What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (4 Viewers)

[David Kronenbourg]

50 Incredibly Tough Books for Extreme Readers – Flavorwire

eh... six.

nine

 

[rettucs]

I've read three of those (Proust, Underworld and something else)



Are you sure you don't mean half of a seventh? Its the best book ever, it'd be perfect if he hadn't lost the run of himself in the last volume.

yes, I was waiting to see would anyone pick me up on that!

actually what I read was half of The Way by Swann and I'm not sure if its the same thing at all.

 

[Lili Marlene]

I've tried to read Tristram Shandy a few times, don't think I've ever got further than the 3rd volume. At that point the prick hasn't even been born!

I also tried To the Lighthouse for a modernism course as an undergrad but had to stop after 100 pages when I realized I had no idea what was going on. I think you have to be able to get into a certain mindset for novels like that, a mindset of intense concentration :/

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

So what would you say was the most difficult book that you did read all of? I'm trying to think...

I didn't really have a clue what was going on in Barefoot In The Head by Brian Aldiss. I'm sure there must have been worse than that though

 

[rettucs]

The Adventures of Augie March was a toughie

I recall only knowing what happened in the last quarter or so of the book.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

The Adventures of Augie March was a toughie

I recall only knowing what happened in the last quarter or so of the book.

I read that but I can't remember much about it now. I thought it was just a story about this young lad

 

[Lili Marlene]

So what would you say was the most difficult book that you did read all of? I'm trying to think...

I didn't really have a clue what was going on in Barefoot In The Head by Brian Aldiss. I'm sure there must have been worse than that though

I suppose the hardest would have to be something I found completely unrewarding? Maybe Captain Corelli's Mandolin or Out of Africa? I couldn't have been more uninterested in those books but friends of mine were so into them i felt duty-bound to trudge through them.

Other books I may have found difficult but at least felt like I had achieved something at the end. Any middle-english or generally canon-worthy stuff for example.



edit: and you? There can't have been something harder than Proust surely?

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Two recent books I found very difficult were The Double by Jose Saramago - long sentences without punctuation which go on for pages sometimes - and The Lime Twig by John Hawkes - a dark, dense, surreal story with a confusing plot, it goes totally mad toward the end and I couldn't follow what was happening.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

edit: and you? There can't have been something harder than Proust surely?

The Proust book is long and slow moving but other than that it's not that difficult. It's also quite funny and entertaining a lot of the time. Don't let its reputation put you off.

 

[hermie]

nine

7, could have been a good bit more if several author's similarly difficult, more famous novels were included.

 

[hermie]

Oh and 12 of the cool ones.

Would've thought Shaney had that difficult list all sown up

 

[Jill Hives]

I suppose the hardest would have to be something I found completely unrewarding? Maybe Captain Corelli's Mandolin or Out of Africa? I couldn't have been more uninterested in those books but friends of mine were so into them i felt duty-bound to trudge through them.

I loved Out of Africa. I'd agree with Corelli's Mandolin though. I've had two people in the last year suggest it and I can't get passed the first chapter. I've no interest what so ever.

ETA: I've only read three of the hard list.

 

[Lili Marlene]

I loved Out of Africa. I'd agree with Corelli's Mandolin though. I've had two people in the last year suggest it and I can't get passed the first chapter. I've no interest what so ever.

I just couldn't engage with Out of Africa, I don't know why. The writing kind of hazed in and out of focus as I found bits interesting but I disliked more than I liked and it felt like a real slog overall. What did you like about it?

imho Captain Corelli was just the writer showing off all the different styles he's able to write in and massive words he's able to use but unless you're Joyce you don't do this, EVER. He calms down as it goes along but the damage has been done at that point. That and I didn't care about any of the characters.

 

[rettucs]

Lord of the Rings would be another one (two,three)

haven't a notion what they were about

 

[washingcattle]

FINALLY I UNDERSTAND

The 50 Coolest Books Ever - Entertainment - ShortList Magazine


I've read seven and two separate halves off that list. Very uncool. I've read all the Harry Potters though

15

50 Incredibly Tough Books for Extreme Readers – Flavorwire

eh... six.

9

To be fair Geek Love isn't hard at all it's just brilliant, Crash and Empire of The Sun by JG Ballard were way harder reads.

2666, Naked Lunch and The Painted Bird are by far the hardest books I've ever read all 3 gave me nightmares.

 

[rettucs]

The Adventures of Augie March was a toughie

I recall only knowing what happened in the last quarter or so of the book.

had to double-check this. It was Herzog, not Augie March.

 

[Lili Marlene]

To be fair Geek Love isn't hard at all it's just brilliant

to be fair the opening sentence to the description of it is

there’s nothing difficult about the prose in Dunn’s cult novel

 

[george mcfly]

Reading a lot of weird fiction at the moment.

Last night was The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen. A doctor performs an operation on the brain of a girl, so she can see nature unbridled and the world as it actually is. She does, and it's too much for the mind to comprehend. That's the starting point anyway.
Huge influence on the writings of H. P. Lovecraft

 

[washingcattle]

to be fair the opening sentence to the description of it is

I skimmed it. You caught me. Still it's not difficult at all.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

FINALLY I UNDERSTAND

The 50 Coolest Books Ever - Entertainment - ShortList Magazine


I've read seven and two separate halves off that list. Very uncool. I've read all the Harry Potters though

16 and a half.

50 Incredibly Tough Books for Extreme Readers – Flavorwire

eh... six.

7 and a half. The half in both cases was Gravity's Rainbow.