<p>I decided to commit myself to two-hour daily reading to improve my verbal ability in general.
My first choice novel was Great Gatsby.
I set out to read for an hour, but ridiculously, I spent the whole hour reading only two pages.
The main reason of this would be that there were some weird phrases and sentences like “…the victim of not a few veteran bores”, and “…it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men”. Trying to figure out what they mean slows down my reading speed a lot.
I understand all the vocabularies and grammar making up the phrases and sentences, but I just can’t figure out what they mean as a whole.</p>
<p>I considered just skipping those weirdos and moving on, but I got worried that if I don’t get those phrases, then I’ll have trouble understanding what comes later in the novel. My assumption is that every single thing, no matter how small, builds up to the overall story, and that missing any part of them will adversly affect understanding the novel. What should I do to be able to understand those kinds of weird phrases? I’m guessing the novel has more of those phrases as the novel proceeds. What should I do? I’m really frustrated. </p>
<p>What you should do is find a book that you find so interesting that you don’t mind slogging through the difficult passages. Visit a library and speak with a librarian, tell her/him what sort of books interest you and what your goal is. I’ll bet they come up with something that is both challenging for you and that grabs your attention.</p>
<p>Now I remember why I didn’t really care for The Great Gatsby! Not every good author writes with such flowery and convoluted prose. Mathson reads a lot of sci-fi and fantasy. They tend to have decent vocabularies and lively plots. He’s got a great vocabulary.</p>
<p>When I lived in Germany I remember having this problem - one solution was to read books in German that I had already read in English. I also read the newspaper daily.</p>
<p>You chose a difficult book. Start with something more colloqial – Hemingway, for example. Reading is like anything else: the more you do it, the better you get at it.</p>
edad: Yes, it is. But I don’t think the problem arises from the fact that English is my second language. I would have the same problem even if I tried reading the Great Gatsby translated into my native language, because what I’m having trouble on is not exactly English itself.</p>