Hardest books to read.
Ok. I just started reading House of Leaves and apart from the psychological effects the books puts you thru the format is just a pain in the fucking ass. I didn't want to take this up in the House of Leaves threads cause no doubt there are a grip a spoilers in there.
What other books (nonfiction or fiction) have you had problems reading?
I know Glamorama was a big problem for me but I just forced myself to only bring it to work and then it was no problem. Manufacturing Consent or any Chomsky is hard as hell to slog thru just because he writes so matter of fact like if your math teacher tried to explain math in a book. I also remeber struggling thru Controtionist Handbook but on a second run I realized it was prolly just me. Diary was tedious. But that had to do with the main charcter being female at it's hard to identify with them just like Invisible Monsters.
"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms." Albert Einstein
I zipped through Glamorarama, really enjoyed it, the book I have trouble with is Lipstick Traces its too scholarly. (schooly), also i iam now reading 'The Course in Miracles text which is mind boggling, I just read it and hope it sinks in cause i can't think about it, its just too much.
I have a hard time with dialect a lot. So [I]Requeim for a Dream[/I] and [I]A Clockwork Orange[/I] were both a little challenging the first time around.
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[B]You God damn better believe.[/B]
[QUOTE=Lazlosdead]I have trouble any book with a lot of characters. I'm attempting to read Gravity's Rainbow right now and I"m moving real slow.[/QUOTE]
"it's not a job, it's an adventure."
You would love unicorns if only you could manifest the Legend/Ridley Scott angle.
You [I]so[/I] wish you were Tim Curry as Darkness.
I was here. Then I wasn't. Then I was again.
The hardest book I ever slogged through was "Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco. Just a grind.
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The only book I've had a hard time reading is The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand - and not because it was difficult in the way it was written or anything - I just got bored and wanted it to be over with, but I forced myself through it anyway.
Other dialects or other ways of writing can be hard at first, like when it's not written like I'm used to reading or speaking. The Divine Comedy's a good recent example, I've tried three times to start reading it and I just give up (I usually start at 2am, which may be a bad time for that heh) - it just takes me a while to get into it. Especially in school - when you had to read *in* class - and they'd make us read Shakespeare and everything, after a few pages it just flowed, but the beginning is just 
[QUOTE=sixteentimes]I have a hard time with dialect a lot. So [I]Requeim for a Dream[/I] and [I]A Clockwork Orange[/I] were both a little challenging the first time around.[/QUOTE]You know what I did with that Irvine Welsh book,'Trainspotting", cause it was written in such hard core dialect? It was suggested that I read it aloud, and i did and it worked and after awhile it became easy. Cool.
books without much activity are hard to get through for me, i just get bored. I can't think of any specifically at the moment.
I tried to read and enjoy The Brothers [sphuh?]Kazmarov[/sphuh?], but couldn't. Them old stuffy writers of the second to latest century, those're tough for me.
Ahh! I just remembered how trying it was to read [I]Lolita[/I]. Its well written but I use words like "ballsack" and "doodoo" in my every day language. Nabokav is WAY over my head. I only got through half of it.
[URL=http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/tragicfolly/Picture1039.jpg]There is still love in the MidWest.[/URL]
[B]You God damn better believe.[/B]
[QUOTE=DrGonzoHST]Ok. I just started reading House of Leaves and apart from the psychological effects the books puts you thru the format is just a pain in the fucking ass. I didn't want to take this up in the House of Leaves threads cause no doubt there are a grip a spoilers in there.
What other books (nonfiction or fiction) have you had problems reading?
I know Glamorama was a big problem for me but I just forced myself to only bring it to work and then it was no problem. Manufacturing Consent or any Chomsky is hard as hell to slog thru just because he writes so matter of fact like if your math teacher tried to explain math in a book. I also remeber struggling thru Controtionist Handbook but on a second run I realized it was prolly just me. Diary was tedious. But that had to do with the main charcter being female at it's hard to identify with them just like Invisible Monsters.[/QUOTE]
I found both HoL and Glamorama to be a bit tedious for reasons mentioned above.
I was here. Then I wasn't. Then I was again.
absolom, absolom!
brutal
Catch 22 and Maribou Stork Nightmares
Think for yourself. Question Authority.
underworld
delillo
the bible
god, and some jews and christians
[QUOTE=snuffy]underworld
delillo[/QUOTE]
oh come on - i frickin love that book. all that turnstile jumping and all that. actually, i'm lying. i loved about half of it and got distracted and moved on. not because it was hard to follow, but because i always read a million books at once. but maybe it's not my fault - it's underworld's.
