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What is the most difficult thing you have ever read?
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Alana
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Feb 01, 2014 11:30PM
I've actually done Heart of Darkness three times, once in high school, twice in college. All three times were difficult and I have no desire to do it again.
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For me, it was LORD JIM. I thought THE SOUND AND THE FURY, for all its real difficulty and surreality, was a cakewalk to LORD JIM. I had to read it in high school, and it turned me off to Conrad for the rest of my life.
Martin wrote: "holly rose wrote: "Sound and the Fury..in fact, anything by him. I have yet to finish any of his books."Ha! Right there with you. I've finished a few of Faulkner's books but only under protest. ..."
I'm going to try it AGAIN since it's March's book. I'm hoping that reading everyone's comments will motivate me to finish!
Anna Karenina took me about 7 months to read. The longest it's ever taken me to read a book by a long shot. I did enjoy it though.
Poor Moby Dick! So much bad press for such a good book, but understandable. It was a tough read. I never give up on a book - doggedly determined I am - but one that I finally had to give up on was an obscure work by Henry James, What Maisie Knew. I saw the movie a year or two ago and wanted to read the work. I love Henry James but this was him at his finest - beyond wordy and repetitious. I just couldn't do it - gave up when I couldn't renew the book anymore! The movie was good!
I can't do James Joyce. Maybe one day...I also remember having a really difficult time with John Steinbeck. I'm not sure how it would be now since that was ten years ago, but I was just bored to tears.
Several. When I was young I thought it was my fault. These days I just say, "Not for me."
Crystal wrote: "I can't do James Joyce. Maybe one day...I also remember having a really difficult time with John Steinbeck. I'm not sure how it would be now since that was ten years ago, but I was just bored t..."
I love Steinbeck. I'd never read actual literature until my Senior English teacher assigned 'Of Mice And Men' to the class in the eleventh grade. It completely changed what I read, and how I write. His books are depressing as hell, lol, but moving.
But I do remember getting bored halfway through East Of Eden.
I notice in this thread a sense of obligation to read a book one does not like. What for? There is no universal consensus about what makes a good read. What we look for is resonance with a writer - and with those who see a book similarly.
I made myself read the top 100 ranked books of all time. I wanted to give up on most of them at first. But I finished them for the same reason I watch the news when I'd probably prefer The Simpsons.When I was a cheerleader, certain stretches would only work for me for so long before they stopped challenging me, or helping my flexibility. I approach my TBR the same way. I take what I can, whether it be positive or negative from everything I read. The cheapest, horribly written erotica can have two or three wonderful, original descriptions that make the other 200 pages of crap worth it. James Joyce, I do not enjoy reading. But reading his work helped me see that it's okay to break certain rules, so I'm glad I went through with it.
However, if I read only for pleasure, I'd have used Ulysses as a door stop.
John wrote: "I notice in this thread a sense of obligation to read a book one does not like. What for? There is no universal consensus about what makes a good read. What we look for is resonance with a writer -..."
I really agree with that, I used to do that a while back aswell- where I would see top X must reads and think that I really ought to finish it all some day. While I also agree with challenging oneself, but I think that a lot of times it can also be a waste. I pick up a book- don't enjoy it, can't relate to it while at the same time I could have been reading a book that I was excited about and had been living on my TBR for a while. Those lists have an amazing set of books but everyone viewing that list is different and taste (in anything) can't really be generalized.
I really agree with that, I used to do that a while back aswell- where I would see top X must reads and think that I really ought to finish it all some day. While I also agree with challenging oneself, but I think that a lot of times it can also be a waste. I pick up a book- don't enjoy it, can't relate to it while at the same time I could have been reading a book that I was excited about and had been living on my TBR for a while. Those lists have an amazing set of books but everyone viewing that list is different and taste (in anything) can't really be generalized.
I disagree about there being an obligation to read a book I "don't" like. If something is difficult it doesn't mean it's something I don't like. Finnegans Wake is a bear, but I find things in it I like. I also enjoy the accomplishment of reading something that might be deemed tough to get through or harder for me to finish. It's like running a race, it's tough and you want to give up, but you learn something new when you make it through. Also, tastes change as you get older. Something I might have hated before now takes on life that I couldn't comprehend before. As S.K. Does, I take good from things I might not have enjoyed every ounce of reading. I take a hard book and then mix in some fluff here and there to read. I enjoy challenging myself and challenging my own "taste." I have read some books that don't hit you until the end so if you stop you might miss out on that. Also, I enjoy trying to stretch my attention span. So I guess in rebuttal, I don't see an obligation to read anything and just because it's difficult or hard to get through does not mean I don't like it or will not in the future or won't find something within the pages to expand my mind : )
Lindsy wrote: "As S.K. Does, I take good from things I might not have enjoyed every ounce of reading. I take a hard book and then mix in some fluff here and there to read. I enjoy challenging myself and challenging my own "taste." I have read some books that don't hit you until the end so if you stop you might miss out on that. Also, I enjoy trying to stretch my attention span . . . to expand my mind."Wonderful! This marvelous description describes my take on reading as well.
