Hardest Book U've Ever Read?

[skyscraping]

i actually really enjoy the plays of shakespeare. i'd pick them over any of jane austen's works any day, hands down. i think there is a variety in shakespeare's works, not only romance, which so many classical authors are very fond of. i think many people don't like shakespeare mainly because they can't understand elizabethan language lol something which i can wholeheartedly agree with.

the book i found the hardest to read is pride and prejudice by jane austen. i regret ever picking up that book, because from my point of view the progression of the story is painfully slow, and there is hardly any exciting moment in that book. worst book everrrrrr. and i don't say that to a lot of books. sorry.

[Guest Lila90]

i actually really enjoy the plays of shakespeare. i'd pick them over any of jane austen's works any day, hands down. i think there is a variety in shakespeare's works, not only romance, which so many classical authors are very fond of. i think many people don't like shakespeare mainly because they can't understand elizabethan language lol something which i can wholeheartedly agree with.

Agreed.. I love that you can find any Shakespeare work to fit your mood. There is a reason they are still making movies based of his work.  The hardest book for me to read was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte because it was so depressing and some parts are boring. 

[nthu_878]

1984 by George Orwell.

The language was beautiful and so i stuck with it but there were parts that were terribly hard to understand without several rereads.

[Guest Kariyon]

Vanity Fair by William Thackeray

I've tried reading it for over a year now and I still can't get past page 20. I keep trying to tell myself that it might get better if I keep at it but it just feels like walking into a brick wall --

[Guest mayo]

Toilers of the sea by Victor Hugo. I had to read this for french and write a book report on it. I dont think I ever made it through though. Sparknotes helped. This was high school.

Anything Shakespeare. A whole new different language for me. :S

[prissymom]

Ayn Rand's ATLAS SHRUGGED. The story is well-written, the premise very interesting. But the philosophical discussions can be long-winded, hence very hard to process in one sitting. I first read this book when I was in college (many, many years ago ) , and every year since then I would reread this book, esp John Galt's speech, and still find something new for my brain to process.

Also, BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY by Robert James Waller, and A TIME TO KILL by John Grisham. Both books are actually very easy to understand, but I had a hard time reading and finishing them because I kept crying suffered through 1 week of head-splitting migraine afterwards Both books were made into movies later, didn't/couldn't watch them - don't want to put myself through an emotional wringer again.

[Guest hollow]

Tao Te Ching

One of the books that I must thoroughly read and understand x_x

[Guest misswa]

I agree with the LotR trilogy, didn't read the first one and only read the last two because I couldn't wait for the movie.

Plato's The Republic, it was required reading for Philosophy and to this day, I've only the faintest idea what it's about.

Dante's Inferno and Rushdie's Satanic Verses, I gave up on these two (especially the former, I tried reading it twice but to no avail). I picked up Rushdie because of its controversy but I lost interest fast too, oh wells.

[Guest deceitful.reverie]

Like a lot of you guys, I also thought A Clockwork Orange was a difficult read. I kept on pushing myself to finish it cause my dad said it was great, but I was just having a hard time understanding and imagining it.

I love Jane Austen, but IMO Mansfield Park was also extremely boring.

[Guest ohenji]

Les Misérables was a tough one, mainly because it was so text heavy, so everytime I tried reading it, I fell asleep. Same goes for The Count of Monte Cristo. 

[Guest Illicitusx]

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.  

A teacher had recommend it but maaannnnnnn...

I had no idea what I was reading! -__-

So I quit after Chapter 3 or 4.  I forgot which.

[Guest MissPan]

For me it was The Trial by Franz Kafka.

I had to read it in school, it was really confusing.