I have been reading Finnegans Wake over the course of this year, a few pages a day, along with a group over on reddit. It is one of the very few things that still keeps me visiting reddit at all.

Since the group are aiming to have a few weeks to review the book, I now have only two weeks before finishing it. It has been quite a ride, hovering right on the edge of comprehension at best - and usually some way beyond.

Last year, I read Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, and the year before War and Peace - which makes particular sense in this format, since there are 365 chapters.

Anyhoo, I am now giving thought to my next annual big read. Some options are The Brothers Karamazov, Gravity’s Rainbow, and Crime and Punishment but I sm undecided and would like to consider some others.

Have you done anything of the sort? Do you have any suggestions?

EDIT - and The Romance of the Three Kingdoms sounds like an interesting one too.

  • Mighty@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Yes I have done something similar on a bigger scale. I’ve participated in a reading/discussion circle that spanned about 200+ people in different countries. We’ve all read a philosophical book and there were cards that had most of the chapters’ contents on them, so you didn’t necessarily need the book. We were encouraged to find a reading partner close by to discuss a chapter per week. I still meet up with my reading partner regularly even months after the project ended.

    It was the only way I would have worked through the complex book. I wouldn’t have done it alone.