More Classics I’ve Recently DNFed 

Life's too short to not DNF!

Oliver Twist ends well.I loved it though was a lot of pain in it.

Oh my, War and Peace and Bleak House are two of my favorite books of all time. The first chapter of Bleak House for me, has the best first chapter ever written, so atmospheric.

Say yes to DNF!! I support this haha DNFing is so taboo in the bookish world and I don't know why. Life is too short to make ourselves read books we aren't enjoying.

This makes me feel better, probably why it's popular!

Hi! I too first watched the BBC TV series War&Peace and only then decided to read the book. I’ve recently finished reading it in Russian and I believe there are two things that made it possible: 1) I was simultaneously listening to an audiobook so to hear those long sentences helped me to understand the meaning of them. In modern Russian we avoid such long sentences, of course. 2) I approached this book as a philosophy of history. This aspect btw is missing in the TV series, which is also fine, I truly enjoyed the adaptation. But from the third book onwards a reader hears more of Tolstoy’s voice, his thoughts on the historical determinism and our perception of the past. I think and read about it quite often, I am very interested in this subject, so his ideas quickly mapped the place in my brain among different approaches to history. I also started to see the tragedies of the characters differently, more from Tolstoy’s perspective rather than my own interpretations. I hope it will help you to change your thoughts about War and Peace and you will come back to this book very soon.

I'm glad I read Oliver Twist just because I never have to read it again. I loved Bleak House despite some sad bits because it had parts about Estate Law, a sort of mystery bit, and Spontaneous Combustion.

I read War and Peace, Bleak House and Oliver Twist. Oliver Twist is definitely not one of my favorite Charles Dickens, but Bleak House is one of my favorites. I agree that if you try reading Bleak House straight through you’ll probably enjoy it more. I appreciated his portrayal of the legal profession/system and think it’s sadly quite accurate. War and Peace is not one of my all time favorite classics because I really think Tolstoy went off on too many tangents and included too many details for my liking. However, I would rate it 3.5-4 stars because there were some scenes that really hit me and character development that I liked.

Definitely agree about your take on feeling guilty about not finishing classics. I am currently struggling with finishing war and peace…

Since you said you wanted to read a new book about pirates, I would recommend Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini. It was an interesting read albeit a bit questionable at times. I think it fits more into the "swashbuckler" category than it does "Pirates of the Caribbean" esque, but I still was thoroughly impressed by it. There is also an old movie about it as well that I haven't watched but has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Hurrah! No pressure at all, but lovely to have a new video from you Jennifer. There are a lot of classics, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries, that I have tried and put down - or just have no motivation to even pick up. I still feel bad about it from time to time, but I know in my case it’s a misplaced sense of pride based on what “other people” might think about the fact I haven’t read or DNFed such-and-such a classic. But there’s only so much time and I want my reading to be enjoyable as well as edifying, so if that means binning off some of the “classics” , then so be it. 😉 Hope you’re having a good August so far. 🦊📚🤓

I really enjoyed hearing why you dnf'd these classics! I too felt the same way about War and Peace. I got 300 pages in and just couldn't bring myself to continue on with a three star tome. I am as shocked as the next person that I loved Treasure Island so much. I think you called it when you said you didn't like his writing style. I guess if I like an author's writing style I can get behind a lot of different books they write. It does make for some great film adaptations!

I am on Book 2 of War and Peace... Which is at 84 pages in my edition and have taken a break from it as well because there's so much going on with the book and there's so many characters that we are introduced to in the first book that it just overwhelms me. So far, I have read up to book six of the Series of Unfortunate Events, book three of the Percy Jackson series, and am halfway through A Little Princess because I don't want to pick up this book again. Book Two of War and Peace is where we get more into the warfare/battles and I usually am always so excited with war/battle scenes but every time I think of Tolstoy, I want to run and hide because I know that Tolstoy will have a lot more than just a war going on and the build up to war. I DNFed Bleak House by Charles Dickens a few months ago. I couldn't get into the book and it was making me resent the author and I have like four books by him that I want to read. I did read Dickens Christmas stories and really enjoyed them, but when reading Bleak House and his ghost stories made me really, really not like Dickens' authorial voice.

war and peace intimidates me quite a lot, i definitely will try it some day but that day is not right now haha. i didnt know that oliver twist was so sad, i know the basic story because of seeing parts of adaptations but didn't realise the book was written that way.

I completely agree with you on Oliver Twist. But for some reason it's characters like Fagin, Dodger, Nancy, and Bill Sykes, have stayed with me more than any other of Dickens' characters.😎💜📚

just found your channel and its my favorite now!

Your experience with War and Peace sounds so similar to my first time reading Anna Karenina. But the second time around I did end up finishing it and enjoying it! I recently got a copy of War and Peace too. It's definitely one of those books I'm motivated to get to, but feeling very intimidated.

