“A classic book takes its time to unfold, unlike swiping through a feed”

In an age of instant gratification, where TikTok videos are 30 seconds and attention spans are even shorter, it comes as no surprise to learn that today’s students are struggling to read long books, writes Sarah Newton.

According to The Times , literature students used to read three books a week but now struggle to make it through one in three weeks, thanks largely to the use of smartphones.

If this is the case, it’s nothing short of a (Shakespearian) tragedy. The experience of immersing yourself an epic story is not just about reading, it’s about committing to the experience and diving deep into stories that have stood the test of time. These books offer something you simply can’t find in 280 characters.

I know this because during lockdown Simon Burch ???? and I set out to read the Top 100 Penguin Classics , which saw us tackle tomes such as Moby Dick (dull as the deep dark sea it’s set in), War and Peace (as looooooooong as, well, War and Peace) and Les Miserable (an astonishing 1,488 pages). The best thing about this exercise was finding some genuine treasures. If you haven’t read Perfume by Patrick Suskind I can’t recommend it enough – it is as eccentric as it is genius and I guarantee you won’t have read anything like it before.

Vanity Fair may have been written in 1847 but has all the gossip-value of the latest edition of Ok! Magazine, while The Count of Monte Cristo is a rip-roaring, page-turning epic tale of revenge and is utterly unputdownable (although at 1,388 pages you do have to occasionally).

Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina is the most beautiful love story, while Frankenstein remains as relevant now as it was when it was written and is heartbreaking tale of loneliness rather than the gothic horror it has become famous for.

These classics have earned their place on the literary pedestal because of their complex characters, rich themes and masterful storytelling. They’re the kind of books that force you to think, to wrestle with tough ideas and to spend more than five minutes pondering their messages.

And yes, many of them are long. Really long. The kind of long that makes a modern reader wince and your arms ache. For young readers today, whose lives are full of constant notifications, Netflix marathons and the latest social media trend, dedicating the time and energy to read these weighty tomes feels like an ancient ritual. And in some ways, it is.

So why bother?

For me, there’s a unique joy in reading a book that takes its time to unfold. Unlike the quick-fire entertainment that surrounds us, a classic book teaches patience. You can’t skim through Jane Eyre or rush through The Brothers Karamazov. The payoff is in the slow burn, the steady immersion into another world. These books require dedication and a deeper engagement than you will ever get just swiping through a feed.

Classics teach us that not everything valuable comes easily. The density of their language, their historical context and the depth of their themes force us to pause, reflect and challenge our current understanding of the world.

They expose us to moral dilemmas, philosophical ideas and life’s complexities in ways that shorter, more modern content often fails to capture.

For many young people, though, the idea of spending weeks on one book is daunting. Who has time for that when you can binge-watch an entire series in a weekend?

This erosion of our attention spans means that our brains are being rewired, making it harder to concentrate for extended periods. We have become used to bite-sized information such as memes, tweets or short videos that provide quick bursts of dopamine.

Our brains now crave instant rewards, and this doesn’t align well with the slow, meditative process of reading a lengthy novel.

It’s not that young people can’t read long books; it’s more that the world they’ve grown up in doesn’t encourage it. Why spend hours deciphering Shakespearean language when you can watch a YouTube summary in five minutes? Why wade through Dickens’ complex social commentary when a blog post can give you the gist?

For those wanting to take on the challenge of the top 100 classic books – or even just one – it’s worth acknowledging that it will be a different experience from reading modern fiction or scrolling through social media. But that difference is precisely what makes it valuable.

In the end, completing the top 100 classic books isn’t just about crossing titles off a list – well it was for Simon and I, but more on that later. Reading a classic forces you to slow down and connect with stories that have shaped culture, philosophy, and human understanding for centuries.

It’s easy to dismiss the classics as outdated or irrelevant, but the truth is, many of the themes in these books – love, loss, power, betrayal and identity – are just as relevant today. The difference is that these authors explore those ideas with more nuance and depth than most modern media allows.

So, if you’re a young reader, consider taking on a classic or two. It’s not going to be easy, and you may have to retrain your brain to focus on something longer than a tweet. But in the end, the rewards are far greater than the effort it takes to finish.

And, speaking of finishing, Simon ticked off all 100 books, making him the best read penguin in our office.

As an English Literature graduate, I had a head start on Simon, having read a fair few on the list already, which makes it even more of a crime (and punishment) that I haven’t quite made it through the last few.

I simply couldn’t face The Iliad by Homer, I knew I wouldn’t understand James Joyce’s Ulysses (does anyone?) and I started, but couldn’t stomach, Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer.?

And of course, there were some of the Top 100 that I read and didn’t enjoy. One Hundred Years of Solitude ?by?Gabriel?García Márquez is a multi-generational spanning magnum opus where almost every character has the same name and I couldn’t wait to finish it.

Orlando, by Virginia Woolfe, also failed to hit the spot, largely due to the eponymous character confusingly changing gender on more than occasion.

But, in a world that’s constantly moving, I have no regrets about sitting down with a long book, turning the pages and losing myself in these stories that have shaped generations.

The classics may be challenging, but they offer a kind of fulfilment that no social media post ever will.