Yes, you are correct when you say that something difficult is not necessarily unlikable. The books I was referring to earlier are not difficult ones but those that are considered "must reads" and I feel like they are just not for me.
S.K. wrote: "Crystal wrote: "I can't do James Joyce. Maybe one day...I also remember having a really difficult time with John Steinbeck. I'm not sure how it would be now since that was ten years ago, but I ..."
I need to revisit his works. But at that point in my life, I felt no connection with his writing, which is what makes certain works the most difficult for me. I need to feel a string between the words and my heart. Even if the language is archaic and the syntax convoluted, if that tight rope is there, I will brave it. If not, I don't see the point.
William wrote: "Anyone reading the Sound and the Fury? How is it because I am currently reading it right now."I'm reading it right now and loving every minute of it. Admittedly, two weeks ago when I started it I thought I had entered the twilight zone, but once I managed to work my way through the first chapter - Benjy's section - I immediately checked in with Spark Notes. Many of the things I suspected I understood were confirmed and I was completely taken by surprise on a few other things that I had completely missed. I then re-read the first section and it was a bit easier to follow. The second section, Quentin's, gets a bit easier, and the last two sections are a free ride compared to the first two. Stay with it! If it helps, three names are used by six people and one of those people switches names mid-stream. It's a great book best I've read in awhile. I like that I have to THINK about it and tease out the details. I don't want to read the last 20 pages because I don't want it to end!
If you don't like spoilers, beware the Spark Notes, but in the interest of understanding what I was reading I didn't mind the spoilers - it really is all right there in the book, and all is revealed in good time if you choose not to go with the Notes.
War and peace! I loved Anna Karenina, but I have only been able to read the first three pages of W&P. I'm determined to pick it up again and finish it. On a smaller scale Catcher in the Rye was very frustrating to read. Holden just annoys me so much!
Maura - W&P gets much much better, I promise! The beginning is really tough because you are just meeting tons of people, but then when you get the hang of who everyone is, it really picks up. In my opinion if you enjoyed Anna, you'll like W&P as well. Good luck!
Crystal wrote: "S.K. wrote: "Crystal wrote: "I can't do James Joyce. Maybe one day...I also remember having a really difficult time with John Steinbeck. I'm not sure how it would be now since that was ten year..."
If you go back to Joyce, start with DUBLINERS. It's his short story collection--much easier to pick up and put down. Also, his narrative style is much more normal in the collection.
With Steinbeck, try his short stuff first. I hated CANNERY ROW (it went nowhere), but I loved THE MOON IS DOWN, THE PEARL, and OF MICE AND MEN. I have never been able to get through THE GRAPES OF WRATH--too, too brutal. But I did read EAST OF EDEN, as flawed as it is.
beyond good and evil
Kaycie- I'm gonna pick it up again! I know if I loved Karenina so much that War and Peace must also be really great!
East of Eden is one of my favorite books! You just have to immerse yourself in it. It also helps if you live in the same are where they were written like me haha
I will go for Kafka's The Castle! I loved the message and the techniques used by Kafka,but still it was hard to finish this book...
It is maybe one of the gloomiest I've ever read as well.
Kainzow06 wrote: "I will go for Kafka's The Castle! I loved the message and the techniques used by Kafka,but still it was hard to finish this book..."
I guess Kafka would agree, given that he didn't finish it either!
Kainzow06 wrote: "It is maybe one of the gloomiest I've ever read as well."
Really? I find it so painfully beautiful that, for me, gloom is not an overriding theme. Or maybe that's because I read plenty of gloomy books!
Cecily wrote:Really? I find it so painfully beautiful that, for me, gloom is not an overriding theme. Or maybe that's because I read plenty of gloomy books! It was a great read,but somehow depressing.I mean he doesn't get to reach Klam all the time,is mistreated by the inhabitants and Barnabas who he sends to the Castle always fails to do his job well.Even the persons he meets are pretty weird: Olga for instance lets herself gangraped by the men in the inn.
But it was a great read,although exhaustive.Kafka was definitely more mature when writing,as the characters had more depth and the plot was more complex.It makes even more sense when comparing it with The Myth of Sisyphus and Waiting for Godot.
But although I loved this book,I prefer The Trial,which,for me,is more intense.(maybe because it is short and thus,pretty straightforward)
Ah, but The Trial has an ending.The fact that The Castle ends in the middle of a sentence is so apt that for me, it wins by a whisker.