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all it takes is $60 and a dream.
[QUOTE=vidalia]oh come on - i frickin love that book. all that turnstile jumping and all that. actually, i'm lying. i loved about half of it and got distracted and moved on. not because it was hard to follow, but because i always read a million books at once. but maybe it's not my fault - it's underworld's.[/QUOTE]
I just picked up Americana. One of the millions I read at once too.
I was here. Then I wasn't. Then I was again.
[QUOTE=bassplr19]Catch 22[/QUOTE]
ditto
The Lord of the rings. Reached the middle but just couldn"t force myself to go on.
[QUOTE=stoyan]The Lord of the rings. Reached the middle but just couldn"t force myself to go on.[/QUOTE]
ditto again.
Those must've been the worst books everyone told me I should read.
[COLOR=YellowGreen][FONT=Arial]Facts are simple and facts are straight. Facts are lazy and facts are late. Facts all come with points of view, facts don't do what I want them to. Facts just twist the truth around. Facts are living turned inside out. Facts are getting the best of them. Facts are nothing on the face of things. Facts don't stain the furniture, facts go out and slam the door. Facts are written all over your face. Facts continue to change their shape.[/COLOR][/FONT]
"Ulysses by James Joyce is really difficult." Amen to that brother.
On the other hand, DeLillo's UNDERWORLD was a breeze. I love that book and anything else by the man.
I found Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer mind-exhausting.
Oh yeah, posts by Jeebus! Tres tres difficult.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
The first 200 pages are a bore then Tolstoy manages to ramble on for the next 800 pages. Tedious reading.
White Noise was tedious as hell, the only reason I finished it is becuase I never leave a book half way, well, except that one time
[COLOR=White]In the end, we all get lobotomies. - K[/COLOR]
[COLOR=Red]Now I'm all alone. Kept the pain inside.
Wanna torch the world, cuz I'm breathing fire.[/COLOR]
[QUOTE=Manic Oppressive]White Noise was tedious as hell, the only reason I finished it is becuase I never leave a book half way, well, except that one time[/QUOTE]
i didn't finish White Noise either, got about to chapter four or five and was completely bored.
[QUOTE=twstedlgc]Those must've been the worst books everyone told me I should read.[/QUOTE]
I got through the first two.
I was here. Then I wasn't. Then I was again.
I didn't have a problem with WHITE NOISE. You should definitely re-start reading it it's a great book!
[QUOTE=stoyan]The Lord of the rings. Reached the middle but just couldn"t force myself to go on.[/QUOTE]
yes!
i tried that book once.
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[SIZE=1][COLOR=Orange]Happy is he who bears a squirrel within, and obeys it.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[QUOTE=Mr. Brown]I didn't have a problem with WHITE NOISE. You should definitely re-start reading it it's a great book![/QUOTE]
yeah, maybe i should. it was my first attempt at DeLillo, and my last. for all i know i would love the fucking goddamned hell out of the rest of his books but will never get to them because of this disappointment. i still own it, i'll pick it up again one of these days.
When I finished UNDERWORLD, I was changed. As a human being.
[QUOTE=Mr. Brown]When I finished UNDERWORLD, I was changed. As a human being.[/QUOTE]
damn. i almost bought that one instead of White Noise but i figured i'd try a shorter book of his first.
UNDERWORLD was my first DeLillo. Never had a problem with it. I have me a rule when I'm out getting books. Sometimes when I find a book that I find interesting I read the first page in the store. Now if I wanna flip that first page of the book to see what's on the second page, THAT'S when I know it's at least interesting enough to buy it/ give it a try.
[QUOTE=Mr. Brown]UNDERWORLD was my first DeLillo. Never had a problem with it. I have me a rule when I'm out getting books. Sometimes when I find a book that I find interesting I read the first page in the store. Now if I wanna flip that first page of the book to see what's on the second page, THAT'S when I know it's at least interesting enough to buy it/ give it a try.[/QUOTE]
Not a bad idea. i'll do that especially for books recommended to me off the Cult because, i hate to say it, more than half of the books i seek out after hearing about them here turn out to be not that great. Anyway, thanks for the advice, i'll look for Underworld this weekend.
