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Your most challenging read
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Suzi
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Jul 26, 2013 12:58PM
Thanks for the replies in that case a book I would probably consider as my most challenging read is Dan Brown The Da vinci Code. I have picked it up and started many times yet never managed to finish it or get very far x
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[bookcover:The Silmarillion|7332I loved The Hobbit enjoyed Lord of the Rings. So thought Silmarillion nice follow on
Was such hard work!!
Read it can't remember it don't think will ever be film of it
Robert wrote: "[bookcover:The Silmarillion|7332I loved The Hobbit enjoyed Lord of the Rings. So thought Silmarillion nice follow on
Was such hard work!!
Read it can't remember it don't think will ever be film of it"
Very true! Complicated, intricate and alluring epic!
It depends on your interpretation of challenging?As for choices The Silmarillion is difficult. My hardest challenge is to read books from genres I do not normally read. This is part of my determination to expand my writing capabilities and occasionally results in real enjoyment. I am also trying to read some so called classic books by literary greats, another very mixed bag.
Mod
As for choices The Silmarillion is difficult. My hardest challenge is to read books from genres I do not normally read. This is part of my deter..."
Hope you are doing the Genre Challenge Philip. Sci fi/dystopia this month....real stretch for me.
Ian wrote: "Philip wrote: "It depends on your interpretation of challenging?As for choices The Silmarillion is difficult. My hardest challenge is to read books from genres I do not normally read. This is p..."
I have my own scribbling in that genre, plus I have read a lot in that category. Currently reading
Romance I find a struggle and some contemporary novels. I sometimes try the Booker Prize list but even the subject matter often puts me off.
Ah yes, The Silmarillion! LOLTry reading that out loud (not having read it yourself first) to a seven-year old!
Cecily wrote: "Ah yes, The Silmarillion! LOLTry reading that out loud (not having read it yourself first) to a seven-year old!"
My love books comes from elderly junior school teacher reading The Hobbit over school year. So your reading to that 7 year old could set them up for life! Ps. Not suggesting your elderly
Reading The Hobbit was a doddle, but I'm glad I went on to LotR and The Silmarillion. He has since read them all himself, more than once (and at nineteen, now recommends books to me).
I know its been a while since anyone has posted here but thought I'd put my two pence in and say that so far my most challenging read has to be Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I was pre warned that it may be difficult but even just a few pages in I started to struggle with it. I will at some point in the future try again but I think it just may not be for me.
It always surprises me just how differently we respond to the same books, I found Cloud Atlas really compulsive reading but quite a few people have found it hard going (my brother said he ditched it!)
I'm struggling with 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea nothing to do with the writing, just inconvenient that it's a real book and I can't make the font size any bigger!
I dare say I will try it again and now hearing a more positive review I may be more receptive to it! I hope so as it does sound intriguing at the very least. Thanks
Good luck with your book, it sounds like a tough choice but well worth it. Classics always make me feel more inspired when I finish them.
It's slow progress but I'll get through it - I'm enjoying it but my eyes prefer the Kindle.
I struggled with Catch-22, but managed to finish it. I really struggled with The Windup Girl - very boring, confusing and just a bit weird. Had to give it up. The Silmarillion is a toughie for the first two chapters, but then it's a masterful piece of literature and one of my favourite books.
Catch 22 is still my favourite book of all time. Must read it again but I know many struggle with it. Loved Cloud Atlas, maybe I like complex books!I recently gave up on Tropic of Cancer and I still haven't completed another Henry Miller. I was trying to expand my genre and reading list. Still trying to do that.
Yes I did complete the genre challenge, several sci-fi dystopian in August, as well as my own work.
Mod
Love the larger print size when I'm tired.
Nikks wrote: "Of all the books you have read, what has been your most challenging read?For me it has to be Wolf Hall. I had to concentrate so hard to just follow the story, at about half way through I didn't r..."
Nikks, I know you posted this ages ago, but I'm new and spotted this and had to comment. I tried to read Wolf Hall (came highly recommended) and to my shame, I gave up. I thought it was me being thick, but like you, I just couldn't follow what was what and who was who. Too many Thomas's. It relied upon the reader having a foundational history knowledge (at this point , imagine that sound on Family Fortunes when a person gets a wrong answer) I failed. A challenging but rewarding read for me was The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. An English Lit teacher loaned it to me, so I knew it was 'serious'. And it was - seriously good. Brilliant writing. Not easy, but well worth the effort. It restored my faith in my intellect, a little!
Mod
Ha! I'm married to a history teacher, Ian, and even when he'd explained the various Thomas's to me, I was still confused. My sister tells me I missed a real classic in Wolf Hall - the author widely tipped for the Booker Prize etc, but it didn't persuade me to revisit it. In any case, my sister is a real brain-box and did her degree in history. I'll keep shamelessly lining up with the 'thicket' group who just didn't get it. Life's too short. There are too many gripping books out there to get stuck on something that just isn't doing it for you. I've tried for years to like olives. Posh people love olives, so I've tried to look all sophisticated by eating an olive without wincing. Can't do it. I just ending up looking like an idiot, contorting my face and rudely spitting out. They're horrible, to my taste anyway. I just need to accept the fact and get over it. Needless to say, I'll never be 'posh'. Maybe Wolf Hall is an olive book. Hey-ho
Mod
When I was at primary school, I remember finding 'The Secret Garden' a really challenging read just because it was much longer than what I was used to reading. More recently, I struggled with reading the non-fiction 'Napoleon's Wars' by Charles Esdaile - I love the period, but it's ram-packed with facts and figures and I found it a bit too monotonous.
