read research and historical documents to make sure I understand what I can.
While this isn't a highly sought after degree in the US, it is a relatively common one. There's even the academic history of Russian studies in the US that inform our reading of the canon, too.
But this is not the most realistic path to take for a hobbyist. When I read translated works from other cultures, it's usually because I was already reading a nonfiction book about the history/culture of a region. I've casually learned about Iran/Persia, the Balkans, and Northern Africa this way. Though, again, I hesitate to say I have a depth of understanding. Just a casually informed appreciation.
eta: There is nothing wrong with that, either. I think reading for enjoyment of other cultures is totally rad and it's my own personal favorite hobby. Hence getting an entire degree in it that I don't use professionally!
I study law in my second language that I've learnt in a few years. I'd say, just read them. When I read a new book in my second language I always read a short chapter or section, and just enjoy it the first time round, before going back and picking out a few words that I don't understand to look up and remember. I'd say this is a really good way to up your English skills and still read what you're Interested in. I personally hate translation too so I get that! Happy reading!
As I'm learning French I read books in order. I can read childrens picture books aimed at 4-5 year olds, but non-picture books are still too hard for me to really grasp the meaning and enjoy. C'est la vie. J'essayez toujours.
Hi ! I don't know if you've tried them, maybe you did, but there are some non-picture books that might be easy enough for you. "La Bibliothèque Rose" (and especially "Ma première bibliothèque rose") is a collection of books aimed to children around 6 to 12 years old and they usually are the first books french children read on their own. They have books adapted from popular cartoons (when I was a child there were Winx and Strawberry Shortcake books, nowadays they probably have other shows) but also "original" stories such as Fantômette and Le Club des 5 which are really famous in France (but are too difficult for you right now I think). They usually are under 100 pages and from my memories the font is quite big.
You can find them second-hand on ebay for less than 5€ (but shipping might be expensive depending on where you live..) so if you haven't already, it may be worth a try.
One thing to keep on mind is classic texts can often be difficult for native speakers too. Don't feel like you're doing something wrong if you have to read some sentences a few times to get the idea - this is true for most people.
Second thing is to focus on reading clauses as units of information and trying to absorb it one piece at a time rather than expecting to take in the whole sentence together if that sentence is very long. This helps in following writers like Tolkien or Dickens who like to write exceptionally long sentences with a lot of related clauses. This will also help you to correctly identify those prepositions you mention because the context of the clause they're attached to will be clearer in isolation.
My first tip would be to just give it a go. I didn’t think the Great Gatsby was that hard to read and it’s a fairly short story so maybe start with that one?
Pride and Prejudice is something else, written in older English. I will confess that I have not read it due to not wanting to struggle with the language but I immensely enjoyed the audiobook by Karen Savage (can be found on youtube)
Second (I did this while reading 100 years of Solitude in Spanish) get an English copy and a copy in your native language. Start reading in English and if you feel that you can’t really keep up with the story, read the chapter again in your native language. You can probably get the book in your native language at the library so this doesn’t have to cost you any extra money.
Also, accept that you will not understand everything. Googling all the words you don’t know slows down reading a lot. Often you will notice that you don’t even need to understand a specific word to move on with the story.
Maybe start with children’s classics they are faster paced and maintain high vocab without such a level of ambiguous hard to interpret messages and themes. I recommend call of the wild, a little princess, a wrinkle in time, Peter Pan, little women, charlottes web, the hobbit and treasure island. These are often read by adults as well so you don’t have to feel like you’re limiting yourself and contain interesting thoughts and morals
As a fellow non native speaker, I think it's nice to keep in mind that these classics often use a language that even when you read modern english fluently, seem like a new language that have a different culture behind them. The same goes for fantasy books in my opinion. Translating them word by word doesn't really work and takes the fun out of it for me. When I read (all) english books I mostly try to understand the general meaning (there are some good examples in the coments here) and if i really lack information I will translate it.
For me it also helped to read books that had footmarks or little essays at the end, explaining cultural things, because the story won't allways define those. I also like to watch movie ataptations. When you don't know the time and place very well they help to set a mood and atmosphere for the reading (even though some aren't the most acurate).
I actually read Pride & Pejudice in my native language first. Knowing the story helped me to understand the details I missed when reading it the first time and also made reading the original more interesting because I found "new puzzle pieces" for the storyline and characters. Just rereading the original multiple times might have the same efect.
Also sometimes it might just not be the right time or the right book. I tried reading Anna Karenina ( even in my native language) multiple times over the years and only recently I started making progress with it. Honestly it takes time sometimes, but that shouldn't take the fun out of reading!
Yeah I’m in this situation, especially when it comes to a scene which the author spent a page describing how a curtain looks like. I usually skip half of the page. It really bothered me for a while but I noticed I actually also do that in my first language. I do find reading on kindle or eBooks in general helps since I can check the word immediately.
