To Read English Literature or Not To Read English Literature, That is the Question...

Of course reading English literature is important, but how necessery all of it is for me, am I not so sure of yet. Nevertheless, reading English is important - to a certain point.

This spring we read an English novel at school. I read Matilda by Roald Dahl. I've already read it in Norwegian, but there's no doubt that I definately prefer the English version. If i am reading a book, i choose to read it in English, because i want to read the original text, not a translation. I've seen from earlier times that norwegian translations aren't always that good.I like reading English, and I like reading nice books and funny texts. However, (Astrid and Sven; kill me for saying this) I don't see the use of reading sonnets and works by Shakespeare. Of course I know that his works are a huge part of the English history, but I, personnaly, don't believe that this knowledge will benefit me later. If I could choose, we would have read more recent English literature, instead of something that happened a long time ago.

I have read The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, both in English. I loved reading them, and I would rather read more of these types of books instead of old sonnets. To not seem totally negative, I may add that I really liked all the short stories we have read so far these terms!