Hard/difficult to read books

[J_BlueFlower]

Several people mention Ulysses as a hard to read book – maybe even the hardest. What other books on the list are hard/difficult to read? I am not thinking so much about the length as understanding the book's content.

[Amanda]

To that end Finnigan's Wake. I saw the first page and was already annoyed. Also Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit.

[[deleted user]]

Poor James Joyce! I, too, wish I found him easier to read, but then he wouldn't have the density and the everlasting allure -- the desire to go back and read again, be more open, take in more.

I find, too, I don't know if you all do, that there are several types of "difficulty." I have more trouble with books that touch me very personally, maybe take me deeper into places I'd like to forget, than I have with densely written, erudite books. At least with the latter type of book, I know I can research and be a better reader; whereas with the very truthful, personally evocative books, I have to bear my own discomfort if I am going to take in the author's view of a familiar situation and maybe learn how to see my personal experiences in a clearer and maybe less hurtful way. Which is ultimately helpful to me, makes life more universal. This type of difficult book is more of a challenge to me, but almost in a therapeutic way. Art as healing.

But I wouldn't give up my struggle with writers like Joyce, either. Because when I feel that we've connected on some level, it's such a joy.

[Kat]

House of Leaves can be difficult, you have to be very attentive to it. Pale Fire can also take some getting used to, especially if you're not used to reading a story that is told mostly through its footnotes.

And while I enjoy streams of consciousness I can understand why some hate it. I loved Summer in Baden-Baden, but it flowed in such a way that sometimes it was difficult to clock on when the narrator had changed.

I haven't even looked at James Joyce's work - I may need them to be read to me!

[Danya]

I just finished Infinite Jest, It was definately a challenge..took me 6 weeks to finish

[Marina]

I agree, Infinite Jest IS a challenge. I couldn't make it and gave up around 400 pages in. I even swapped the book, so much I disliked it. But I believe it's a challenge even if you enjoy the read.

[Abram]

Danya wrote: "I just finished Infinite Jest, It was definately a challenge..took me 6 weeks to finish"

Took a while to read IJ and was worth it. I have The Pale King downloaded and I'm reluctant to read it because from what I understand. it's incomplete.

[Feliks]

GR's Listopia has a list specifically for especially difficult books. 'Gravity's Rainbow', etc

[Winter]

The Iron Heel

[M]

Celestial Harmonies by Péter Esterházy.

It is weird and difficult, and almost isn't a novel. I never see it on those hard to read book lists, so I figured it was time to add it.

[J_BlueFlower]

The Iron Heel: Jack London hard to read? Why do you say so? I haven't actually read the book, but it is on my to-read list.

[Winter]

Masanobu wrote: "Celestial Harmonies by Péter Esterházy.

It is weird and difficult, and almost isn't a novel. I never see it on those hard to read book lists, so I figured it was time ..."

It is hard and not hard. The language isn't hard, he writes easily enough. But it's nothing at all like his other books.

It is written not much like a novel, but as a series of conversations about economy, society with heavy footnotes as a part of the diary or such that this is "taken from".

[Winter]

Woops, quoted the wrong post..

[Wendy]

J_BlueFlower wrote: "The Iron Heel: Jack London hard to read? Why do you say so? I haven't actually read the book, but it is on my to-read list."

Iron Heel is one of the few list books I gave up on, and it's not even that long. Mainly, it's just one long (200 page) political rant about socialism. I don't even think there's a story, or at least I don't remember it. As for the politics, all the hamfisted soap-boxing seemed very quaint, and I had a hard time relating to anything that was going on.

Too bad, because the idea of a dystopian novel by Jack London sounds really interesting. It just...isn't.

Though if anyone did read and enjoy it, I would love to hear why, and what you got out of it.

[Winter]

You described it perfectly.

I would love that too!

[Tasha]

Wendy, you have intrigued me. I'm going to seek out this book. I've never read London, and am surprised that he had a book like this. Even if it is this bad and dull; 200 pages? I could read that standing on my head. I think I may stay interested just because this is the guy who writes about wolves, right? AND it's on the list? Seems odd.

[J_BlueFlower]

Me too. The book was already on my to-read list, but now I really want to give it a try.

[Winter]

Over half-way! Good luck you two;)

[Winter]

Get used to footnotes ^^ very very interested to hear if someone else can make some more sense out of this one.

