u/BonHiver8

I love to read but the way an author writes can make a work completely inaccessible for me. I’ve always had a hard time with works written during another time period or using a style of language that differs at all from my own contemporary brand of English. I really wish I could read Dostoevsky or Joyce but I can’t even handle the their audiobooks much less print. I feel like I’m standing outside a great party watching everyone have this wonderful enriching experience while I know I’ll never be invited in. I’m looking for great novels that have very clear, accessible, down to earth prose. I love Steinbeck….somehow his writing style works for me. Stephen King is another author I can read easily, though I’m about 50/50 on my enjoyment of his books. I don’t care much about setting details like time period or location, just that it is a substantive story with simpler prose. My favorites include “Stoner,” “East of Eden,” & “The Stand.” Any suggestion regarding titles, authors or even methods for making these more difficult works more accessible for me would be greatly appreciated.

****Edit:

Thanks so much for all the wonderful advice and suggestions. I definitely could have used a better title for this one. It should have said something like “Help Me Improve My Reading Comprehension,” or “Suggest Me Some Easy to Read Classics.” I am lucky to have had some very prolific readers in my life who instilled a love of reading and discussing literature in me at a young age but Ive always felt like I hit a ceiling at a certain point and can’t go the places they go. I guess I never really looked at reading as a skill you can hone as an adult, as silly as that sounds. The older I get, the more I love to sit with a book, but I definitely feel like I’m just scratching the surface of what’s out there for me. Your comments have definitely inspired me to drill down a bit and do the work of improving my reading comprehension skills but in the meantime you’ve given me a lot of suggestions I’m looking forward to checking out.