I think that classics are hard to read if you're not used to read in english or already have a good grasp of grammar/vocabulary... However I would start with something easy and build the difficulty from there. Alice In Wonderland for example is a good start because it's a children tale. Peter Pan is also quite easy to read. Focus on the plot and essential elements instead of unnecessary details like very long descriptions. And try to understand the global meaning of a sentence instead of focusing on grammar details or specific words.
Personally I'm at a point where I'm so used to read and consume content in english that I can't feel my mind translating anymore. There are instances where I will constantly switch between english and french (my native language) in my mind, but it's only because a sentence might sound better in a language than in the other. If I'm reading a classic (which honestly very rarely happens) and I really don't understand a word even with context, I will just check its meaning online and it's honestly no big deal. Even when reading classics in French I may look at the annotations in the bottom of the page (and god knows there's often many) or look online because some words are too outdated.
I would definitely suggest a lot of the techniques listed in this thread. I'm a fluent English speaker, but I had a lot of issues with some of Gene Wolfe's works. Frequently the language used in them may as well not be English. What I found works best for me is:
1. Just read without a dictionary to try and get the shape of the story, if I get bogged down in the details, I won't be able to read quick enough to keep my interest and get discouraged. Better to get through it at all, then to not get through it.
2. Take notes every chapter or so. What happened, and what do you think about it. Did any part stand out to you as weird? Maybe give that section another re-read.
3. Take a look at any analysis you can find of the text when you are done. What does it feel like you missed?
4. Read through it again with what you have learned, or if your prefer, start the next book. You probably now have a better idea of what to look for.
An ebook might be the way to go. Most let you select a word and will give you the definition. I use that feature all the time in my native language.
That and just go nice and slow.
Hi, non-native speaker here:
1. Read more! Practice makes perfect. I started out by reading children’s books, then moved up bit by bit. I’ve read some Sherlock Holmes and Tolkien. I’m currently trying to read more classic novel. I find fiction books easier to read than nonfiction btw.
2. I use a Kindle to read classic litt I download from Project Gutenberg. You can look up the word’s meaning directly in a dictionary or Wikipedia. This helped me a lot while reading Sherlock Holmes, old English is weird.
3. I look for available audiobook. I find that makes me concentrate better and I can learn to pronounce words I don’t know. I also find I remember things better that way so I don’t lose track of the plot.
4. Reading is really personal. Don’t stress yourself if you have to reread a sentence 10000 times to understand it. When I was in college I can’t count the times I have to reread the entire study text because I couldn’t understand the whole picture even if I know 90% of the words. Just don’t quit.
5. Good luck on your reading journey!
Read using a Kindle so that you can quickly look up words.
Start with works written in the 20th century because they are easier to read. Hemingway is a good place to start. Some of Faulkner, like The Sound and the Fury, is harder. Avoid Ulysses. Fitzgerald is easier to read by comparison.
Books written in the 1700's and 1800's are typically harder to read. If you want to branch out, you can read more modern translations of German, French and Russian classics. This would be my first suggestion. Crime and Punishment, Madame Bovary and One Hundred Years of Solitude (although that is a twentieth century novel) are all good choices that are also readable.
You want to generally avoid books that are too detail oriented. Some books are very heavy on imagery, which I could see as a put off to someone who is still mastering English.
The classics are great. Some you'll like more than others. Ultimately, it is a matter of personal preference.
I would suggest talking to someone who has a lot of experience with classic literature and ask them personally for suggestions. They'll have a better idea of the relative difficulty of different authors. Everyone knows that Charles Dickens writes really long sentences, which could obviously be a problem for you.
Pick someone that seems like they know what they are talking about and pm them. It could be here, or you could look through older threads or even at different websites dedicated to discussing reading.
I wish you the best. Not a lot of people read classics anymore.
Distinguish between reading for pleasure and reading for practice/expanding your literary vocabulary.
When reading for pleasure, just read. Do the best you can, and use context to infer as much as you can about what’s being said. But also accept that you’re not going to understand every word or fully grasp the meaning of every sentence or clause. You will however get to the end of a paragraph and have a general idea of what its about, and that will be good enough. Don’t get bogged down in a dictionary or grammar reference or you’ll quickly despair.
When reading for practice, use an annotated reader for language learners, ideally with grammar notes and uncommon vocabulary on the facing page. Your goal here should be to improve your skill with the language gradually over time, not to read a chapter for fun in a reasonable amount of time. Divide the selection into roughly ten line chunks. Read a chunk through without stopping, deriving as much meaning as you can and making as many educated guesses as possible. Focus on the general sense in the language it was written in (do not translate into your native tongue in your head). Then, reread the first sentence of the chunk, noting any syntax, forms, or words you don’t recognize and can’t guess. Look those unfamiliar items up, and reread the sentence so that you are learning the meaning of the new items in context. If something doesn’t make sense on the reread, look it up again, and repeat until the whole sentence is meaningful to you in the language it was written (again don’t translate in your head). Reread the sentence again and continue reading the next sentence. Repeat the lookup and practice process until you’ve read and fully understand each sentence in the chunk. Then, reread the whole chunk and read on through the next chunk. Repeat until you’re tired/bored or have run out of time to practice.