Kgwhitehurst wrote: "Crystal wrote: "S.K. wrote: "Crystal wrote: "I can't do James Joyce. Maybe one day...I also remember having a really difficult time with John Steinbeck. I'm not sure how it would be now since t..."
I love The Grapes Of Wrath and Of Mice And men. And to answer William, I think Steinbeck is emotionally difficult to get through.
The Picture of Dorian Grey, and Paradise Lost.
Ironically, because I love his essays and non-fiction blithering, Aldous Huxley's 1984. I *still* haven't managed to read it, the most I've managed is 50 pages and I've tried it at least a dozen times now. One day I'll get through it (there are enough references from it in social and cultural media/interaction that I'd like to have experience with the origin material, but ugh!).For a book I've finished that was a hard read: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo... because I ended up actually yelling at the book so often. Managed to finish it, but if it had not been assigned reading for an English course, I never would have tried it.
Jane wrote: "Ironically, because I love his essays and non-fiction blithering, Aldous Huxley's 1984. I *still* haven't managed to read it, the most I've managed is 50 pages and I've tried it at least a dozen t..."It is said that the book that people lie about reading the most is "1984." Unfortunately this relies on people being honest about when they are lying, so no one knows the truth.
Congrats for your honesty. :)
Corey wrote: "1984" was by George Orwell. Aldous Huxley wrote "Brave New World,"Ach, shows me for typing without looking up at a bookshelf! To be honest, I haven't made my way through either. Though I've attempted Brave New World more often than 1984. They're both on my "darnit, one day I will prevail!" list. *rueful grin*
I have to agree with moby dick and lord of the rings. both involved way to much pointless description that they could have done without! Also any Dickens, especially Great Expectations. and three musketeers,can't stand that book!
The unabridged Les Mis was tough to get through, but I managed eventually. I doubt I can get through the Lord of the Rings as I can't even manage to get through The Hobbit.
The New Testament. It's so paradoxal I don't know whether I laugh or get angry.
Selena wrote: "The unabridged Les Mis was tough to get through, but I managed eventually. I doubt I can get through the Lord of the Rings as I can't even manage to get through The Hobbit." I got through the hobbit. But it was a struggle!! Lord of the rings I only managed the first book.
Sarah wrote: "Selena wrote: "The unabridged Les Mis was tough to get through, but I managed eventually. I doubt I can get through the Lord of the Rings as I can't even manage to get through The Hobbit." I got ..."
I did the Hobbit years and years ago on audio on a long car trip with my kids and we enjoyed it. My poor son has been trying to get me to watch the Lord of the Rings movies for the past however many years and 15 minutes into any of them I am fast asleep. Never seen one of them all the way through. I really don't have any interest in reading them either for some strange reason...
Dickens for me as well is a challenge, but I enjoy him. Just have to pay close attention reading. The hardest for me was Milton's Paradise Lost. After reading that in my first lit class ever, I felt I could read anything.
Dickens is hard for me, but they are usually good. LOTR does have some more tedious sections but I love it overall and thoroughly enjoy the Hobbit. I find the idea of attempting Moby Dick you be incredibly daunting tho.
I love Thomas Pynchon to death but I have no waking idea what's happening in Gravity's Rainbow. And I'm loving every second. I've also heard (even though I've yet to read it) that Ada by Nabokov is a bitch to get through, so of course I have to check it out.
Mine would be Gabriel García Márquez's The Autumn of the Patriarch. One of those whose reading is truly a painstaking task. Can you believe that every chapter runs restlessly, I could barely catch my breath and might as well tackle it chapter-wise, for reading several chapters all at once would be quite taxing. There is one sentence that runs for 3 pages. Now I remember scantly a thing but some small details, it is better left to be re-read.
It is by very far Possession,which I'm currently reading!!
I found Infinite Jest to be a slog due to the footnotes.
Kainzow06 wrote: "It is by very far Possession,which I'm currently reading!!"I gave up on page 49 of POSSESSION. It was like reliving my last year in graduate school. No thank you!
After seeing the movie Possession, I immediatly bought the book. I have tried on several occasions to get into this book and keep re-shelving it. Good luck
A Critique of Pure Reason, by that guy Kant. Yeah, the Stand, that is a slog as well. the republished unedited version is like 1,300 pages. I had to put it down after 300+. It was just too depressing.
Oh, sorry, Yes, The Sound and the Fury was the iceberg to my Titantic.
Sad to see so much hate for Possession -- one of my favorite books of all time. But I think sometimes it's all about timing. That book really spoke to me in the place I was at in my life when I first read it.The only book I have not been able to finish (yet!) is The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. It just seemed to go on and on and on.
The book I DID finish but only through sheer force of will (every bit of it felt like torture!) was Infinite Jest. As someone else said, what the hell was it even about? I felt like I was listening to someone's long series of boring inside jokes -- he tries to hard to be clever and edgy and is only tedious.
Classics Without All the Class
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