Mod
I was over at some friends' for dinner. I'd come straight from work and was starving. Food was a long way from being ready (thanks to the host being constantly distracted by guests and wine...) The only thing to eat was olives, so I took one, then another, then another. By the end of the bowl, I was converted!
Liz - I've always aspired to doing that, just falling in love with olives by accident. I thought that if I kept trying them I'd succumb eventually. Hasn't happened :( I've even tried to disguise them by adding other foods that I love and slipping them in through the back door. Yeah right! Like inviting Shrek to a party and hoping no one notices there's an ogre there. It's a lost cause. I've given up. Maybe if I eat one while absorbed in a great book ............
An Olive fetish, first time, love it Jane from London
Mod
It wasn't the first time, I'd tried them several times over the years....
One thing; I realised that the olives I like are stored in olive oil, not brine (aka salty water). Olives in brine are cheaper and usually the type used on pizzas. I find they're usually dry and bitter (ugh!).
If you've never tasted olives in olive oil, give them a go...
....now I wish I had some sitting in the fridge! ;)
I try and finish all books I start, but there have been some that have defeated me. Gravity's Rainbow. I just didn't understand the book, and didn't have a clue what was going on. The added complexness came when the author started using nicknames for the characters, and you had to start guessing who was who.I gave up!
From JAne Brooke...OK, Greek Olives, some olive oil in a cruet for dipping, some carpachio, a glass of wine, some feta cheese, a hard wedge of crusted bread, that should place you within a coma for your olive fetish JAne
A challening read should be defined as Bollucks by a self absorbed writer that forgets that his readers are a writers life blood, and bury the EGO, your writing for the passionate people and lovers of books, not for your own personal Gratification.
Mod
I agree with you Timea...
was a real struggle for me as well.
I admit to liking all olives, especially with a nice crusty baguette and some hard cheese and wine, but that said I can't imagine anyone not liking stuffed olives that have had a good soak in a nice dry vodka martini... yum!Liz wrote: "Jane wrote: "An Olive fetish, first time, love it Jane from London"
It wasn't the first time, I'd tried them several times over the years....
One thing; I realised that the olives I like are sto..."
Timea wrote: "I try and finish all books I start, but there have been some that have defeated me. Gravity's Rainbow. I just didn't understand the book, and didn't have a clue what was going on. The added complex..."
Liz wrote: "Jane wrote: "An Olive fetish, first time, love it Jane from London"It wasn't the first time, I'd tried them several times over the years....
One thing; I realised that the olives I like are sto..."
First time I tried them was as a teenager at a neighbours 25th anniversary bash and I genuinely thought I had eaten the devils food and nearly embarassed my parents by spitting it out and exclaiming, however that was in the days when pasta came in tins and I thought Chilli was exotic when I saw Columbo eating a bowl in an American diner! 35 plus years on I love Olives, when do your taste buds change?!
Olive erotica, never thought of writing that, it is now at the top of my list. Jane
Last christmas one of the sister's was given money to put together 3 hampers for the staff working the early, late and night shifts on xmas day. For some unknown reason she bought 6 jars of olives.
Deanne you are insane, I love it. Jane...How many olives does it take to fill a bathtub?...Depends on the size of your naked body and water displacement Smiles Jane
War and peace.
I found it difficult to pronounce the full names and got confused when they were shortened so I gave up. I must try it again, I'm older and wiser now so perhaps I wouldn't find it so confusing second time around. Although my memory isn't so sharp so perhaps it will be even worse. :/
I found it difficult to pronounce the full names and got confused when they were shortened so I gave up. I must try it again, I'm older and wiser now so perhaps I wouldn't find it so confusing second time around. Although my memory isn't so sharp so perhaps it will be even worse. :/
Andrew wrote: "Liz wrote: "Jane wrote: "An Olive fetish, first time, love it Jane from London"It wasn't the first time, I'd tried them several times over the years....
One thing; I realised that the olives I ..."
Blimey! This olive discussion I started has really taken off since I last visited. Well, I'm early forties, Liz, so yes, when do your taste buds change? Still waiting. I WANT to like olives. I really don't want to despise them. I think one of the problems with olives is that they resemble grapes. I think in my subconscious mind, I've never forgotten when I found a black one in a salad, mistook it for a grape, then happily bit into it only to be severely disappointed/disgusted. I would describe them as tasting like sea water mixed with Old Spice aftershave - imagine that when you were expecting a juicy black grape? Very rude!
Mod
*Sigh!* No more olives, no vodka; it'll have to be gin & tonic instead (the expats' staple....) No, I haven't started early - it's after 8pm here ;)
I don't drink. Is that why I don't like olives, because I'm not soaking them in booze? Knew there was a reason!
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Books mentioned in this topic
Gravity’s Rainbow (other topics)Tropic of Cancer (other topics)
The Windup Girl (other topics)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (other topics)
Excession (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
James Herbert (other topics)Edward Rutherfurd (other topics)
Ken Follett (other topics)
Gabriel García Márquez (other topics)