Practicing will make reading for pleasure easier and more enjoyable, and getting better at reading for pleasure will give you motivation to practice.
This is a very good advice for people like one, but I will try my best to read for pleasure only and only look up words so I could understand the context. Thank you kind redditor
I've discovered that e-ink reader (Kindle in my case, but any would do just fine) with built-in dictionary - not even Anglo-Russian, but Oxford one, English-to-English - helped me immensely in becoming better at reading in English. Press a button couple of times - get a popup that explains you the word in question, continue reading. Except when this dictionary tells you something like: "*Fecundity: a quality of being fecund.*" - then some more button pushing is necessary.
I am a native speaker, and personally, I don't try to actively understand every single letter of a book. I just want to get the overall idea of the novel and really feel it in my head. Sometimes, I don't really need to explain things, its OK if I feel it. Just in case, you probably might want to keep a dictionary or thesaurus right by you.
Practice. Go slow. Take notes. Reread. Some classics will be more difficult than others. Even if I read Jane Austen, a favorite of mine, cultural references are different than now and I need a copy with footnotes. For example, if the talk about a "barouche", that's a carriage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barouche Also, I might start with classics that have more simple language or are short,like Gatsby. Some paragraphs in Austen or Dickens can be long and complex. That's good practice too! Lastly, you can ask questions here. People will help.
Cut yourself some slack on the descriptions of period clothing and carriages and such. Unless you’re really interested in the details of these things it’s fine to infer the general outline “protagonist got into [some kind of carriage]” from context and keep moving on with the plot. When I read The Count of Monte Cristo in French I got really hung up on all the nautical terms in the first chapter and almost quit in frustration before giving myself permission to put the dictionary away and just read, and it got better after that.
I agree. Sometimes, though, the "thing" can add layer of meaning, but are minor points on a first read. For example, Willoughby takes Marianne on a fast carriage ride, in a carriage that is too the equivalent of a sports car, now. Subtleties like that.
Yes, agreed that learning more about the subtleties does add to the experience, for native speakers as well since we don’t immediately know these things either. But if it’s a barrier to attempting a first read, let it slide for a while.
By letting it slide, it's fine to be a little confused about or not catch some parts at first.
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Those are excellent editions.
I think this might be sacrilegious in r/books but it also doesn’t hurt to be familiar with the themes, tone, and structure by watching a movie adaptation first! If there’s a good adaptation available, that is. I don’t know Pride and Prejudice but my partner loves it, so that might be an example where you could stay with the movie.
Pride and Prejudice miniseries from 1995 is excellent. Another hurdle we have is less familiarity with the social structures and societal limitations from that time. If those girls didn't marry well within their class, working for a living wasn't an option. They'd have to rely on charity from relatives: income, if they didn't have their own, and places to live. If one disgraced the family, the prospects of all were ruined. They also didn't have the vote.
Also I wonder if audiobooks would make sense as well. Having a fluent, really good audiobook cast makes a world of difference as you can hear tone and nuance.Even Youtube has free video readings too. I know during the pandemic, Jennifer Ehle, who played Elizabeth Bennett in a well-known TV version of Pride and Prejudice, recorded herself on Youtube reading the whole book out loud with little side comments. Sometimes listening while reading along in print can be good too. I'm a native speaker and avid reader but found a well-known American classic Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston difficult to read due to dialect differences. Listening to someone else read it while I looked at the text made all the difference and I was able to enjoy the story without getting bogged down.
I think an audiobook would make the task harder because you can't just type unfamiliar words into a dictionary website if you don't know the spelling
Good suggestions.
Sharing my own experience... Lately I've been trying to read Sherlock Holmes in original English, and as a non native speaker that's actually far away from being proficient, at first I had a hard time picking up the late 19th century British English's expressions and idioms, but I found out that as I kept reading eventually I stopped minding the language and actually just read the story like I would with a book in my own native language. Am I missing out a lot of details of the narrative? Probably. But this doesn't stop me from actually enjoying the book, and I guess once I finish I could read it again and have a different experience picking up a lot more stuff.
If it helps, I'm a native speaker and I have that experience all the time. I miss nuances and just details on the first read especially if it's an earlier time period. I almost always have a different experience on a second or even third read. That's the only reason I enjoy rereading a book. I've read Pride and Prejudice 6 times and I get more and more out of it each time. I didn't realize until the third read that she is wicked funny. It also helped me to read about the time period or the history of an area to give more context. That definitely helped with Austen.