Any poetry is hard to read, like Illiad and the Odessy, Cantebury Tales, Dante's Inferno
Think for yourself. Question Authority.
Tits Out Teenage Terror Totty by a guy named Stephen Wells. It's all in different fonts and is just plain odd, but not in a good way. There's also something about constantly resurrecting Princess Diana so she can get ritually sacrificed. That's what it says on the back, anyway.
.JPE "owenwarland's picture")
Joyce's Finnegan's Wake is incomprehensible. Even my old Joyce professor, a hardcore nut for everything James, said he went over the line with this one. Of course, Ulysses was no easy read either.
[QUOTE=Parkaboy]
You [I]so[/I] wish you were Tim Curry as Darkness.[/QUOTE]
No, Laz doesn't. I do.
i cant read irving welsh, i tried, i just cant, i made it half way through glue with no real attatchment to the story
every piece of heavy dialouge i have to read twice and in that moment i detatch my self from the story, and it just feels more like homework than entertaintment for some reason
im stupid and petty i know
[QUOTE=ahoff]The hardest book I ever slogged through was "Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco. Just a grind.[/QUOTE]
it is. But I really like that book a lot.
I was here. Then I wasn't. Then I was again.
[QUOTE=owenwarland]No, Laz doesn't. I do.[/QUOTE]
Yes, you too.
Laz had mentioned Unicorn hating somewhere I think.
I was here. Then I wasn't. Then I was again.
The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins gave me some trouble, as did Nausea by Jean Paul Sartre. They wouldn't have been so bad except that i felt so much like Roquentin in Sartre's book, and The Blind Watchmaker was just so damned boring. And i just finished Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
"Hell is other people." No Exit, Sartre
am i a moron for not being able to translate irving welsh's dialouge and still keep my mind in the story?
or is this a common thing?
I don't know if anyone has mentioned Naked Lunch yet, but...shit, yeah, that takes the cake for me.
It took me three various times to finish the novel. I can't even piece it all together logically, but I guess the story in itself is devoid of logic anyway. I wish I could see the movie. <3 for Burroughs.
Lord of the Rings - Stupid hobbits singing all the time = SKIPPED PAGES Haha.
Violin by Anne Rice - Most boring book ever, had to give it away without finishing it. Haven't read any of her other books due to this one being so poorly written.
Drawing Down the Moon by Margret Atwood (?) - It's all about pagan religions etc, and while informative, was pretty dry and took awhile to go through.
The Gunslinger by Stephen King - It took me a bit to get into that first book when I first read it oh so long ago.
The Bible - Forced to go to church each sunday by Xian parents, I decided to read it and see if it really did say that thinking of a sin is the same as doing it like the idiot man at the front of church had said.
[QUOTE=stoyan]The Lord of the rings. Reached the middle but just couldn"t force myself to go on.[/QUOTE]
Same. I've tried reading The Hobbit about five times, and I just can't get into it. I don't understand the big craze about those books.
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[QUOTE=DecoyRobot]Lord of the Rings - Stupid hobbits singing all the time = SKIPPED PAGES Haha.[/QUOTE]
that's what also kills me. i get to that Tom whats-his-fuck skipping around the woods singing about someone's daughter or something and i can't take it seriously. i know it's fantasy, and there will be strange things like that in fantasy books, but it's a little too much.
[QUOTE=niceguyjoe]Same. I've tried reading The Hobbit about five times, and I just can't get into it. I don't understand the big craze about those books.[/QUOTE]
I actually read the Hobbit without problems. The Hobbit is a fairy tale. The Lord of teh Rings is like Brock telling a long long story. Only without the sex. Speaking of which, where the fuck is Brock?
[QUOTE=phlegmatics]am i a moron for not being able to translate irving welsh's dialouge and still keep my mind in the story?
or is this a common thing?[/QUOTE]
English is my thrid language and I still had no problem reading Irvine Welsh. I think it has something to do with the way you read. There are those that read by pronouncing the words in their head, like reading to themselves, in which case dialect would be easy to handle, and there are others that read visually, translating the letters directly into meaning, without going through the semi-audio interpretation, and thus might have difficulties reading strange spelling.
I have trouble any book with a lot of characters. I'm attempting to read Gravity's Rainbow right now and I"m moving real slow.
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