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?
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.)
Julius Caesar’s Commentarii De Bello Gallico in Latin. And… yes I did enjoy it. There are some points where translation just cannot capture Caesar’s wit. I wish I still knew enough Latin to read it again.
(Why yes I am a huge fucking nerd, how could you tell?)
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’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.
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.)
Anathem by Neal Stephenson is a tough book to get through, but extremely rewarding if you do.
I found Blindsight by Peter Watts to be a hard read mostly because a lot of the philosophy went right over my head. Good book though.
I loved Anathem, but the ending was a bit too much all over the place for my taste. I honestly enjoy random philosophical discussions, so the first third of the book was my bread and butter.
Stephenson is a weird author, Anathem is great, I enjoyed the Criptonomicon but really did not like Snow Crash.
Try ‘Reamde.’ It’s Stephenson’s version of a Jack Ryan novel. Billionaire’s niece is kidnapped by the Russian mob…
I love Blindsight too, looking to read more Stephenson though
‘Anathem.’ Got about 20 pages in and threw it down, because it was just Stephenson being deliberately confusing. Someone advised me to stick with it, but warned me that it took about 200 pages for the plot to get going. Skipped over the last section with all the multiple world nonsense.
I did read all three books of the Baroque Cycle, but threw Book One at the wall when I got to the end and found the damn gloassary hidden away like a pearl in an oyster.
- 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.
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’m about halfway through Dante’s Inferno at the moment.
I started reading it about ten years ago…
Are you reading it in Italian or in a translation?
I read most of it in high school and the rest on my own. Reading it fully on your own is a feat! Do you have a commented edition? What do you like of it?
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I think it’s the descriptions. I got an audio book of the first volume and it seemed like the descriptions went on for ages, but not a whole lot happened. Normally I love fantasy, but so far I can’t warm up to this series.
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It just turns into such a slog for so long. The highs are great but the meandering lows are so frustrating. I read them all back to back over about 8-10 months and it gets really noticeable when you do that
Le Morte d’Arthur, by Thomas Mallory, in Middle English.
That’s impressive! Why did you read it? And did you enjoy it in some way?
I chose it for an English literature class, as I was always fascinated by Arthurian legend. The teacher thought I was mad, and was probably right. But it was more that I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.
I was adept at French, which really helped. But it was a long slow read. Looking back I don’t know how I managed other than to ignore the parts I really didn’t understand. It was pre internet hahah.
In the end, I’d say yes, I did enjoy it. It’s always stuck with me, and I automatically compare every Arthurian story (book, movie, etc) to what I remember from it - which I guess makes sense.
But ultimately it’s very sad. Almost depressing. And the dryness of it makes it feel like it could have really happened.
Damn, your question is enticing me to it up again!
Probably Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad. It’s so damned bleak that I had to force my way through it. It’s a great book, but I didn’t enjoy it.
I understand. I disliked every bit of it, because it was bleak and dark in a sticky way, if that makes sense. I think it’s a good book because it definitely achieve to criticize the economy of the time, but it doing it it becomes an un-enjoyable book.
The second, and even more so the third, book in the Ender’s Game series.
I looked the first so much I kept pushing through the others, hoping they would get better. They did not.
I still had the second in my reading list, sad to hear it’s not worth it. Can you explain why?
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.
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! 🙂
I haven’t read it, but reading about it makes me think it would be this book: House of Leaves.
It’s in my reading pile! I’ll give it a try “soon”
I’ve read it. Definitely a challenge
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.
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.