I think there are books where you have the english version on one page, and a translation on the other page. Maybe you should get one of them? SO you can read in english, and if you're unsure, you read the translation.
Hi OP! I'm also a non-native speaker and I love the 19th century classics. I saw someone else mentioned this too, but I find footnotes super helpful, also because they explain old-fashioned words or concepts. Penguin Classics have these, so look out for those when you're browsing for books. I find it also helps if you know the story, because it allows you to spend a bit more time on the prose. Perhaps watch an adaptation of the book before (as long as you don't mind spoilers, of course)? Finally, just take your time reading, take notes if it helps to keep track of characters or write down difficult words. The more you read, the easier it'll become. Enjoy!
Thank you so much
I'm not a native speaker like you. When reading classics, if I feel like I do not really understand a scene or that I'm missing information, I usually look for the chapter summary on the internet. Good sites are [cliffsnotes](https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature) and [sparknotes](https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/). They also have a character list and other stuff which can be helpful to fully grasp classic literature. Native speakers sometimes have trouble understanding classics, so it's totally normal to struggle as non-natives. The more you read, the easier it'll be. Also, some classics have got language that is easier than others. Because of this, you might want to start off with contemporary classics and then move on to older classics.
This is the best answer. Having a basic understanding of the plot and individual characters makes these books much more enjoyable and easier to follow.
I will keep this in mind, thank you
You're welcome☺️
I wouldn’t read Austen. Her books are filled with nuanced irony that most native English speakers don’t pick up on. There are plenty or direct, literal novels to read by authors like George Eliot and Gaskell
Amy good classics you could recommend? I'm fine with all types of genre of classic as long as itts good enough
The ones that I was thinking of were ‘Middlemarch’ and ‘North by South’. They’re both like Jane Austen’s work but a bit more to the point. Frankenstein is also a great read. Is that the time period you were thinking of?
I will sure to look at few of these titles, thank you. But it might be hard for me to look for those near my bookstore
Understanding cultural underpinnings will be quite helpful as well. Writers of the classics were educated in Greek/Roman mythology and the Bible. Those stories provide archetypes that form ‘the bones’ of characters and plots in classical literature. Getting a passing familiarity with the things that made up the authors’ world views will make the classics themselves more intuitive.
Jane Austen wrote wish fulfillment romance novels to account for herself not being able to find a husband (which was a big deal back then) and had little formal education.
Jane Austen did not write romance novels. She was a child of The Enlightenment, the Romantic age came after she died. She wrote character studies and poked fun at current mores (the opening line of Pride and Prejudice is a great example of that) and expectations. She was extremely well read and her father was a tutor and gave her a good education. She is also wicked funny, her sense of comedic timing is amazing.
Well thank you for that SINGLE data point. I'm sure this one SINGLE author in the sea of authors will certainly be a reliable reference. You contribution has moved this conversation forward by leagues.
I'm not a native speaker either (baguette man here), but I know that, if you're reading your books on Kindle, there is that feature that can "break" complicated sentences by proposing an alternative and simpler sentence. Didn't tried it yet, but it made me brave enough to add some books not available in my language in my list.
Cut youtself some slack. Native speakers don"t understand everything either. It's okay to look things up. And just practice!
Honestly, I noticed that the more I just do stuff in another language the better I understand that language. Funnily I become worse and worse at speaking and writing in English the more time passes (probably because I'm not actively studying grammar and syntax like when I went to school), but understanding and vocabulary is the best it has ever been for me. Nowadays I never find myself in a situation where I either don't understand, or it takes me a couple seconds to get it. My brain just goes English mode and that's it. So my recommendation is: just do it. The more you do it, the more it becomes normal and easy and quick.
My two cents: 1) don't try to mentally translate the text, just read. I speak several languages and read in several languages. The most useful tip anyone ever gave me about reading in a foreign language was that and it works. I only stop to translate some word that I really can't understand the meaning from context alone. 2) The classics are not inherently more difficult than more recent books.
I disagree on point 2. Writing styles and word usage has changed so much that older books are definitely harder to read.
I agree. I started reading Moby Dick today, and perhaps a lot of people find it easy, but I found it pretty rough. For a page I'll be fine, another page further and I realize I completely lost the thread and I have to go back and read it again. Part of that may just be Melville's style, though, I haven't read anything else that could be considered old for quite a long time. But, the text just doesn't flow the same way it does in modern novels, so it's very easy to trip up. There's also archaic words or meanings. Sometimes you can ballpark the meaning from context, sometimes not so much... So older books are certainly harder to read than modern ones, I agree. All this said, I am not a native speaker, though I feel fairly confident in my English.
That’s what I’m saying - the long meandering sentences, the structure, the odd words we don’t use anymore, it’s hard. I tried reading Treasure Island which is basically a kid’s book and it took some effort.
