I tried reading the Iliad and got bored during the second book...

I tried reading the Iliad and got bored during the second book. The characters are talking too much about every little bullshit there is. I went to wikipedia and read the synopses of the rest of the books. I also day dream while reading and find out I read through multiple lines without noticing so I always have to go back and re read. Am I too much of a brainlet for Veeky Forumserature? I thought about listening to an audiobook while reading the text along.

The Iliad just sucks. Try something that sucks less. Even if you start with the Greeks I'd say start with Plato. Even the most pedantic, unsatisfying dialogue is better than The Iliad.

Version?

Yes, you are.

Unrelated to the OP but how long should it take the average reader to get through the book? The approximation when I google searched was 8 hours but I don't know if that's accurate

ACHILLES' WRATH, TO GREECE THE DIREFUL SPRING
OF WOES UNNUMBER'D, HEAVENLY GODDESS, SING!
THAT WRATH WHICH HURL'D TO PLUTO'S GLOOMY REIGN
THE SOULS OF MIGHTY CHIEFS UNTIMELY SLAIN;

>tfw you will never read about Ares scream in a voice of ten thousand men when Diomedes throws his spear at him
>tfw you will never appreciate the subtlety of Priam's talk with Achilles
>tfw you will never empathize with Achilles's pain when he finds out Patroclus died
>tfw you will never understand the Illiad because you don't know how Achilles's new shield looks like
>tfw you're a pleb
kys

>I thought about listening to an audiobook while reading the text along.
I've been doing this for 3 months now for all my books.
Am I doing something wrong?

Yes. God. Yes.

>I also day dream while reading and find out I read through multiple lines without noticing so I always have to go back and re read

Doesn't this happen to everyone at some point?

Yes.

What's wrong with it?

>listening to an audiobook while reading the text along.
Make sure the two are different versions though, for added metatextual textural enrichment.

There are different translations, some of them are literal translations while others take liberties with meaning but better retain the spirit of the original.

I read a literal translation of the Odyssey, basically a list of characters' actions from start to finish and had a pretty similar experience to the one you're describing.

Later I read parts of a more poetic version and actually enjoyed them. If you want to keep at it find another translation.

There's nothing shameful about not enjoying a 7000 year old work when it's been boiled down to the plot alone.

How do you take notes?

What a worthless post. Just focus you idiot. This isnt a real problem.

Robert Fagles.
It happens to me every two pages at least.

No senpai. Aubiodooks are the future and a resurection of the oral tradition
that is why our language is becoming hieroglyphic agin wit da emojacons

You aren't reading you are being read to like mommy used to at bedtime

Read pope if you want an English version that rhymes and has meter from beginning to end, like an epic poem is supposed to.

It's old and public domain, therefore free

The Iliad was oral tradition for hundreds of years before being written down

>tfw no mommy gf who reads out short stories to help me fall asleep

Read Lombard if you want an English version that sounds badass, like an epic poem is supposed to.

*Lombardo
I guess I can't type