By this I mean, a book you had to brace yourself to read, and you feel proud for having read. Did you enjoy the process of reading it?
Ulysses! The Joyce one. Honestly I enjoyed it - for how esoteric and sort of distant it is, the base plot itself is kinda mundane so it’s not like the base structure of the book is massively hard to follow (especially if you’re familiar with The Odyssey) once you get over the constant writing style shifts. It’s randomly funny and weirdly relatable (like being stuck in a conversation with a chatty American) and gives you so many reasons to hate the British. I really like how it’s adapted the story of The Odyssey and I think more adaptions of Greek works should be like it - an adaption of the themes and vague plot beats rather than just taking the characters and doing whatever the fuck you want with them, and also should have one guy who inexplicably thinks he’s actually in an adaption of a Shakespeare play instead.
I will say though, my copy of Ulysses is one third appendix, which explains out the schema and has footnotes for most of the references that will just go right over your head if you don’t happen to be James Joyce and I genuinely don’t understand how you could read that book without it. It really turns every confusing reference and story moment into something clear and understandable which elevates the text around it. If I didn’t have it I most definitely would’ve dropped the book
Also I’m nowhere near finished but I’ve started reading Dream of the Red Chamber (aka Story of the Stone) which is an 18th century Chinese novel infamous for being really long (I think it’s like over 2k pages? My copy is divided up into like five books) and difficult to follow with way too many characters in it. It’s a big long deconstruction of Confucianism and nobility following a chunk of the heavens who’s reincarnated into a failing noble family because he wants to see what it’s like being human, only to be treated like absolute shit by his family because everyone see him as a divine blessing and want to use and abuse him as much as possible for their own ends. He spends a lot of time around the women of the house and watches their own tragedies unfold, hence the length and excessive characters. Hasn’t gotten too bad yet, but I’m also barely into it relatively speaking.
I read Dream of the Red Chamber a looooong time ago. Might try it again some time soon…
I enjoyed The Scholars much more. (And reread it recently.)
I’ve read Ulysses and Infinite Jest (the latter multiple times), all of Samuel Becketts novels, and the complete works of Italo Calvino and Georges Perec.
I maintain that although the prose was much much easier, 120 Days of Sodom was the hardest to pick back up after putting down. It’s so tedious and repetitive but also about coprophagy, pedophilia and extremely detailed gore, with 0 plot or characterisation. I feel no sense of achievement for having read it and my life is worse for having done so.
- The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
- Vita Nostra by Sergey and Marina Dyachenko
Both are underrated or underrepresented
I found The Quantum Thief to have too much unexplained jargon for a book without a glossary. The story and pacing and whatnot were great.
Out of curiosity I tried to read the first few lines of Finnegan’s Wake. Couldn’t progress beyond that. How do people who actually read the book make any sense of it? This is not an example as stated in the post, but “most difficult book” made me think of this book immediately.
Don Quijote in Spanish. Tough to get through, but worth it.
Seven eves. The author indulges a little too much in technical details. At points, for pages.
I thought it was very good. Stephenson does have a tendency to get really into whatever the subject matter of his story is, eg. cryptography in cryptonomicon, MMOs and gaming in REAMDE, Alan turing and AI in The Diamond Age etc. I find it to be an endearing aspect lf his writing. Definitely recommend Seveneves.
End then, as typical, the “end” is done in a haste. My only gripe with him (and this book in particular)
I could not agree more.
I thought it was the easiest Neal Stephenson’s book. (That I’ve read.)
The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky. Rewarding slog but a slog for sure.
I liked it much better than the beginning of Crime and Punishment. It helps that I love philosophical side-quests.
It is my favorite book and the philosophical side quests are why I love it but it is a long, dense read
I am reading it now. Little beyond 80%. Except for the initial ~20% I found it to be a page turner. Loving it!
I read The Third Pandemic and Sphere in 5th grade, back in the 90s. I had to carry a dictionary with me for them, but I still remember most of the stories to this day.
I learned a lot, but the process of reading them involved a lot of teachers telling me it was too adult for me (probably because they didn’t understand them), so that wasn’t fun, but ultimately I did enjoy the process. It helped make me who I am now.
I don’t find books particularly challenging at this point (I’m now a 600-700 word per minute speed reader, depending on material, with tested 98% retention) but I have to brace to read legal text, or anything that’s written to sound smart rather than be accessible. But that’s just because those aren’t ever fun to read for anyone.
It would be The Road by Cormac McCarthy, if I could read it, but it’s forever above my reading level.
We Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong is about microbes inside us and animals and I have no idea why I read it, but it was difficult to read because I’m terrible at biology. Still cool though
Edit: Oh, I didn’t realise this is the fiction comm. Oops. I guess I don’t read any challenging fiction books. Maybe I should rectify that
Gravity’s Rainbow. I’d taken classes in postmodernism and still found it so difficult to focus. I’m not sure if I enjoyed the reading process, but I felt good for having completed it. Took 2 attempts.
I have tried to read it three or four times and cannot get past the part about the banana tree and all the banana based food he cooks up. Not a banana hater but for some reason that part makes me kind of queasy and I put the book down every time
Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I enjoyed reading it, but it demanded my full attention to appreciate it.
EDIT: I enjoyed it like hard exercise, a long hike, or landscaping a garden. It’s tough, you’re tired, but you’re also proud.
By Eco I only started “The Name of the Rose” and abandoned it after a short while. I should give it another go.
I read through Adventures of Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn at one point. They were fine, had to google a few archaisms. Not exactly thrillers, but even as a euro, I just felt the Americana, I guess. Charming as a period thing.
On the other hand, I read 1984 and was actually surprised at how engaging it was. Major bummer, obviously, but I expected it to be an effort. It held its own and kept me reading.
Gödel, Escher, Bach. I was only able to read the whole thing because I was in a ship for a month without TV or internet.
Shit, I meant to get back to that at some point.
I loved it, it taught me so much. But it was a tough bone to crack for sure!
Yeah, I want to read it again! Maybe when I’m retired! 🙂
Cloud Atlas
It’s a postmodern masterpiece, but fucking hell the use of language makes it tough.
The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism… That was a chore! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_Democratic_Capitalism
Glad I finished it, but as a highschool freshman I wasn’t ready for the commitment that book was.
