When many people think of classics, they think of leather-bound books the size of bricks covered in a thick layer of dust from the attic where your great-great grandma’s book collection is stored. This is not true. Now, it may be a clichéd subject, but when I told a few people in my class that I’m reading Mansfield Park they gawped at me like I was a rare and exotic fish from the deepest depths of the South American jungle rivers (when in fact it was they who looked like fish – gawping is not a good look!). I feel, therefore, that we need to revisit the fact that not enough teens/tweens are reading classics – may I be so bold to suggest that this applies to boys even more so?
There are reasons why many teenagers wouldn’t go within a mile of classics had it not been for the terrors that are GCSEs, so I have decided to write a troubleshooting guide as to how to read a classic, encourage your friends to do the same and increase your street cred (yes, I’m serious). Here are five common objections and what you can say to them:
1. “Er, excuse me, have you seen the size of those things?”
OK, Mansfield Park may have 443 pages, but think about the sheer success of the Harry Potter series. The longest book in the phenomenal series (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) is a staggering 776 pages long, with the US edition even longer at 870 pages long! Compared to this Mansfield Park does sound like a walk in the park, doesn’t it (excuse the pun)?
2. “Yeah, but if I’m caught reading this stuff about snooty rich people I’ll never live it down!”
I’d say – with a lot of confidence – that I am a geek (I mean, how many people can read the Star Wars scripts in Shakespearian language and not only understand it, but enjoy it? - Ian Doescher, I salute you!). I’d also say, though perhaps with slightly less confidence, that I am still fairly well liked. I’d even go as far to say that a lot of people respect me for enjoying this sort of stuff. They think I’m cool. Because, and lets face the facts here, if you are stylish, popular and intelligent, then you are nothing short of pretty gifted are you? And let’s face it, you’ll still have friends, right?
3. “But it’s just a load of soppy romance!”
Have you heard of Louise Rennison anybody? Maybe, I don’t know, John Green? Or The Hunger Games? Twilight? Even Harry Potter? Divergent? Most, if not all, YA fiction includes romance, so a bit of Jane Austen classic romance shouldn’t hurt, should it?
4. “But I’m a boy? How on earth do you expect me to read this stuff?”
Boys want to read the Hunger Games. Boys want to read Girl Online. Boys read books that were probably intended for girls when they were written. But what stopped boys from reading those books? Peer pressure. There will always be those who will stop you, put you down; if you want to read them, then read them. I mean, once the exam results come out, who’ll have to re-sit their English Lit? Not you, I can assure you.
5. “But seriously, who enjoys these things?”
I am also in the process of reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – probably the funniest book I have read in what seems like eternity. This bizarre wonder created by Adams is, quite frankly, incomparably funny. I mean, who writes half a chapter on the thoughts of a sperm whale getting to grips with himself in space? I’d also like to point out that this book also houses what I believe is the first mention of a modern day ebook reader. It is described as “a device which looked rather like a largish electronic calculator. This had about a hundred tiny flat press-buttons and a screen about four inches square on which any one of a million “pages” could be summoned at a moment’s notice”.
There are also plays. Yes, I said plays. And not only are there plays, but I find that ones written in the 1500s are particularly enjoyable. I am talking about the great Bard himself – William Shakespeare. His comedies have, most definitely, stood the test of time and are as fantastic today as they were several hundred years ago. Take A Midsummer Night’s Dream for example – one can’t help but laugh at Bottom’s ridiculous antics while sporting a donkey’s head, antics that I am sure any thirteen-year-old boy would be able to relate to quite easily. For the record, even my nine-year-old brother can relate to it!
Another slightly more gruesome – I mean, er, thought-provoking book is Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Now, I’m not going to pretend that it’s an easy read – because, really it’s not, and I am not one to lie – but the concept opens your eyes to what could happen to society. It may have been written in 1954 but the decline of order in a community entirely comprising of schoolboys provides a window into a world of disorder and disaster, as relevant in today’s world as it was when it was first published… maybe even more so?
There are countless other classics that I feel boys and girls would enjoy immensely – you just have to overcome the word classic!: Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by JRR. Tolkien, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank – and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (and breathe…)
So, in short, what I’m trying to say is give them a go! You will be better off reading than not. They can be witty, humorous, romantic, dramatic, adventurous (enough characteristics) and anything else you would want.
