08-08-2012, 09:54 AM | #1 |
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The Worlds' Most Difficult Books
I just read an article on the The Worlds' Most Difficult Books. Which have you read?
Nightwood by Djuna Barnes A Tale of a Tub by Jonathan Swift The Phenomenology of Spirit by GF Hegel To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf Clarissa, or, The History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson Finnegans Wake by James Joyce Being and Time by Martin Heidegger The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser The Making of Americans by Gertrude Stein Women and Men by Joseph McElroy The only one I have read is To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. I have to say that I am really not a fan of her style of writing. I've read The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner and thought it was a much harder read than To the Lighthouse, and also a much better book (even though I'm not really a Faulkner fan either). I've read some of Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. If you have ever seen a painting where the artists just throws paint on a canvas and the critics ooh and aah (e.g. Jackson Pollock) then you have the gist of Finnegans Wake . It is nothing but gibberish. I could only read a little bit of it. I also don't think The Phenomenology of Spirit by GF Hegel and Being and Time by Martin Heidegger belong on this list. These belong on a philosophy list and most philosophy books are difficult reads -- the more difficult they are, the more the critics like them. Personally, I prefer simpler reads, like Hemingway, Steinbeck, and even Stephanie Meyers. I can't wait until Brent Weeks next book comes out. It definitely won't be a difficult read, but I don't think a difficult read is what makes a book good. |
08-08-2012, 10:32 AM | #2 | |
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08-08-2012, 10:38 AM | #3 |
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I've read To the Lighthouse. It was dull for me. I haven't read Finnegan's Wake. I've read Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist by Joyce. Both were tough, but Ulysses would be the toughest for me so far.
I read The Sound and the Fury as well. The first section is difficult. These are supposed to be difficult Daithi, but I agree, I much prefer Steinbeck over Joyce. |
08-08-2012, 12:15 PM | #4 |
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I haven't read any of them. I prefer something I can at least read and enjoy on a superficial level even when there is plenty going on under the surface. I often feel I'm missing 90% of what's really going on in a Gene Wolfe novel, for instance, but I don't mind because the remaining 10% is still excellent. If that 10% isn't there at all, then the book's not going to work for me.
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08-08-2012, 01:26 PM | #5 | |
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Here are the first few paragraphs of Finnegans Wake, and no, it doesn't get any better---
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08-08-2012, 01:31 PM | #6 |
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Is bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronn tuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnu k! supposed to be an onomatopoeia?
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08-08-2012, 01:37 PM | #7 |
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08-08-2012, 01:45 PM | #8 | ||
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08-08-2012, 02:21 PM | #9 |
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Oof. I tried reading Finnegans Wake on recommendation from a teacher in college... I soon stopped listening to that college.
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08-08-2012, 03:50 PM | #10 |
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I've read A Tale of a Tub. I think it's hilarious. Particularly the parts about the Aeolists.
Also the Faerie Queene for college; I remember slogging through the allegorical stuff there. My husband's favorite book is Finnegan's Wake. I have read parts of it aloud, and it's more fun that way. You can't take it seriously, and you can't expect it to make sense, but you can get something out of it, it's like a grown up Irish Dr Seuss run through a great deal of cultural / historical stuff. If you do it the right way it makes little kids giggle really hard. |
08-08-2012, 03:51 PM | #11 |
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Read Clarissa by Samuel Richardson. It wasn't difficult, just long, (two print volumes). It is written as a series of letters by several different characters. The writing style was very subtle. I followed this book with a Steven King book, written in Steven's "in your face" style. The contrast between the two book's styles couldn't have been larger.
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08-08-2012, 06:42 PM | #12 |
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Finnegans Wake is the bible of the pretentious pseudo-intellectual crowd.
If anyone gifted me a copy of the book, I'd thank them for providing me with a long supply of kindling for my grill and fireplace. |
08-08-2012, 07:00 PM | #13 |
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08-08-2012, 07:47 PM | #14 | |
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08-08-2012, 07:53 PM | #15 |
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I really like The Faerie Queene. I don't really see how it's one of the "world's most difficult" books?
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