[Winter]

And don't dismiss his other books based on this one, White Fang at least is really good.

[Feliks]

'the guy who writes about wolves' oy vey. lol

[Wendy]

Hey all you readers taking on The Iron Heel: please report back with your thoughts! I'll even take another whack at it if I hear good things :)
Lucky for us, it's in the public domain and can be downloaded for free on Gutenberg and elsewhere.

Winter: agreed, White Fang was quite good. And Jack London's unfinished novel, The Assassination Bureau, Ltd about a mob boss hired by his own employees to assassinate himself, looks interesting too...(more so than Iron Heel anyway! At least there must be more to it than a lengthy political pamphlet.)

[[deleted user]]

I thought 1Q84 was tough to get through. It took me 6 renewals at the library to get it done. But I did!

I think because I had a great professor, I find Joyce actually enjoyable to read. For me, he made reading Joyce not so scary.

[DustyTorus]

J_BlueFlower wrote: "Several people mention Ulysses as a hard to read book – maybe even the hardest. What other books on the list are hard/difficult to read? I am not thinking so much about the length as ..."


Oh gosh, so recently I went to Dublin for Bloom's day with some friends who are James Joyce fan girls, and I'd never read it, so I got it to brush up beforehand. I was warned it would be hard to read, but I thought, "..nah it'll be fine..."...I got it, and spent AN HOUR literally on the first page, because I got so wrapped up in the sheer amount of allegories and symbolism he uses.

Plus...NO SPEECH MARKS!

I just laughed and put it away.

Went to Bloom's Day, and came back and just had the biggest urge to read it.

I just realised I needed to push past all the difficult bits and just read. Then re-read it again at some point to take in the finer details...it's definitely one for multiple reads.

People seriously ADORE James Joyce, and Bloom's Day was AMAZING!

[DustyTorus]

I found Sons and Lovers by D.H.Lawrence pretty hard to get through, but I don't know if that's just because I couldn't take it in properly?

Another re-read probably :)

[Amy the book-bat]

Annie wrote: "I found Sons and Lovers by D.H.Lawrence pretty hard to get through, but I don't know if that's just because I couldn't take it in properly?

Another re-read probably :)"

I haven't read that one yet, but I did read The Rainbow and it was a bit of a challenge. I found that Lawrence had moments of amazingly brilliant poetics and then moments that trudged along painfully. I am hoping this one is more even and a little better.

[J_BlueFlower]

Challenge accepted: I have started The Iron Heel

[J_BlueFlower]

Discussion tread for Iron heel here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Do you accept the challenge of reading a hard/difficult to read?

[Wendy]

Bully! I had originally tried to read it with a group of GR friends, but only one of us actually finished. And he wrote a scathing review, to which the rest of us contributed in the comments section. I was reading the review again the other day as I wondered if I could try to take this one on again, but then the memories came rushing back and I just...can't. Not for a long while yet. Good luck though! I hope it's worth the effort :)

[Winter]

Almost 70 % into Iron Heel! Won't exactly call it entertainment, but I will finish I hope:)

[Karen]

Great article on Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl by Uwe Johnson in the New York Times -- "A Masterpiece that Requires Your Full Attention -- and a Lot of Time."
(https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/bo...).

This is a new translation of Johnson's complete novel by Damion Searls just released in October 2018.

1700 pages -- WOW!!!

[sminismoni]

I found Neuromancer by William Gibson a difficult, but fabulous read. It is full of techno garble, and you really need to read between the lines to get the gist of the story.

[Petra]

I find any/all of the Russian texts difficult. Not sure why. Is it a cultural thing? A translation thing? A subject matter thing? I just know I struggle to 'get into' them and struggle to finish them. It feels like a chore. There have been other non-Russian books I found challenging, but these seem to stand out as a trend rather than stand-alone difficulties.

What do other people think?

[Alastair]

I'm busy slogging through Gertrude Stein's 'The Making of Americans.'
Probably the 'hardest' book I've ever read because the language is so weird, and the story moves so slowly, and it's nearly 1000 pages of tiny text.

By almost any standards, it's an incredibly difficult book to read (and I've done In Search of Lost Time, Dance to the Music of time, Infinite Jest, USA, Celestial Harmonies, etc.)

[S.L.]

City of God by E.L. Doctorow - Between the long sentences that border on being run-ons and the fragments of many different stories there seems to be no path through it. I’m just starting it though.