ChatterBank1 min ago
Reading Motives
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.BTW for those who haven't read Lord of the Rings, have you tried The Hobbit, a brilliant book.
I tried to read Dune by Frank Herbert at least 4 times before I got past the first chapter, but when I did get into it I Loved It!, now I've read it dozens of times
The former I found "difficult" because the invented histories of imaginary peoples left me cold; the latter because it required extensive re-reading. It was "difficult", but not necessarily in a bad way.
Further to nicola_red's answer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of my favourite authors, 100 years of solitude in particular is brilliant though admittedly not easy to follow at some points. It's ten times better the second time you read it.
Anyway, another book by GGM is definitely the hardest I have ever read, called 'The autumn of the Patriarch'. The average sentance lasts 2 or 3 pages (and I mean that literally), with some up to 8 or 9 pages long. The idea is that it comes across as a stream of conciousness, which is a very powerful way of telling the story. It means that if you get any sort of distraction whilst reading you have to go back a big chunk of story and start again. I read it on the tube and it took weeks to get through. Ultimately it is very good, but requires a lot of effort.
NOW, i don't consider myself easily disgusted. in fact most people find the putrid filth i myself churn out un-stomachable... but ploughing through 120 days of sodom by de sade was a little too much even for my jaded belly. i had to chuck it away in the end. not difficult book in the way you intended the question, but you get the picture. just thought i'd mention it. anyone else read it?
Arundhati Roy's "God of Small things" was difficult to read. It had so much similes, metaphors, imagery, idioms, alliterations all in one. I started reading it once and then stopped. Then a friend told me it was a really good book, and I read it again, slowly this time, taking my time to digest everything. It all made sense in the end!
I know its not a 'difficult' book per se, but Great Expectations by Dickens was tough going for me....I just found it so hard to get going. We did it for GCSE English Literature in 1988, my twin brother swotted over it and got a 'B'...to my great amusement I read a bit of it, got bored, watched the film on video the day before the exam and got the same grade, basing my character studies on the people in the film! Funny thing is I keep picking it up in the Classics section of Waterstones and putting it down again quickly...
Now a responsible 33 yr old I would in no way condone kids watching the film instead of reading the text...you might miss some good sport on telly ;-)
Secondly, a book about devil possession. I can read anything, no matter how gory, and don't believe in possession, but this book seriously freaked me out! I had nightmares for ages, and threw it away before I finished it.
And yes, I've read quite a few books because I thought I should. With a degree, people expect you to be well read, whereas I really enjoy junk! So every now and then, I force myself to read something 'intellectual'. Not as much fun as the junk though...