i dunno if we should blame tolkien too much for the unreadability of the silmarillion -- it was assembled after his death, mostly from writings he didn't expect ever to be published.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 19:21 (ten years ago) link
House of Leaves isn't difficult or disturbing, unless you're driven to blind rage by words falling across multiple pages and shit.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 19:23 (ten years ago) link
my main difficulty w/ GR was the sudden shifts from character to character. i had a hard time keeping all the plot threads straight.
i found ulysses EASY because i read it side-by-side with this bad boy
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31FPWk2oUDL._BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
oh hey look! somebody put ulysses up with all of the annotations!
http://www.columbia.edu/~fms5/ulys.htm
― the late great, Wednesday, 6 November 2013 19:37 (ten years ago) link
read this one side-by-side with finnegan's wake
http://www.amazon.com/Joyces-Book-Dark-Finnegans-Ingraham/dp/0299108244
^^ took two classes w/ this guy in college, he was a HOOT
― the late great, Wednesday, 6 November 2013 19:38 (ten years ago) link
highly recommend both books
― the late great, Wednesday, 6 November 2013 19:40 (ten years ago) link
ulysses is awesome if not the best thing ever. nothung! finnegans wake never seemed worth the effort but i never took a class on it or was taught how to appreciate it. the ones most people seem to have read are the silmarillion and gravity's rainbow. surprised there isn't more mention of tristram shandy, the sweetest novel ever published?
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 20:02 (ten years ago) link
Ulysses is the best thing ever yes
I'm surprised Nabokov's Ada isn't on the list. What a hot, gorgeous mess that one is.
― never have i been a blue calm sea (collardio gelatinous), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 20:49 (ten years ago) link
my vote for my favorite of those listed was for tristam shandy.
― Aimless, Wednesday, 6 November 2013 20:52 (ten years ago) link
Tristram Shandy has been on my reading list for too long now. Time to crack it open.
War and Peace is simply big. Only thing difficult about it is carrying it around.
― never have i been a blue calm sea (collardio gelatinous), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 20:55 (ten years ago) link
Same here, but my biggest regret was not taking his JAJ seminar.
― Matt Groening's Cousin (Leee), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 21:57 (ten years ago) link
This thread is awesome.
I've only read 8 of the books, but "Sound and the Fury" is certainly my favorite of those. Pet Semetary is not a challenging read but it was chilling.
― Deuteronomy 23:1 (dandydonweiner), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 22:03 (ten years ago) link
Also, I've never read Finnegan's Wake. Do I:
1. Fumble though it (fake it!) without warning or companions once, feel like a dumbass, then re-read with a companion book at my side?
or
2. Know going in that I'm fucked and just read it with a companion book at the get go?
― Deuteronomy 23:1 (dandydonweiner), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 22:08 (ten years ago) link
3. get drunk and just read it out loud for the sounds
― j., Wednesday, 6 November 2013 22:12 (ten years ago) link
anyone read this?
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XFm17WPPL._SL500_SY300_.jpg
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 22:17 (ten years ago) link
if you read FW with a companion book you will get the advantage of some kind of thread leading you thru, but the disadvantage that that thread will be mostly bollocks - most of the companions i know of try to "decode" the book and that isn't the point in the end.
but on mature reflection i'd say yeah take a companion, it won't kill the book for you and it might sustain your interest long enough to develop your own strategies for reading it
― . (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 22:26 (ten years ago) link
War and Peace is long but awesome and easily read. It is action-packed, at least in the War-sections. However, the last 200 pages or so are really boring. It might be the biggest masterpiece with the worst ending.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 6 November 2013 22:35 (ten years ago) link
wd stress tho that anybody who hasn't read A Tale of a Tub shd read it pronto
― . (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 22:37 (ten years ago) link
haha i like the final exam section of war and peace because it's like after a huge dinner u retire for cigars w tolstoy and he pontificates about history until he falls asleep
― i want to say one word to you, just one word:buzzfeed (difficult listening hour), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 23:01 (ten years ago) link
trainspotting is "hard" because it's written in irish slang language― flopson, Wednesday, November 6, 2013 7:00 PM (4 hours ago)
― flopson, Wednesday, November 6, 2013 7:00 PM (4 hours ago)
uh
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 23:26 (ten years ago) link
shitty listicle redeemed by that flopson post
― Nilmar Jr (Nilmar Honorato da Silva), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 23:28 (ten years ago) link
Yeah solid lol but as for the other floppy posts surely the only dick-measuring is in the og article "if you read a hard book have a cookie" whereas every half smart post itt has been more wgaf if a book is hard or not
― you can get fuckstab anywhere in london (wins), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 23:58 (ten years ago) link
Btw I've never read gravitys rainbow, bet it's good tho
― you can get fuckstab anywhere in london (wins), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 23:59 (ten years ago) link
rectify asap, i'll read a book of your choosing
― kaputtinabox (imago), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:01 (ten years ago) link
Btw I've never read gravitys rainbow, bet it's good tho― you can get fuckstab anywhere in london (wins),
― you can get fuckstab anywhere in london (wins),
ohhhhh yeahhhhhhh. get the gravity's rainbow companion by weissenburger. read a chapter, then the companion notes on that chapter--after three or four chapters you will be in the flow and not really care if you're getting all the refs. Enjoy!
