How could Finnegan's Wake not be number one? Gravity's Rainbow had me daydreaming midsentence on many occasions, but the density of the prose is part of the appeal, and I felt a bit better for reading it. I can say many nice things about Joyce, but Finnegan's Wake was some manner of anti-literature dreamed up in a fugue-state of profound self-loathing, apparently designed to make people hate writers, or at least James Joyce. It doesn't even succeed in doing that. It's just baffling and boring. If you feel like you need to suffer for some past transgression, but you don't like the thought of self-flagellation, it might be the intellectual torture you've been looking for.

See I really enjoyed reading it! I thought it was surprisingly funny at times. I actually got a lot more out of it than I was expecting to, though I have been meaning to re-read it so I can write a proper review. I def agree that it should be number one on a list like this though.

Did the 'restoration' include a completely different manuscript? A story in English?... :-)

To be completely honest, Warwick, I didn't come close to finishing it, which is why I'm biased. The other books on the list I've read -- Gravity's Rainbow, Infinite Jest, Naked Lunch, The Canterbury Tales, Underworld -- I didn't find that 'tough', especially the last three. This is one of the rare occasions where not being able to finish a novel provides me with a reason for discussing it. Now I have to find my copy and try again... I really hate admitting there's a book I didn't 'get', or a book I ran away from, weeping and cursing.

Ha. I didn't actually read the ‘restored’ version, just the regular one. And when I voted on this list, I was just voting for the ones I've read, not necessarily the ones I thought were especially tough. Though I remember finding Gravity's Rainbow hard going and – as you said – a little soporific.