WOW! Call me shocked. Except for On Painting, the others a terrific novels. Not sure I would read them back to back or during a pandemic, but they are great stories. Of course, I’m much older than you, so draw upon very different experiences about life. Yes, Oliver Twist is very dark. But it’s grim mood is accurate and life isn’t a cakewalk. In Life, we choose our hard. Treasure Island is not a Disney ride nor is it a musical. Masterful story though.

How did so many of us end up with this deep seated "you have to say you actually read xyz classics or else you're not 'well read' " or whatever? Like objectively I know that I've read a crap ton of books, but since I haven't read a handful of the bigger classics it feels like I haven't read anything? lol Beh. That's interesting about Tolstoy. So far I've only listened to the audiobook of The Death of Ivan Ilyich which I did enjoy. But I have yet to dive into any of his bigger ones. That's also so good to know about Bleak House because I was considering doing something similar - breaking it up since it's so massive. I've generally enjoyed Dickens so I'm hopeful I'll be able to finish out his catalogue strong.

About the movie adaptations of these classics, I agree with what you say. It really does seem like they take the characters and they just build up a new story around them. Look at the 1993 or 2011 Three Musketeers adaptations, for example. There was one girl that was convinced that The Three Musketeers would have airships in the book, and when she realized it was just a historical fiction novel that had no fantasy elements to it whatsoever, she DNFed the book and never picked up another Dumas since. I think that's the problem with a lot of these film adaptions of books, they build up the original canon that it gains interest, but people are usually disappointed by the original and have a lot of resentment towards the book and usually the author. However, if each adaptation was the same, the audience would be bored and the film would flop...

Oh man.. it makes me sad that you might feel the least amount of shame for not getting on with W&P.. i mean- it just *can't* be for everyone no matter how lauded & praised! The thing i really love about your channel is *your* unique passions & tastes; areas of scholarly speciality from vikings to medieval to renaissance to WOTRoses etc Considering just how much you read why waste your precious time right? Im wrestling with dnf'ing The CHOParma (ticked so many boxes), Its pretty silly / average but picks up intermittently. My foray into classic Japanese hasn't gone well & kind of feel thats something i should really have liked.. its amazing how earnest guilty & bummed we can get about it lol! If you dare another translation of W&P- ABriggs Penguin. *excellent* dont think i could have managed without family trees cast & quality notes for the first 1/3rd. Yep- when i do BHouse im not reading anything else & im going straight through.. if i lose momentum it'll never work (thats how i do Dickens)- will follow Katies old Yt read along for that- so good! Glad youre back! : )))

When I read War & Peace, I found that I really enjoyed the chapters about the characters and their relationships but really struggled with the alternating chapters about the war. The war chapters were quite in-depth talking strategy etc and I found them tough to get through. If you have a similar issue, I’d suggest skimming those chapters. You could even just read the first and last paragraphs of those chapters for context and then continue with the character chapters. On the other hand, if you’re just not a fan of Tolstoy’s writing then you shouldn’t beat yourself up about not reading it. It’s just a book like any other and if you’re not enjoying it then don’t waste your time when you could be reading another book you might love.

I totally understand. I set aside Pilgrims Progress because I was forcing myself to pick it up.

I've read Anna Karenina several times and it's still one of my favorite classics of all time but I had to stick with it, really stick with it, the first time I picked it up... so I understand your feelings towards W&P. I'm currently listening the audiobook version of this one and it's good so far, even though I'm at the beginning (part 1, chapter 10). On the other hand, I can't with Dickens: I'm not fond of his works, not even one of them. It's probably related to how Dickens is studied at school, how dreading some passages were... I don't have a single copy of Dickens in my library and, honestly, I don't feel ashamed. it's just not for me.

we did an "abridged" version of Oliver Twist in school and the musical was always on tv, so really interesting to hear how different the book sounds from the popular culture version firmly planted in my head. i like how you grouped it with Treasure Island as sort of books whose cultural legacy escaped or surpassed them - that would be a really interesting video to make, actually!

I do hope that you will give War and Peace another chance at some point. I very much enjoyed it and it's one that I've continued to think about ever since finishing. In fact, I'm hoping to reread it on the sooner side. Bleak House is one that I've recently picked up. Not to read yet, but because I'm really excited to do so. I watched the miniseries a few years ago and thought it was quite excellent. As far as feeling bad about DNFing classics, I never do feel bad. I DNF if I'm not enjoying/getting something from the book. Sometimes I do wish that I could see in the story what others seem to. I almost think I need to read Les Miserables again for that reason.

I did enjoy Treasure Island when I read it to my 8 year old. The only Tolstoy I have ever recommended was the very short Death of Ivan Illych.

Oliver Twist is the first classic I ever read. It was assigned reading for me in 7th grade. I've always had a good opinion of it but never felt like I wanted to reread it.

FWIW, I've had success reading Dickens in weekly chunks that track the original serialization schedule. Reading Dombey and Son using this method now and enjoying it.

