I made a previous post a long time ago about how English class killed Shakespeare for me due to crazy and badgering high school English teachers. I see nothing wrong with reading critically, but I do not like being forced to do it at the pace that is not of my own choosing. And I prefer reading books with substance rather than crappy (i.e.: Twilight) entertainment fluff. I need something with an actual plot and character development, which is a goal that ALL writers should have.
Since getting my Kindle (I named it Antoinette) last February, I have been reading more often due to the pure convenience of having so many books on one device. However, since Amazon doesn’t have everything available for the Kindle I still buy actual books on the occasion it isn’t readily available in ebook form.
I’ve been noticing a pattern of me re-reading stuff that I had read in high school and I’ve discovered that I actually enjoy the books now that I do not have a crazy English teacher breathing down my neck to find all of the themes! Okay, I only really re-read To Kill a Mockingbird, which I read in my freshman year of high school. Now I do enjoy the movie with Gregory Peck as Atticus, which I saw a couple years ago which probably gave me incentive to give the book another chance. I’m not actually sure why I felt a need to re-read the book again, but I picked it up from my recent trip to Barnes & Noble. Now that I no longer have Mrs. O’Neill being the passive-aggressive crazy person she is, I can properly enjoy this book.
I’m not sure I will have as much luck if I re-read Catcher in the Rye, any of the past Shakespeare plays from high school, or any Steinbeck.
Try reading The Great Gatsby! I read that during junior year, and it is now one of my all time favorite books