World Book Day 2022 falls this Thursday (March 3) and, to celebrate, comedy channel Dave has commissioned a new survey…
Of books that send the nation to sleep!
Professor Sam Haddow from St Andrews University partnered with Dave on the survey, which consulted 2,000 adults across the UK.
So what is the literary classic readers are “least likely” to finish?
Read on and we’ll tell you!
World Book Day 2022: Survey results
It’s bad news for Leo Tolstoy as his classic War and Peace has been named as the literary classic readers are “least likely” to finish.
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It has an average reading length of 37 hours and 48 minutes, which could contribute to the fact that not everyone who starts it finishes it.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick came next.
They are followed by Wuthering Heights, Animal Farm, Bleak House and Les Misérables.
The list was finished off by the Hunchback of Notre-Dame, The Great Gatsby and Ulysses.
Readers are desperate for some comedy in the classics
However, there was one thing that responders to the survey admitted could make them plough through to the end – if the books were a little funnier.
Some 67% said they would be more likely to complete the classics if they made them laugh.
Which is where Dave came in.
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Producers at Dave partnered with Rachel Parris, stand-up comedian and star of Late Night Mash, to update the classics.
She teamed up with comedy writers including Nikesh Shukla, Mollie Goodfellow, Steven Vinacour, Ivo Graham and Flo Perry on the project.
And you can download the rewrites from the Dave website here now.
So how are the new books different?
Well, since you asked…
The Dave version of Wuthering Heights will see Heathcliff sent to counselling for anger management and toxic masculinity.
Meanwhile, the new take on Animal Farm pokes fun at British politics and features Boris the Boar and Starmer the Horse as well as a farmyard campaign to get Hexit Done.
Professor Haddow said: “It has been a delight to work with Dave’s writers to take a silly stick to the stuffiness surrounding some of our most revered works of literature.
“I hope that readers get as many laughs out of these re-drafted stories as I have.”
Dave channel director Cherie Cunningham added: “At Dave, we’re always looking for new ways to add a little humour to the mundane and every day.
“For World Book Day 2022, we wanted to not only celebrate these literary works of art but add a comedic twist in a bid to inspire new readers or those of us who have tried and failed, to go back and give them another go.”
What else did the World Book Day 2022 research show?
The survey also revealed the reason why people might fib about having read the classics.
Almost two-thirds of adults admitted to being impressed by someone who is well-read in the classics.
Young people aged 18 to 24 are the biggest bluffers, it seems.
Some 77% are willing to lie that they’ve read the likes of War and Peace.
So have you read them? Head to our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and tell us – honestly!