Lol, I struggled so much with Treasure Island that I almost DNFd it. Somehow I persevered but since then I have forgotten about 80% of what happened in it 😂 I think I'm going to try it again this Victober to see if my opinions have changed. With Bleak House it took me about 300 pages to really get invested in it, and after that it was almost impossible to put down!

The last 10% of W&P is hard to enjoy unless you despise Napoleon as much as old Leo did.

Perhaps in another moment in your life you’ll have a different experience with War and Peace. But I believe you shouldn’t force yourself to read something, especially such a long book. There are so many other books to read and so little time. I’m reading Bleak House this October with some other Booktubers.

I was very curious about how you would react to Treasure Island. I ended up enjoying it ok but it definitely was not as exciting as I hoped it would be. I also felt similarly about Oliver Twist. There is one character I loved but the rest were pretty forgettable.

I enjoyed Treasure Island, but I also thought the adaptations far more entertaining.

I'm currently taking a hiatus from War and Peace and had similar issues with it - really enjoyed myself while reading (though I sometimes found the war parts a bit dragging), but didn't feel the need to pick it up again. It was disappointing, because Anna Karenina is one of my favourite books of all time and I fully expected to love War and Peace as well. However, I'm a total mood reader and started it for a book club, so I might just have picked it up at the wrong time. So while it actually brought on a reading slump, I'll definitely return to it at some point.

have you read Rafael Sabatini for swashbuckling fun? Captain blood

Aw I love Treasure Island. But I have never made it through War and Peace. I feel less ashamed now that I have good company. Bleak House took discipline to get through but was well worth it. For some reason I have never wanted to read Oliver Twist. The musical is one my favorites though! I have dnf’d Moby Dick three times! I know you loved it! But I just can’t maintain interest. The story just doesn’t grip me.

I read War and Peace in 19 days in June of 2004, and am still disappointed I didn't finish it much quicker. Given how fast I can read, and that Russian literature and history are my area of expertise, I thought it'd take two weeks tops. I absolutely hated that annoying religious fanatic Princess Mariya and her abusive father, as well as Pierre's toffee-nosed wife Hélène. It also grossed me out how 15-year-old Natalya was engaged to someone twenty years her senior. Contrary to what a lot of modern people ahistorically insist, that was NOT common even among royalty and the wealthy in that time or place! The ending really angered me too, but I won't spoil it. Then there was that pointless Part VIII, a rambling treatise on history that had nothing to do with anything that happened in the book, and wasn't even fiction. I wasted an entire day reading that, and plan to skip it when I reread War and Peace. One final issue was how much untranslated French there was. I had to keep my old French dictionary I got from my dad, published in 1910, by my side as I read it. The main reason I can read a fair bit of basic French is because I've read so many older books with untranslated French! I did love Pierre, who was my favorite character hands-down, and the officer who talked like Elmer Fudd.

Great video I feel the same with classics, although i find DNF difficult with any book. Classic DNF’s I want to go back to are Life and Fate, The Forsyte Saga Part/Book 3 and Paradiso. But Classics I have DNF’d that I’m reluctant to go back to are Little Woman and Dorian Grey, I’ve attempted to read both 3 times and not enjoyed them so don’t know if I want to try a fourth time !!

I was about to start Treasure Island with high hopes because Pirates of the Caribbean is my favorite movie of all time but now I will go into it without expectations. I also bought war and peace recently and our tastes in classics are similar so I’m a bit nervous lol

How you doing with the series The Year of Napoleon?

I just came back from a long hiatus of War and Peace. Just like you, I went into it already knowing the characters and some of what was going to happen. I am back to struggling with it again, I feel like I have read what I wanted to read, a part of me really wants to read so that I know what happens next, but another part of me is like why bother because the war part and the political and strategy talk does not interest me at all and I find myself with struggling to pick the book up.

I DNFed Emma by Jane Austin. To me it was boring, pointless and had way too many characters. I did enjoy Pride and Prejudice. A strange love hate relationship with Ms. Austin's writing.

Hi! I’m a new subscriber and I wanted to know if you’ve read Don Quixote or the Count of Monte Cristo. Those are classics I want to read and I would love to hear your input on them (if you’ve read them)

I try and avoid DNF’ing - I’ve only done it twice and they were temporary. I’m currently reading Anna Karenina and I’m nearly half way through. Did you find Levin’s story line incredibly dry and boring? I absolutely love the parts about Anna and Vronsky, but the parts about Levin are almost painful to get through because all he’s doing is moping around in the countryside. Did you have the same problem with it?

Its good to DNF. For years I looked at my bookmark in The Brothers Karamazov, thinking that I would go back to it someday. Finally donated my copy last year.

Oh yea also The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. It is so bland why keep picking it up.

please don't feel bad about War and peace. I've read it recently in Russian and did not like at all. Not the best russian classic, not even the best Tolstoy :)

Hey guys I'm new here, what does DNF mean

Bleak House and War and Peace are amazing books. It just may not resonate with you.