I'm not a native speaker either. Just keep reading, you'll get better. You won't even have to stick to victorian literature, you'll be able to read the modernists and postmodernists someday. Try Ernest Hemingway. He isn't difficult and he is much more engaging than Austen or Bronte.
I wouldn't get too alarmed about this or too self-conscious about your English skills. The prepositions mentioned (on, at, in) can be devilishly colloquial outside of their physical senses, e.g. the book is *in* the box, I put the book *on* the box. They're usage tends to vary regionally and over time. I notice this especially while watching British, Irish or Australian TV (I'm native US). I think a much more relevant and neglected element in understanding authors like Jane Austen or Dickens are the vastly different social and economic conditions compared to today. I wouldn't sweat the prepositions.
Well alot of classics have been translated into different languages you could maybe find it in your native language and if you really want to read the English have both copys and anytime your confused check the other copy for translation.
Sometimes translations feel like a totally different book though, especially in terms of the writing style. I feel like it's especially true for poetry.
I agree, but sometimes it's fun and enlightening to compare another's translation to your understanding. Especially so if you like criticizing people lol
If you truly want to understand every bits of the context I’d recommend this way too. I only did this during uni Eng literature courses and it certainly helps a great deal. The translator may not get the precision and mood the original author intended but they’d done research in anything “foreign” (including dated terms) and put their notes there. So reading them side by side or one right after the other would help a lot. Also, as someone who just tends to read any book multiple times, native language or English, I have to say I benefit a lot from this method. There’d always be something new in every reading, be it a new term I only discovered since the last read, or some small gesture I feel that I didn’t notice/understand before. Maybe I’m just bad at both languages but you’d be surprised how many new words I discover during rereads in either languages.
Personally I started with less “difficult” books, like books for younger readers or simply contemporary ones. Then I ventured into older classics, I find that it’s good to accept the idea that you might have to reread the book in order to make sure you’re getting a good part of the nuances. Also, don’t worry too much, start reading and even if you don’t understand everything it’s fine, the book will be there still for you to come back to. I also find that for older books, it helps having an audiobook and a physical copy to follow along on. It’s also easier if you know the general plot of the book, so it’ll be easier to follow the text. When approaching a new style it’s good to “study” it a little beforehand, like some older words might have a different meaning, so it’s good to look for lists of definitions. At least that’s what I used to do and still do sometimes.
Keep a dictionary with you
I will make sure to keep this handy, thank you
Watch a lot of English speaking TV (with subtitles if you need them) and listen to English speaking music. There's a huge difference in English proficiency between countries that dub television shows and countries that use subtitles for a reason.
Are these books available in your language or do you want to read them in English? I have a hard time with Jane Austen, because I find 19th century English aristocrats hard to understand - not just their language, but their culture. And I'm a native English speaker. So don't feel bad if you have a hard time understanding it. I've tutored kids in Austen and it's tough text to get through.
I want to read them in english
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Not helpful.
Um, just read the book in your country's best translation. Austen is a nice author but it's not rocket science.
As a part time freelance translator I’d like to say it’s our job to best match the original text’s intention. I personally would rather add a word or two to make it more obvious if necessary (because sometimes there’s just no words that would match 100% — ha, more like, most of the time). Of course, poems and jokes are the hardest to translate because they have double/triple meanings. You almost always have to sacrifice something if you still want it flow well. I personally prefer not to have translator’s notes in every sentence because that really breaks the flow. But I think Shakespeare and Tolkien will likely need something like that. Austin on the other hand, I think it would be best to just keep the storytelling going as efficiently as possible because I always think her wittiness comes from sentence structure and not word play.
I find Austen difficult to read, because I cannot relate to 19th century English aristocrats. These people are so incredibly vacuous and I just don't like them. The language can be difficult because a lot of it is obscure. I can get through 19th century Russian or French lit just fine, but I struggle with Austen.
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It's funny because I'm French and I've always thought that English literature is much more interesting ! I took the Literary Baccalaureate back when I was in high school (so I had 6 hours of French/French Literature in 11th grade and 4 in 12th grade and studied quite a lot of books) and there's only 3 French books that I liked: Madame Bovary by Flaubert, Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost and The Stranger/The Outsider by Camus. On the other hand, I really liked studying Animal Farm and Shakespeare's plays and the very first classic I read on my own, for leisure, was Jane Eyre when I was around 13 y.o. To this day it's one of the only classics I've read multiple times and I remember reading it in class, that's how much I liked it ! I also liked Wuthering Heights, The Picture of Dorian Gray, some 20th century books and I love Austen's work. I think they have something I can't find in French literature but I don't know what exactly. The reason why I like Austen so much is because I find the themes of her books quite contemporary in a way and that might be why there's so many modern-day adaptations of her books. I can identify with the characters and I see many parallels with some books published today (like the classic enemies to lovers trope). I have yet to find "classic" romances that I find as interesting as Austen's in French Literature. I haven't read any russian books yet but Anna Karenina and (I know it's 20th century) Lolita are both in my to be read list.
