Today I’m going to look at some of the books that intimidated me too much to actually read (yet, if ever), as well as some of the books I have actually read that really intimidated me before I tackled them.
Too scary to read yet:
I’ve started several of these – half of Bleak House, a small sample of Infinite Jest, Ulysses and Crime and Punishment. I don’t think I’ll ever read Ulysses or Infinite Jest – they’re not appealing enough to me personally for me to overcome the length and other challenges they present. I do want to read The Master and Margarita and Crime and Punishment as I’ve heard great things about both, particularly the latter which was a favourite of someone whose opinions I trust. The Matter of Black Lives doesn’t intimidate me in terms of content, but rather is just a very long book (848 pages). I suspect it will be worth it though. I enjoyed what I read of Bleak House, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever be motivated enough to try again. We shall see!
Books that intimidated me before I read them:
I was really nervous about each of these – they’re all long, some were dense, others had difficult subject matter. But I was glad to have read all of them, and most of them ended up being great reads. The 1619 Project was one of my favourite reads of 2022. Ducks, Newburyport made me feel like I’d found a fictional version of someone a lot like me – or at least someone I’d like to be friends with. One Hundred Years of Solitude was a little challenging in terms of names (there are like 17 characters with the same name, after all) but also completely blew my mind and launched me into an intense and ongoing love of Latin American literature, particularly magical realism. LoTR and A Little Life were both more challenging and weren’t always ones I enjoyed reading, and both had issues, but I was pleased to have finished each to know what they were about and to be able to form opinions on them for myself.
What about you guys? Are there any books you’re too scared to pick up? Any you were absolutely terrified to try, but ended up finishing and being glad to have read (or not)? Did you have a similar experience with any of my picks?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.
There are so many giant classics that I want to read, but I’m too scared! I spent a whole college semester slogging through Atlas Shrugged and hating every second of it.
Oh geez I hear you. I didn’t finish that one myself!
Other than LOTR, I haven’t read any of these. Some of them are too intimidating for me, too. Others I just have no interest in. I’m glad to hear that you were ultimately glad you read the ones you did, even if they weren’t easy reads for various reasons. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I have to say LoTR is actually one of the ones that took me the longest and that I struggled with the most! Yeah, long books have to really interest me or there’s no way I’m going to keep going unless I have to. Which was the case with some of these, so that helped!
Good for you for tackling some intimidating books! Not many readers will pick up a book they are afraid of.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/ten-of-roses-favorite-books-of-all-time/
Thanks! I have to admit though that it wasn’t all just down to my bravery. One was for school, another for prize judging, another for a buddy read!
I’m intimidated by all the books you list, having only read one of them, I guess that tells you why. Ha!
Hahaha! Yeah, most of the ones I did read were with outside help. For school, for prize judging, as a buddy read, in small pieces on an audiobook… that kind of thing.
Oooh, what a great take on this week’s freebie prompt! Length is a big deterrent for me. My library has a policy that you personally have to read any book you bring on a school visit, so I spend most of my time reading middle grade. When I can squeeze in an adult book, I usually go for a quick read!
Jessica
Yeah, me too. I have issues with commitment, and some books feel like getting married on a first date! I am a huge fans of librarians, and so glad to hear that you spend so much time keeping up with the books that are coming out for the ages you work with. That must make you such an amazing resource for these kids! It’s so important at that age to find the books that you will love in order to create a feeling of reading as magical and a lasting source of enjoyment. A librarian who can find a book for every kid is so important. Thanks for all the work you do! Which adult books (short ones) have you loved recently?
Great list and great twist on this freebie, thank you for sharing.
Thank you!
Bleak House, The Master and Margarite are also on my list. I hope we can read it soon and most important, enjoy the story
I remember liking the first half of Bleak House – it was slow, but also had a comforting feeling to the slowness, if that makes sense! I hope you enjoy them as well!
I’m glad you enjoyed the ones you did pick up, even if they were a little intimidating at first! I tend to find all long books quite intimidating because it is a massive time commitment, but I’ve found audiobooks have helped a lot with that as seeing the chapters broken down into smaller chunks, like oh this chapter is 20 minutes, has made them more manageable for me.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2023/01/31/top-ten-tuesday-405/
I absolutely agree. Most of these I have read in recent years were audio for me as well. It is nice to feel like progress is being made. Ducks I listened to on 2x speed, and that was how I got into it. I also like being able to do stuff while reading when it’s going to take a while!
If I were doing this topic, A Little Life would so be on the list! So would Outlander. The size and length of that series is so overwhelming.
Oh man, yes. I didn’t even include series, but Game of Thrones, the Marlon James fantasy books and Outlander would definitely be in there. Way too much of a commitment for me, being long books AND a series of them!! Double yikes.
I have all of the books on your Feeling Intimidated list on mine, plus some that you conquered, including Ducks, Newburyport and A Little Life.
Yeah, and that’s not even a complete list! Weirdly I ended up liking Ducks – but I did have to listen to it on audio at more than 2x speed to get into it. A Little Life… I don’t know. I know it has a ton of fans. There are good things about it. But I don’t think I’d bother reading it if I had to go back and do it over. It felt like it didn’t really earn the emotional impact it got from me, and I resented it a bit. There are some other issues with it as well. I think it’s one of those marmite books that either will really land with you or really, really won’t. I think it depends on whether you feel like you want to read it, or if you feel like you should, if that makes sense? I am generally not that much of a fan of really long books – they don’t always seem like they need to be that long, and I hate when I get halfway and it’s dragging but I want to finish because I’ve come this far, if you know what I mean. So big books really have to interest me for me to get into them! I’m rambling now (it’s past my bedtime) so I’ll stop here. I hope if you do give any of these a try that they end up being less intimidating once you start!
The Lord of the Rings was very good but very long!
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-confessions/
Oh my, yes it was. And it took me two tries to get through the second book, so that extended it by half a book’s reading time! Yikes. Glad to have read it but also kiiiiind of glad it’s over? Is that bad to admit??