Difficult to read books

[emzie]

I've heard of some of these authors, but none of these books.

Well then I think your homeschooling isn't giving you a well-rounded education! Go ask your dad to buy you a copy of James Joyce's Ulysses.

 

[Verarde]

Or I could just buy it myself.

 

[emzie]

Or I could just buy it myself.

Well where would the humour in that be

 

[JollyRoger]

Make sure to keep it hidden. It would be wose than being caught with an issue of Penthouse.

 

[Verarde]

Then perhaps I'll pass on it.

 

[GoodGame]

I have to wonder at the lack of Russian authors on the list, though I'll admit to not finishing The Lord of the Rings either.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Jesus, I attempted to read the first paragraph of Finnegan's Wake from an online text wiki linked to.

It's like as if Joyce was drunk and attempting to write a novel while a cat rolled back and forth on his keyboard.

Like, what the hell does this even mean.

The fall (bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk!) of a once wallstrait oldparr is retaled early in bed and later on life down through all christian minstrelsy.

(bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk!)

(bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk!)

wut

 

[cardgame]

John Milton's Paradise Lost is written in such a manner that it is fiendishly difficult to follow the actual story and within the first few pages I was lost as to what the text before me was even describing.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban.

On my naming day when I come 12 I gone front spear and kilt a wyld boar he parbly ben the las wyld pig on the Bundel Downs any how there hadnt ben none for a long time befor him nor I aint looking to see none agen. He dint make the groun shake nor nothing like that when he come on to my spear he wernt all that big plus he lookit poorly. He done the reqwyrt he ternt and stood and clattert his teef and made his rush and there we wer then. Him on 1 end of the spear kicking his life out and me on the other end watching him dy. I said, "Your tern now my tern later." The other spears gone in then and he wer dead and the steam coming up off him in the rain and we all yelt, "Offert!"

The woal thing fealt jus that littl bit stupid. Us running that boar thru that las littl scrump of woodling with the forms all roun. Cows mooing sheap baaing crowing and us foraging our las boar in a thin grey girzel on the day I come a man.

The Bernt Arse pack ben follering jus out of bow shot. When the shout gone up ther ears all prickt up. Ther leader he wer a big black and red spottit dog he come forit a littl like he ben going to make a speach or some thing til 1 or 2 bloaks uppit bow then he slumpt back agen and kep his farness follering us back. I took noatis of that leader tho. He wernt close a nuff for me to see his eyes but I thot his eye ben on me.

 

[Borachio]

Ahhhh! I just loved Riddley Walker.

I had to read it twice though. The first time just to pick up the language.

A great great book. Well worth the effort.

But no doubt a matter of taste.

It is really hard to understand how, given the central premise, he could have written it differently.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban.

Woah, thanks for bringing this one up Forma, started to look into it and it looks really interesting. Definitely up my alley. I'm going to have to pick this up some time!

 

[ZeletDude]

The Scarlet Letter was really hard to read, had to read it for Literature last year :\

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Two books that are both famous and short (long often being considered difficult i.e. Clarissa or War and Peace, the latter I think is overstated as being difficult as I find that Tolstoy generally flies by) that I struggled with are Heart of Darkness and the almost incomprehensible Naked Lunch.

Also, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance made me want to scream. Couldn't stand it.

 

[classical_hero]

I have to wonder at the lack of Russian authors on the list, though I'll admit to not finishing The Lord of the Rings either.

That book is not hard to read, but boring to read. There is a big difference in the two.

 

[Borachio]

HoD, classic Conrad. I love him. Not an easy writer, though, perhaps because English wasn't his mother tongue and he often uses the plainly wrong road. His short stories are perhaps the most accessible.

Herrigel's Zen and the Art of Archery written by a German living in Japan during WW2 is a great book, if you like that sort of thing. And very short.

I've often meant to read Zen and Art of M/c but never got round to it. Other people have told me it's not really worth it.

 

[Formaldehyde]

I think it is the Jonathan Livingston Seagull of hippie motorcycling. At least that's the impression I got from a past roommate fawning all over it.

 

[Borachio]

Surely it can't be that bad, can it?

Of course it can. I confess I have read the most appalling rubbish in my time.

The lowest point in my reading career was....I shall have to consider carefully.

How does it compare with Kerouac?

 

[_random_]

Jesus, I attempted to read the first paragraph of Finnegan's Wake from an online text wiki linked to.

It's like as if Joyce was drunk and attempting to write a novel while a cat rolled back and forth on his keyboard.

Like, what the hell does this even mean.





wut

I feel like it would be best read aloud to a cat while drunk.

 

[BvBPL]

I have to wonder at the lack of Russian authors on the list, though I'll admit to not finishing The Lord of the Rings either.

Pale Fire is a total bear.

 

[Borachio]

Everything written by Gogol.

He seems to write (very well) just for the sake of writing.