Reading the Classics

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Two books on the right is "The Iliad" and the left is "The Odyssey", both also contain text "Homer" and "translated by Emily Wilson"
The Classics
Table of Contents

I’m happy to say I recently finished The Odyssey by Homer. This marks a shift from what I normally read, which is non-fiction self improvement to classics and fiction.

My Problems with Reading

Before continuing, I want to state my problems with reading:

  1. I envy the bookworms! For me, reading is akin to eating vegetables. In other words, it requires effort. Unlike turning on the television.
  2. I envy those with taste! I don’t know what to read. Most of what I read is algorithmically recommended non-fiction. In a way, I get recommended books tied to a community — like self improvement. Thanks to this, I’m often led down an echo chamber, rather than thinking freely.

The bookworms and those with taste and stable minds, why can’t that be me?

My Reading History

I did read in school on top of the books prescribed by our teachers. We were encouraged to read, which is something I’m grateful for. Some of these titles include:

My childhood didn’t consist of reading the Harry Potter series sadly until my mid-twenties (I got stuck on Order of the Phoenix…).

Years into my work life, I rarely picked up any books. One that came to mind was Yeonmi Park’s In Order to Live.

The drought of reading ended when I discovered the world of self-help, audiobooks and a kindle.

From binging useless YouTube videos after work into the late of night, I went down the rabbit hole starting with:

I also enjoyed books written about major disaster events like Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Adding to this, books about business, personal finance — my diet is very non-fiction and self-help, which is fine to an extent.

I made attempts to branch out based on recommendations from others as well as to gain experience from others. One example is I identify as male, so it’s good to gain other perspectives:

My New Reading Goal and Why

A realisation of reading so many non-fiction books is that I had trouble thinking on my own. And that’s partly due to issue hightlighed above — difficultly finding what to read.

Another problem is non-fiction, though being informative, force feeds you knowledge. We don’t really think on our own. On the other hand, fiction offers you to have your own interpretation beyond what the author intended.

On the other hand, the notable literary books I read in high school still stick with me today. Fictions helps you think so it sticks in your mind more, but it also helps when you have your teacher explain most of it though.

I do like to also think:

There is truth in fiction

I think it’s a good idea to broaden the horizons. I want to read and somehow enjoy classic literature.

And where did I start?

With the Odyssey by Homer.

This is a tough one, since the Odyssey was created during the time when there was no novel or written text. It was orated, and it was eventually written in the Ancient Greek, then eventually translated into modern, modern English.

After reading it, do I feel like a new person? Not really. Am I a better thinker? Like Rome, it wasn’t built in a day. Do I feel good that I read it? I do!

An aside, I do think we worship celebrities, influencers and people of power, like the Greeks did to their Gods in the Odyssey.

On the contrary, I won’t stop reading non-fiction. I have a few more on the go at the moment:

But I will be cracking into more:

Let’s see how this journey goes.