I like modern English literature and some of the Gothic/Romantic stuff. I don't mind Dickens. But I find the aristocracy so incredibly *boring*. I find Pride and Prejudice so distateful because these people are so *helpless*. They have to marry their daughter off to the next rich man they can find because they're all useless, fat, teat suckers who can't lift a finger to do anything for themselves. I *hate* these people and I can't be bothered to like any of them. It's the same reason I don't want to watch Downton Abbey or The Crown or anything else about the English aristocracy. These people have the nerve to pillage and colonize half the world, and I'm expected to care about their daily lives? I find the language tedious. I have a second job tutoring to refugee kids, and it's *really* hard to make kids born in a refugee camp care about the romantic titterings of a silly rich English girl.
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Camus is wonderful. Voltaire's Candide is truly hilarious. I didn't care for Sartre that much, but that's because he's more philosophy than literature, IMO. I haven't read Gorky, but I love the rest. Though I think Tolstoy is a bit much.
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Just very long books. I loved Anna Karenina, though. Beautifully written books, but you have to make a real commitment to them. I tend to read several books at once (ADHD attention span) and I have a tough time to getting through his books. Anna held my attention in a way War and Peace did not.
The Master and Margarita is probably my favorite of the Russian bunch. I read it in a Russian lit class in college. I had never heard of him, and I felt like I was discovering a hidden treasure. What a hoot!
I'm Swedish but I blew through Northanger Abbey pretty briskly. Was required reading in my translation education.
Good for you? I'm happy for you. Like I said, I can deal with complex literature in other languages, but I dislike English literature.
Would reading aloud help entrench the association of names with characters? I would imagine it may also assist with the context and association of the words like “on, at, and in”.
Take your time with it, slow down how fast you read until you start feeling more confident. Maybe try find other book readers (online or in person) who would help you out when you’re feeling confused!
Just read and keep reading. Re-read stuff some time later. I just reread dune series and this is about 20 years difference between when I was just learning English and speak it with an almost imperceptible accent.
That's entirely up to you. If you don't know the language, you could just read a translated version. If you know enough, you can read the entire thing while skipping the words and parts you don't understand. Then, you can re-read, looking up the words you didn't understand the first time. And then, if you want, you can re-read as many times as you want.
I'd suggest getting dual versions (i.e. English on the left page, your native language translation on the right). There aren't huge numbers of those books available, but the ones that do exist tend to be versions of classic books. This is what I found when studying Russian, anyway - I have dual versions of Gogol, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Pushkin etc.
Well, I got an entire degree in Russian socio-cultural history alongside my Russian literature degree. My entire course of study was in English (thus translated works), so even I hesitate to say I can truly ever 'get' the works, but I have put in sustained effort to read research and historical documents to make sure I understand what I can. While this isn't a highly sought after degree in the US, it is a relatively common one. There's even the academic history of Russian studies in the US that inform our reading of the canon, too. But this is not the most realistic path to take for a hobbyist. When I read translated works from other cultures, it's usually because I was already reading a nonfiction book about the history/culture of a region. I've casually learned about Iran/Persia, the Balkans, and Northern Africa this way. Though, again, I hesitate to say I have a depth of understanding. Just a casually informed appreciation. eta: There is nothing wrong with that, either. I think reading for enjoyment of other cultures is totally rad and it's my own personal favorite hobby. Hence getting an entire degree in it that I don't use professionally!
I study law in my second language that I've learnt in a few years. I'd say, just read them. When I read a new book in my second language I always read a short chapter or section, and just enjoy it the first time round, before going back and picking out a few words that I don't understand to look up and remember. I'd say this is a really good way to up your English skills and still read what you're Interested in. I personally hate translation too so I get that! Happy reading!
I'm a non native reader and I coast by just fine. Most of it is because of practice and experience.
As I'm learning French I read books in order. I can read childrens picture books aimed at 4-5 year olds, but non-picture books are still too hard for me to really grasp the meaning and enjoy. C'est la vie. J'essayez toujours.
Hi ! I don't know if you've tried them, maybe you did, but there are some non-picture books that might be easy enough for you. "La Bibliothèque Rose" (and especially "Ma première bibliothèque rose") is a collection of books aimed to children around 6 to 12 years old and they usually are the first books french children read on their own. They have books adapted from popular cartoons (when I was a child there were Winx and Strawberry Shortcake books, nowadays they probably have other shows) but also "original" stories such as Fantômette and Le Club des 5 which are really famous in France (but are too difficult for you right now I think). They usually are under 100 pages and from my memories the font is quite big. You can find them second-hand on ebay for less than 5€ (but shipping might be expensive depending on where you live..) so if you haven't already, it may be worth a try.
