Dear Julie,

I’m so glad you enjoyed the talk on old books. You’re wise to ask that your son continue reading these these old books in a disciplined way.

It sounds as if you both may be auditory or kinesthetic learners, which would explain some of the challenges you face. If this is the case, reading via audiobooks is a very good solution. My auditory learner retains so much more from audiobooks than from visual reading, as does my kinesthetic learner. So that is a good solution. T

o get a bit deeper into the classics, there is ExcellenceInLiterature.com, of course, perhaps starting with the first level. You may also want to see if there is a classics book group near you, or look on GoodReads.com for one. Discussion is an amazing tool to encourage understanding. And if all else fails, CliffNotes and SparkNotes are free online. Keep in mind that the analyses are from a thoroughly modern perspective, and there is never just a single way to read a book.

If you haven’t read a lot of old books before you started the classics, you may want to start with the most engaging ones you can find. Sometimes these aren’t actual classics, but simply good, clean books that can get you up to speed with the broader vocabulary and greater detail of old books. It also helps to begin with the genre you usually enjoy.

You may want to look for books from the early 20th century (many free online or easily findable used) by authors such as:

Mary Roberts Rinehart (mystery, sometimes humorous)
E. Phillips Oppenheim (mystery/thriller/spy)
John Buchan (The 39 Steps and other spy thrillers)
James Oliver Curwood (adventures in frozen north)
George Barr McCutcheon (romance, sometimes a hint of mystery)
Harold MacGrath (romance, sometimes a hint of mystery)
Grace S. Richmond (The Indifference of Juliet and others)
Gene Stratton Porter (Freckles, Girl of the Limberlost, Laddie)
Bess Streeter Aldrich (pioneers on the plains)
Helen Hunt Jackson (Ramona)
Eleanor H. Porter
John Fox, Jr.

If you try and enjoy of these, I’d love to hear about it!

I saw you speak at ENOCH last weekend, and was surprised that your talk on reading old books was the one that stuck with me the most of all the sessions I went to. I went home with your 5 year checklist, found all the books and short stories I owned from that list, checked off the ones my teens have already read/listened to… I was envigorated to persue more of the classics.

In fact, I told my son, who will graduate next year, that although he may not go to college (he hopes to persue a career in woodworking/carpentry), I would ask that he continue reading classics in a disciplined way. I may look into signing him up for an Omnibus class with Veritas, post high school.

He is a struggling learner, especially in the area of reading, so does most of his “reading” auditorially. I can accept that he won’t be going on to college, if I think he will keep expanding his world through good books.

My issue is not so different from his. I want to read all these good books, too, but I find that many of them are just so hard for me to get into. I am a fairly educated woman, only because my folks were, and made sure I went to the best high school in the state. But I have definite limits. I studied graphic design in college as I was very poor in all academics, except writing.

Ironically, I direct a classical homeschool co-op where, by the way, we use lots of IEW materials. But I feel trapped by my own limits, intellectually. Do you have any advice regarding how my son and I could get into these deep books with better success? Do you have a remedial book list that is a bit less intimidating for those like us? Haha!

Warmly,
Julie