Hi guys, im in need of dire help rn! the thing is, i read 200 books a year, but not a single one of them had been non fiction or a classic or LITERATURE in general, it was all romance and fantasy and sci fi and basically a lot of fluff, which i am all for, but i really want to diversify my reading so could yall please please please recommend some classics for begginers!!!!

Like am I just illiterate??? Have I failed basic English reading comprehension??

“she placed a hand on her shoulder like a protective raft” what???

“He’d approached her like she was a disposable body he recognized across the street” i thought the requirement for being described as “disposable” was not being easily recognizable???

”They followed them through alpine meadows, mirroring the rows of caterpillars that crawled down the moss” what the fuck does this mean?

”The ceramic fox [cake topper] curled between buttercream and strawberries. His eyes were closed, his bushy tail a veil that hid him from the rest of the world” a veil is BY DEFINITION not “bushy”….

I’m really struggling with this. This book would be better if it didn’t try so hard to sound impressive and poetic.

***Note that these are from the ARC, and final wording is subject to change in the official version

I am participating in the reading challenge set up by the Reading Glasses podcast, and one of the prompts this year is "Give an author a second chance". The idea is to not immediately write an author off if you did not like one of their books, but to try a different book by them, and maybe discover you like that author after all! So I was wondering: have any of you done this successfully :)? Which author did you try this for, and what were the books that made you think you didn't like the author vs. the ones that made you change your mind?

I am still looking for a book to complete this challenge myself. I am thinking I might be willing to give Sally Rooney another try. I didn't particularly like Normal People, the characters didn't grab me and I do not like the miscommunication trope. Did any of you dislike Normal People but love one of her other books?