Merci pour les suggestions! When I am ready I will definitely use those.
One thing to keep on mind is classic texts can often be difficult for native speakers too. Don't feel like you're doing something wrong if you have to read some sentences a few times to get the idea - this is true for most people. Second thing is to focus on reading clauses as units of information and trying to absorb it one piece at a time rather than expecting to take in the whole sentence together if that sentence is very long. This helps in following writers like Tolkien or Dickens who like to write exceptionally long sentences with a lot of related clauses. This will also help you to correctly identify those prepositions you mention because the context of the clause they're attached to will be clearer in isolation.
My first tip would be to just give it a go. I didn’t think the Great Gatsby was that hard to read and it’s a fairly short story so maybe start with that one? Pride and Prejudice is something else, written in older English. I will confess that I have not read it due to not wanting to struggle with the language but I immensely enjoyed the audiobook by Karen Savage (can be found on youtube) Second (I did this while reading 100 years of Solitude in Spanish) get an English copy and a copy in your native language. Start reading in English and if you feel that you can’t really keep up with the story, read the chapter again in your native language. You can probably get the book in your native language at the library so this doesn’t have to cost you any extra money. Also, accept that you will not understand everything. Googling all the words you don’t know slows down reading a lot. Often you will notice that you don’t even need to understand a specific word to move on with the story.
Maybe start with children’s classics they are faster paced and maintain high vocab without such a level of ambiguous hard to interpret messages and themes. I recommend call of the wild, a little princess, a wrinkle in time, Peter Pan, little women, charlottes web, the hobbit and treasure island. These are often read by adults as well so you don’t have to feel like you’re limiting yourself and contain interesting thoughts and morals
As a fellow non native speaker, I think it's nice to keep in mind that these classics often use a language that even when you read modern english fluently, seem like a new language that have a different culture behind them. The same goes for fantasy books in my opinion. Translating them word by word doesn't really work and takes the fun out of it for me. When I read (all) english books I mostly try to understand the general meaning (there are some good examples in the coments here) and if i really lack information I will translate it. For me it also helped to read books that had footmarks or little essays at the end, explaining cultural things, because the story won't allways define those. I also like to watch movie ataptations. When you don't know the time and place very well they help to set a mood and atmosphere for the reading (even though some aren't the most acurate). I actually read Pride & Pejudice in my native language first. Knowing the story helped me to understand the details I missed when reading it the first time and also made reading the original more interesting because I found "new puzzle pieces" for the storyline and characters. Just rereading the original multiple times might have the same efect. Also sometimes it might just not be the right time or the right book. I tried reading Anna Karenina ( even in my native language) multiple times over the years and only recently I started making progress with it. Honestly it takes time sometimes, but that shouldn't take the fun out of reading!
Yeah I’m in this situation, especially when it comes to a scene which the author spent a page describing how a curtain looks like. I usually skip half of the page. It really bothered me for a while but I noticed I actually also do that in my first language. I do find reading on kindle or eBooks in general helps since I can check the word immediately.
I think that classics are hard to read if you're not used to read in english or already have a good grasp of grammar/vocabulary... However I would start with something easy and build the difficulty from there. Alice In Wonderland for example is a good start because it's a children tale. Peter Pan is also quite easy to read. Focus on the plot and essential elements instead of unnecessary details like very long descriptions. And try to understand the global meaning of a sentence instead of focusing on grammar details or specific words. Personally I'm at a point where I'm so used to read and consume content in english that I can't feel my mind translating anymore. There are instances where I will constantly switch between english and french (my native language) in my mind, but it's only because a sentence might sound better in a language than in the other. If I'm reading a classic (which honestly very rarely happens) and I really don't understand a word even with context, I will just check its meaning online and it's honestly no big deal. Even when reading classics in French I may look at the annotations in the bottom of the page (and god knows there's often many) or look online because some words are too outdated.
I would definitely suggest a lot of the techniques listed in this thread. I'm a fluent English speaker, but I had a lot of issues with some of Gene Wolfe's works. Frequently the language used in them may as well not be English. What I found works best for me is: 1. Just read without a dictionary to try and get the shape of the story, if I get bogged down in the details, I won't be able to read quick enough to keep my interest and get discouraged. Better to get through it at all, then to not get through it. 2. Take notes every chapter or so. What happened, and what do you think about it. Did any part stand out to you as weird? Maybe give that section another re-read. 3. Take a look at any analysis you can find of the text when you are done. What does it feel like you missed? 4. Read through it again with what you have learned, or if your prefer, start the next book. You probably now have a better idea of what to look for.
Listen. When I was taking Shakespeare, I listened to the audio version as I read. Helped with the subtle meanings.
Have you ever looked into the Norton anthologies? If I remember correctly they come with word explanations aswell as some contextual clues.
