Books - Books that were Too Difficult

Crossbow · 04-30-2004, 04:05 PM

Anyone ever tried to read The Black Book by Lawrence Durrell?

MichaelsPatience · 04-30-2004, 10:39 PM

I never did make it through Beowulf.

Couldn't get past the first chapter of "Message in a Bottle"

Crossbow · 05-01-2004, 07:51 AM

The Black Book is the only one that was so difficult I couldn't read it. There have been others that were not too difficult to read, but so difficult they were no fun to read:
A Void by Perec
Focault's Pendulum by Eco

migamoo · 05-03-2004, 10:20 PM

The Dune series. If you just pick it up out of the blue, you might not understand them. I had a lot of background in them before I started to read them and I still got confused.

Crossbow · 05-04-2004, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Fieryangel:
The Dune series. If you just pick it up out of the blue, you might not understand them. I had a lot of background in them before I started to read them and I still got confused.

Did you start at the beginning? They are awfully complicated, but I had no trouble following them, and I started at the beginning.

supergirlhero · 05-04-2004, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Crossbow:
Focault's Pendulum by Eco

I know what you mean. I'm usually a really fast reader, but I've been holding on to this one for almost a month, and I'm still in Chapter 3. But I will definitely finish it, I just don't know when.

Crossbow · 05-05-2004, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by supergirlhero:


I know what you mean. I'm usually a really fast reader, but I've been holding on to this one for almost a month, and I'm still in Chapter 3. But I will definitely finish it, I just don't know when.

Chapter 3? You did better than I did. I got to about PAGE 3. There was this long passage comparing the track of a pendulum to the tracks on nomadic people, and after I struggled through that I decided it wasn't worth the effort. (My mom loves that book, BTW.)

migamoo · 05-05-2004, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Crossbow:


Did you start at the beginning? They are awfully complicated, but I had no trouble following them, and I started at the beginning.

yeah, i did start with the first book. i personally didn't have any trouble with them, but i know a lot of people who wouldn't or haven't been able to follow them.

**n e r b l e** · 05-10-2004, 10:49 PM

the only book i had problems w/ was clockwork orange cause of the made up slang. but i'm thinking if a tried it now i might be able to work my way though it.

pacifierrocks · 05-11-2004, 01:22 AM

The only book that i've never finished is Moby Dick . It wasn't hard in the sense that i couldn't understand what i was reading, it was hard in the sense that it was boring. I think i stopped when i realized that i was reading like three chapters on the biology of different whales.

supergirlhero · 05-11-2004, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Crossbow
Chapter 3? You did better than I did. I got to about PAGE 3. There was this long passage comparing the track of a pendulum to the tracks on nomadic people, and after I struggled through that I decided it wasn't worth the effort. (My mom loves that book, BTW.)

I'm making progress. Into Chapter 11 now. It actually gets more interesting

pacifierrocks: I haven't read Moby Dick in its entirety too. I tried, but yeah, I got bored.

Carrie99 · 05-12-2004, 11:23 PM

For the life of me, I couldn't get through Dracula and I love that genre of books. Maybe I wasn't concentrating enough/was too tired all the times I tried to read it or something.

girlminivan · 05-13-2004, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Carrie99
For the life of me, I couldn't get through Dracula and I love that genre of books. Maybe I wasn't concentrating enough/was too tired all the times I tried to read it or something.

I've never read Dracula, but I can sympathize with your not being able to get through a book you think you'd actually like. Have you tried reading an abridged version?

**TheAngel** · 05-13-2004, 02:59 PM

I don't have many problems with books being too hard to read except if they don't have a good story. Dune, fairly easy to follow if slightly confusing. The only two books I've been assigned in school that I never got through were Walden by Henry David Thoreau and The Prince by Machiavelli. Walden had some good quotes but it was just so booring and I was reading the whole book thinking, "Thoreau is a jackass." As for the Prince, he asked all these questions but never answered them.
"Is it better to be a fox or a lion...Beats the hell out of me but I'll give it a shot." That's basically what I got out of the book.

Soz · 05-13-2004, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Fieryangel
The Dune series. If you just pick it up out of the blue, you might not understand them. I had a lot of background in them before I started to read them and I still got confused.

I had a hard time with the Dune series too when I tried to read them. I got through the first two or three, but then I got totally lost. I was only 13 when I tried reading them though, so I'll have to give them a try again now that I'm older.

I just realized it's been seventeen years since I read the Dune books. Man, I'm getting old.

Quote:

Originally posted by Carrie99
For the life of me, I couldn't get through Dracula and I love that genre of books. Maybe I wasn't concentrating enough/was too tired all the times I tried to read it or something.

I thought I'd love Dracula, but I was really bored when I read it. I also didn't like the themes about women in the book.