[General] Reading Fiction literature in English

[ulugbekna]

Hi,
I am a learner of English with decent experience of 4-5 years. I have IELTS 7.5 (Reading 8.5); nevertheless, every time I read fiction literature, I get confused. The most annoying is that I do not get the idea which the writer trying to put in by using satire, wit, and dialogues. I am not sure whether this is only about vocabulary or syntax. Can anyone help me? Should I learn more idioms and phrasal verbs to understand it or just practice? Any advice is regarded.

 

[Tdol]

What have you been reading? Fiction is not an easy area to read - it is usually more taxing than non-fiction. Have you read much/anything that you enjoyed and do you read a lot of fiction in your own language?

 

[geass11]

I don't particularly like English fictional literature.

Everybody I know, thinks Shakespeare is dreadful. The language is hard to understand and it isn't even that interesting.

Anyway, what types of English fictional literature have you been reading?

 

[Tdol]

Everybody I know, thinks Shakespeare is dreadful. The language is hard to understand and it isn't even that interesting.

Have you tried watching some at the theatre- seeing it done is a very different experience? Or watch something like Kenneth Branagh's Henry V film.

 

[emsr2d2]

Well, working on the assumption that we "know" each other, your assertion is false. I do not think Shakespeare is dreadful! It's complicated, it's hard to follow but it's ultimately rewarding. I genuinely wouldn't expect non-native speakers to get it at all!

 

[Esredux]

I don't think Shakespear is dreadful either but beg to differ on the second part. Of course, you can question the extent to which a non-native speaker can perceive Shakespear. To the best of my belief, however, it could not so much be a linguistic issue but a cultural thing.

Back to the original question, you might want to try reading one author only, preferably someone nearly contemporary. If you stick to one writer for a while, you'll gradually get used to his or her language - idioms, phrases, sentence structures, etc. It could be challenging at first, just skip the most demanding parts and keep going. The point is to find a fairly prolific writer you'd find inetersting enough to read and read a lot.