From the wisdom of the ancients to Russian authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy to “modern” authors such as George Orwell and Mark Twain, immersing yourself in great works of literature will be time well spent.

I bought The Idiot for $1.03. A bargain price, you’ll have to agree, for a masterpiece of Russian literature. Yes, all 1,635,000 or so of Dostoevsky’s words have been downloaded to my Kindle ready for my edification.

It’s not his longest book, with The Brothers Karamazov holding that distinction, but a few years ago I read Crime and Punishmentand enjoyed it greatly.

Yes, part of my reading penchant in retirement is delving into the classics, and it’s been a gratifying experience. Now, my definition of what constitutes a classic is admittedly wide, so here I include what brought me the most pleasure, The P.G. Wodehouse Omnibus.

This was also a Kindle bargain, especially as it constituted more than 5,000 pages of glorious prose (books and short stories). That’s the thing about Wodehouse; it’s the quality of the writing.

Whether it’s stories about Jeeves (the valet, not the butler, of Bertie Wooster) or his other equally impressive characters, the stories are all pretty much the same in terms of the plot.

But the sheer joy of reading Wodehouse brings you back time after time. My favourite character is Psmith, so if you get a chance, read any of the books that include him (e.g. Psmith in the City). And yes, Wodehouse does provide us with a female lead character, in the delightful The Adventures of Sally.

As well as Wodehouse and Dostoevsky, I’ve downloaded collections of classics (all at low cost, some free) from the wisdom of the ancients (Seneca, Marcus Aurelius) to ‘modern’ authors such as George Orwell (pictured), Anthony Trollope, Ivan Turgenev and Mark Twain.

What I’ve found is that, more often than not, it’s one of their “minor” titles that I enjoy the most. For example, and perhaps surprisingly, Twain wrote a book on the life and death of Joan of Arc (Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc).

Apparently, he’d become totally absorbed by her story and spent more than a decade researching her life before penning his fascinating tale that he considered his greatest work. Similarly, although Orwell’s 1984 is considered a masterpiece, I must admit to finding parts of it tedious and long-winded, much preferring some of his other works, such as The Road to Wigan Pier.

My introduction to Trollope was by picking one of his lesser-known books at random, The Three Clerks. As the somewhat less than tantalising title suggests, it is the tale of three clerks, surely a boring subject.

Not so, for me anyway. What I enjoyed immensely is that Trollope takes you right into the details and intricacies of life at the time. Having been a clerk himself, he knew all too well the challenges and opportunities facing such workers.

Which leads us to his non-fiction work, such as his marvellous descriptions of his working life for the Post Office. You may not know that Trollope spent time in Australia, his son having migrated here, and again he wrote extensively about his experiences.

Although his focus is, at times, too much about economic and financial issues, his account of travelling in a stagecoach across Victoria in the late 1800s is an eye-opening piece of historical detail.

Getting back to the Russians, if you find the tomes of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky too hefty to tackle, try Turgenev. He was apparently one of the best writers in Russian (hard to judge as we must read translations), but his books are short and digestible.

And like Trollope, they take you right into the intimacies of life in the 19th century. Best know is his excellent Fathers and Sons, but I also really enjoyed A Sportsman’s Sketches, a collection of short stories that reveal much about Russian country life.

Now you may not have (or even desire) a Kindle, so I hasten to add that such screen reading comprises the minority of my reading in general and my consumption of the classics.

Yes, physical books come first, and classics can be readily obtained from larger bookshops and those centres of serendipity – opportunity shops. Many op shops have substantial book sections, often with a classics section (though I baulk at the unnamed shop that has The Power of One among the classics).

From these I’ve bought a mixed classic collection, including a Kingsley Amis or two, a few Graham Greene tomes and one of Evelyn Waugh’s best – no, not the mawkish Brideshead Revisited but the utterly delightful Scoop, which is apparently required reading for all journalists (according to Nicholas Way, anyway).

So, no excuse, educate yourself and read the classics.

Note: this article was previously published in The Golden Times.