Subject: Hard to Understand
Posted by: peach12
Date: Sep 04 09
What is the hardest book to understand that you have ever read. Mine is the book "Summerland".
Posted by: peach12
Date: Sep 04 09
What is the hardest book to understand that you have ever read. Mine is the book "Summerland".
40 replies. On page 2 of 2 pages. 1 2
Calpurnia09 
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Finnegan's Wake. I've decided just to dip into it now and again, because a sustained reading is impossible. Reply #21. Nov 08 09, 6:56 AM |
uc0nnfan92
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Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, grrr so difficult to understand. I guess ill say the bible to, not being really religious I have had trouble with it the few times I've picked it up. Reply #22. Nov 08 09, 1:40 PM |
jonnowales
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I am not a prolific fiction reader (in fact I pretty much stick to non-fiction and in particular science and mathematics) but one of the hardest things to understand that I've read is "Crime and Punishment" by F. Dostoyevsky. I gave up after 150 pages. RV - I had a good little chuckle over your post, very amusing! :) Reply #23. Nov 08 09, 1:53 PM |
john_sunseri
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I have two. "Dhalgren" and "Gravity's Rainbow". Reply #24. Nov 08 09, 5:23 PM |
| sarahcateh
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I'm having a hard time getting through Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. It's good, but I'm really struggling through it. Reply #25. Nov 09 09, 4:10 PM |
romeomikegolf
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The Silmarillon by Tolkein. Never could get into it. Reply #26. Nov 09 09, 4:57 PM |
Schoonie101
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I read that one, RMG, and it was utterly painful. You may forget what it was like 10, 15 years from now and pick it up again - don't do it! :) Reply #27. Nov 10 09, 1:40 AM |
HannahConner88
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The first time I read "A Clockwork Orange" was strange because I didn't understand nadsat (the language Alex speaks) all that well, but you get use to after a couple reads and it's no problem. My favorite book is "The Princess Bride", although I understand it perfectly, I get a lot of confusion from other people. Reply #28. Jan 03 11, 3:20 PM |
agony
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AS Byatt's "The Virgin in the Garden". I've read other books by her, and while they can be challenging, they are also rewarding. This one though, left me in the dust. I hadn't the faintest notion of what she was going on about. Reply #29. Jan 03 11, 10:03 PM |
reeshy
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Jonnowales, I really loved Crime and Punishment! I can't remember whose translation I read though - perhaps a different one would be easier for you to get through? :) Reply #30. Jan 05 11, 7:24 PM |
naerulinnupesa
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Practically every compulsory book that we had to read in high school: Catcher In The Rye, Crime And Punishment, Master And Margarita, Faust, Anna Karenina and others. My main problem with understanding was WHY on earth do I have to read them? I literally had to chew myself through them, and later I couldn't get them out of my head: men being decapitated by vehicles, shaved cats, planning murders etc. These books were simply not to my taste and now I'm doing my best to forget their contents. I wish the teacher would have let us make our own mature choice about what we read and discuss in classes. I read only a couple of sentences of Anna Karenina but still wrote a satisfactory essay on it, based on our discussions. I skipped pages in Faust and was still the only one who could answer the teacher's question "What exactly did Faust do to help mankind?" I just would have appreciated a better choice of books :) Reply #31. Mar 25 11, 10:54 AM |
callie_ross
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Shakespeare's plays confuse & bore the crap out of me because of the old fashioned language that is used. Nobody talks that way anymore & it was way before my time so I have no clue what they are trying to say! I had to read "Hamlet" in college for an English class & I was struggling with it so I decided to rent the movie with Mel Gibson so I could SEE what was going on. It made a world of difference & I ended up getting a very good grade on the test our instructor gave us! :) Reply #32. Mar 25 11, 1:23 PM |
Heleena
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Gabriel Garcia Marquez "One hundred years of solitude" - I made it about half way through this book and finally gave up. Just didn't get it. Reply #33. Mar 25 11, 3:30 PM |
jolana
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Lesley: I've only spent twenty years trying to get past the first page of A Confederacy of Dunces, so perhaps there is hope yet? Try the second page:) Honestly, this is a really good book, I couldn´t put it down. Too many dunces around:) Reply #34. Mar 25 11, 7:21 PM |
lesley153
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"Try the second page:)" Wish I'd thought of that! I will give it another go some time. I think the thing to do is to settle down when there are no distractions. Trying to read on a train, for instance, with a lot of shouty men and squeaky women, is almost impossible. It is possible to read, but you have to read everything four times and nothing goes in. *wanders off to check bookshelves* Reply #35. Mar 25 11, 7:38 PM |
| jolana
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If you don´t like a book, try another one, everything has been written. I will never try to read, say, Malory´s Le Morte D´Arthur. (I was given it as a punishment for not paying attention in class:)) Reply #36. Mar 25 11, 8:05 PM |
| jolana
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And I remember, Hyperion by Hölderlin was another punishment for more not paying attention in the class:) Reply #37. Mar 25 11, 8:30 PM |
purelyqing
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Some of Jane Austen's books, unabridged version. The language is rather old-fashioned and the sentences are long. It was quite a chore for me to get through Sense & Sensibility and Emma. I got the general gist of the stories but didn't grasp all the details. I also found the Bible quite hard to read. There were so many names and I lost track of who was related to whom in what manner. I don't think I ever got past the first book. Reply #38. Mar 26 11, 8:27 AM |
| naerulinnupesa
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To purelyqing: Please don't give up on the Bible. I used to think it was hard to understand (before actually reading it), and one day I happened to open the Proverbs. Now that's a good part to start with. And the advice given is accurate and practical. *Note to myself - check if there are any quizzes about Proverbs. Create more :)* Right, I started with Proverbs and have read the Bible from cover to cover 4 times. The Gospels are also a great place to start reading. Oh, and the name Shakespeare has come up several times. This is where foreigners like myself actually have an advantage - the translated versions use modern language. Someone ought to *translate* Shakespeare into modern English. Reply #39. Mar 26 11, 11:11 AM |
| purelyqing
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Thanks for the advice, naerulinnupesa. I'm not a Christian. I only started reading the Bible because a friend gave me a copy with lovely Precious Moments pictures in it. Reply #40. Mar 27 11, 4:59 AM |
40 replies. On page 2 of 2 pages. 1 2
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