― Iago Galdston, Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:03 (ten years ago) link
don't get the companion and don't look anything up. just read the damn thing
― kaputtinabox (imago), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:04 (ten years ago) link
well aren't you special! most people, including myself, were daunted by it when i tried over and over to get into it. It helped me immensely!
― Iago Galdston, Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:05 (ten years ago) link
which book are we talking about now
i found reading out loud helped a lot w/ GR, FW and ulysses
― the late great, Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:06 (ten years ago) link
I'll rectify RIGHT NOW imago
― you can get fuckstab anywhere in london (wins), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:08 (ten years ago) link
this sucks
― you can get fuckstab anywhere in london (wins), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:09 (ten years ago) link
a sucking comes across the page
― kaputtinabox (imago), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:09 (ten years ago) link
naphtha is that even a word I doubt it
― you can get fuckstab anywhere in london (wins), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:10 (ten years ago) link
― i want to say one word to you, just one word:buzzfeed (difficult listening hour), 7. november 2013 00:01 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I read it the summer before I started studying history, and all the 'history-writers don't know anything' was really deflating... Also, does the whole thing after the time-jump make any sense without some knowledge of the decembrist uprising? I had no idea what was going on, and it was definitely an 'aha' moment when I read an explanation of it.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:16 (ten years ago) link
wow free GR
http://browse.reticular.info/text/collected/Thomas%20Pynchon%20-%20Gravity's%20Rainbow.pdf
― the late great, Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:17 (ten years ago) link
Hah, does it have the weird printing hijinks around page ~270 in the Penguin edition?
― Matt Groening's Cousin (Leee), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:21 (ten years ago) link
i was kind of unprepared for how filthy GR was
― CardiacsPrincesse69xxx (Matt P), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:36 (ten years ago) link
like there were a lot of cleveland steamers iirc
― CardiacsPrincesse69xxx (Matt P), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:37 (ten years ago) link
pynchon's thing would appear to be keeping it relatively clean for 200 pages and then giving you polysexual omnideviant hell if GR and ATD are anything to go by
aw, only one steamer! and lots of shit = death pontification. and a toiletship
― kaputtinabox (imago), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:38 (ten years ago) link
yeah i guess there was only one steamer scene.
aren't all the actual hard books by continental philosophers?
― CardiacsPrincesse69xxx (Matt P), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:40 (ten years ago) link
sold!
*starts on p200*
― you can get fuckstab anywhere in london (wins), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:41 (ten years ago) link
(there were dirty bits in ATD much earlier iirc)
― you can get fuckstab anywhere in london (wins), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:42 (ten years ago) link
ATD is like a sexual Bolero, it starts clean but fucking hell 700 pages in
― kaputtinabox (imago), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:43 (ten years ago) link
i enjoyed the use of poo humor in gr as it obviously resonates with me, but i wasn't expecting it for whatever reason. i think i read the crying of lot 49 first and that was less of a psychosexual funhouse.
xp ok i'm going to read ATD next
― CardiacsPrincesse69xxx (Matt P), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:45 (ten years ago) link
trainspotting is "hard" because it's written in irish slang language
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Wednesday, November 6, 2013 6:26 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
what? is that not true?
― flopson, Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:45 (ten years ago) link
ah scottish right lol
― flopson, Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:46 (ten years ago) link
I've hardly read any pynchon but against the day is one of my favourite books ever
― you can get fuckstab anywhere in london (wins), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:46 (ten years ago) link
blood meridian is hard as fuck to read but super good and rewards close reading immensely
― flopson, Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:48 (ten years ago) link
You don't have to get 200 pages into GR before a character decodes a message using precious bodily fluids.
― Matt Groening's Cousin (Leee), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:49 (ten years ago) link
I gave up on Blood Meridian, and it was for a class! So yes, I vouch for its difficulty.
― Matt Groening's Cousin (Leee), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:50 (ten years ago) link
xp sweet! *starts on p199*
― you can get fuckstab anywhere in london (wins), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:51 (ten years ago) link
GR and ATD are my two favourite books ever. Tristram Shandy is probably third; hope it gets a few votes here
― kaputtinabox (imago), Thursday, 7 November 2013 00:53 (ten years ago) link