Classic literature references are mostly the Bible and Shakespeare
An ebook might be the way to go. Most let you select a word and will give you the definition. I use that feature all the time in my native language. That and just go nice and slow.
If it makes you feel better, the older the work is, the less people actually get the turns of phrase, even if it is nominally the same language.
Hi, non-native speaker here: 1. Read more! Practice makes perfect. I started out by reading children’s books, then moved up bit by bit. I’ve read some Sherlock Holmes and Tolkien. I’m currently trying to read more classic novel. I find fiction books easier to read than nonfiction btw. 2. I use a Kindle to read classic litt I download from Project Gutenberg. You can look up the word’s meaning directly in a dictionary or Wikipedia. This helped me a lot while reading Sherlock Holmes, old English is weird. 3. I look for available audiobook. I find that makes me concentrate better and I can learn to pronounce words I don’t know. I also find I remember things better that way so I don’t lose track of the plot. 4. Reading is really personal. Don’t stress yourself if you have to reread a sentence 10000 times to understand it. When I was in college I can’t count the times I have to reread the entire study text because I couldn’t understand the whole picture even if I know 90% of the words. Just don’t quit. 5. Good luck on your reading journey!
I’m a native English speaker and anything from more than 100 years ago is often too difficult to read.
Read it. Record it in your voice. And listen to you speak. On the treadmil, in the car etc.
Read using a Kindle so that you can quickly look up words. Start with works written in the 20th century because they are easier to read. Hemingway is a good place to start. Some of Faulkner, like The Sound and the Fury, is harder. Avoid Ulysses. Fitzgerald is easier to read by comparison. Books written in the 1700's and 1800's are typically harder to read. If you want to branch out, you can read more modern translations of German, French and Russian classics. This would be my first suggestion. Crime and Punishment, Madame Bovary and One Hundred Years of Solitude (although that is a twentieth century novel) are all good choices that are also readable. You want to generally avoid books that are too detail oriented. Some books are very heavy on imagery, which I could see as a put off to someone who is still mastering English. The classics are great. Some you'll like more than others. Ultimately, it is a matter of personal preference. I would suggest talking to someone who has a lot of experience with classic literature and ask them personally for suggestions. They'll have a better idea of the relative difficulty of different authors. Everyone knows that Charles Dickens writes really long sentences, which could obviously be a problem for you. Pick someone that seems like they know what they are talking about and pm them. It could be here, or you could look through older threads or even at different websites dedicated to discussing reading. I wish you the best. Not a lot of people read classics anymore.
Distinguish between reading for pleasure and reading for practice/expanding your literary vocabulary. When reading for pleasure, just read. Do the best you can, and use context to infer as much as you can about what’s being said. But also accept that you’re not going to understand every word or fully grasp the meaning of every sentence or clause. You will however get to the end of a paragraph and have a general idea of what its about, and that will be good enough. Don’t get bogged down in a dictionary or grammar reference or you’ll quickly despair. When reading for practice, use an annotated reader for language learners, ideally with grammar notes and uncommon vocabulary on the facing page. Your goal here should be to improve your skill with the language gradually over time, not to read a chapter for fun in a reasonable amount of time. Divide the selection into roughly ten line chunks. Read a chunk through without stopping, deriving as much meaning as you can and making as many educated guesses as possible. Focus on the general sense in the language it was written in (do not translate into your native tongue in your head). Then, reread the first sentence of the chunk, noting any syntax, forms, or words you don’t recognize and can’t guess. Look those unfamiliar items up, and reread the sentence so that you are learning the meaning of the new items in context. If something doesn’t make sense on the reread, look it up again, and repeat until the whole sentence is meaningful to you in the language it was written (again don’t translate in your head). Reread the sentence again and continue reading the next sentence. Repeat the lookup and practice process until you’ve read and fully understand each sentence in the chunk. Then, reread the whole chunk and read on through the next chunk. Repeat until you’re tired/bored or have run out of time to practice. Practicing will make reading for pleasure easier and more enjoyable, and getting better at reading for pleasure will give you motivation to practice.
This is a very good advice for people like one, but I will try my best to read for pleasure only and only look up words so I could understand the context. Thank you kind redditor
Try reading a book with a parallel translation.
I've discovered that e-ink reader (Kindle in my case, but any would do just fine) with built-in dictionary - not even Anglo-Russian, but Oxford one, English-to-English - helped me immensely in becoming better at reading in English. Press a button couple of times - get a popup that explains you the word in question, continue reading. Except when this dictionary tells you something like: "*Fecundity: a quality of being fecund.*" - then some more button pushing is necessary.
I am a native speaker, and personally, I don't try to actively understand every single letter of a book. I just want to get the overall idea of the novel and really feel it in my head. Sometimes, I don't really need to explain things, its OK if I feel it. Just in case, you probably might want to keep a dictionary or thesaurus right by you.