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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to try experiencing that uniquely grown up

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Speaker 1: pleasure of rereading a book you were once assigned to

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Speaker 1: read in school. A good literature teacher can make great

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Speaker 1: books come alive. Unfortunately, plenty of people went through school

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Speaker 1: having the opposite experience. Maybe a book wasn't taught well,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes even if it was, people resent being forced

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Speaker 1: to do things. Or perhaps your mind was on other

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Speaker 1: things in schools, such as sports or another activity, and

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Speaker 1: you skim through a book doing whatever was required to pass.

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Speaker 1: In any case, when I started reading seriously as an

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Speaker 1: adult a few years ago, I had a realization. And

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Speaker 1: I know this is obvious, but so it goes with epiphanies.

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Speaker 1: A lot of the literature assigned in school is assigned

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Speaker 1: because it is good. Really bad books don't get re

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Speaker 1: read for generations. In order to impress literature teachers who

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Speaker 1: read a lot, a book has to be pretty well

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Speaker 1: put together. And yes, you can drive a book into

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Speaker 1: the ground when you need to write a paper explaining

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Speaker 1: the recurring symbolism of I don't know that white Whale,

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Speaker 1: but still Moby Dick is incredibly entertaining. As an adult,

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Speaker 1: you don't need to write papers, and you can move

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Speaker 1: through a book at your own pace. So why not

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Speaker 1: revisit an assigned book and see if you can find

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Speaker 1: the pleasure in it. If you're not in the habit

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Speaker 1: of reading much, start with something short and relatively accessible.

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Speaker 1: The Great Gatsby is a good choice. The narrative follows

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Speaker 1: a handful of memorable characters through a series of parties.

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Speaker 1: There's enough action that you can read through it in

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Speaker 1: an afternoon. Hemingway is the Old Man, and the Sea

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Speaker 1: or the Sun also rises are likewise slim but memorable.

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Speaker 1: Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence is absolutely dazzling, and

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Speaker 1: generations have rediscovered and loved To Kill a Mockingbird. Or

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Speaker 1: you can consume literature in a different way. Untold numbers

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Speaker 1: of ninth graders have stumbled through Romeo and Juliette's Strange Spellings.

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Speaker 1: But Shakespeare is much better experienced in dramatic form, so

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Speaker 1: get a recording of one of his plays and listen

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Speaker 1: to it as you're commuting to work. I'd also note

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Speaker 1: that some authors have works that are more straightforward than others.

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Speaker 1: If you're picking up Virginia Wolf for the second time

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Speaker 1: as an adult, you'll want to The Lighthouse or Mrs Dollaway,

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Speaker 1: and probably not The Waves with James joyce Portrait of

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Speaker 1: the Artist as a young man is going to be

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Speaker 1: better with a rereading than Ulysses or Finnigot's Wake. But

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Speaker 1: next time you go to a library or bookstore, peruse

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Speaker 1: the book lists at Amazon, think about what books you

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Speaker 1: were assigned to read in high school or college. Pick

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Speaker 1: up one that seems relatively doable, then challenge yourself to

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Speaker 1: read just fifty pages. If it's not doing it for

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Speaker 1: you at that point, well feel free to abandon the book.

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Speaker 1: One of the upsides of reading voluntarily is that no

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Speaker 1: one can make you finish, but you just might find

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Speaker 1: yourself enjoying the experience, especially as you read through the

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Speaker 1: lens of having a lifetime of wisdom and context. You

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Speaker 1: might see things that you couldn't see as a young person.

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Speaker 1: And since no one is going to make you write

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Speaker 1: a paper, well it's really the best of all outcomes.

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Speaker 1: If you've read a book that you were once assigned,

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Speaker 1: please let me know. You can email me at Before

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Speaker 1: Breakfast podcast at ihart media dot com. In the meantime,

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Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making

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Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,

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Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

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Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media

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Speaker 1: dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i

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Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.