it doesn’t have to be your favorite book or anything. It can be any book that you find yourself thinking of with a sense of pride for having read it.
Personally, I am really proud of myself for not DNFing A Little Life and pushing forward. I read a very good chunk of that book with tears running down my face–mind you, I was reading it on my phone during lectures for the entirety of my first semester last year–and I was always on the verge of putting it down just because of the horrible content. Also, it was pretty long; too long, actually. So when I was done, I was simultaneously Heartbroken, broken (just like in general), and relieved. It was truly a feat.
An honorable mention is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, because I swear to God I did not understand a single thing about it even 10 chapters in. Charles Dickens is too much.
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Probably IT by Stephen King, it’s not really “difficult” but it’s over a thousand pages long and I’ve read it three times
why did you read it three times though?? is it that good?
I finally made it through Ulysses. Wasn’t worth it
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. It was just so difficult to read, especially at the beginning. But I really liked it so I’m glad I got through it. Plus my sister didn’t manage to finish it and she’s way better-read than me, so I can feel better than her in this one thing! From time to time I think about re-reading but I’m a bit reluctant to go through the beginning again.
As I Lay Dying
Short but arduous. Apt title of how I felt while reading it.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Tagging onto this comment to ask, is it worth it to read unabridged or will abridged be fine?
If you take out all the irrelevant stuff, Les Miserables is probably only about 300 pages. And I mean genuinely irrelevant. Hugo was mad as a hatter and took off in whatever direction he felt like - long digressions about Waterloo, the Parisian sewer system etc - that really add nothing to the book. They aren’t even all that interesting in themselves, as well as having no bearing on the plot, so I think you can read an abridged version and still feel you have read what was important in the novel.
I can’t agree, I think there’s more to Les Mis than just the plot. The digressions were important to the story Hugo wanted to tell and they add a lot of detail and context to the time it’s set in. I don’t think I could read an abridged version and think that I’ve read everything important because it’s part of what’s intrinsic to the book, if not the plot. I feel like you just don’t actually like Les Mis if you’re so dismissive of the digressions, they might not be easy to get through but they’re still a big part of the book.
Of course you’re entitled to your opinion but what possible value did that long digression about the Battle of Waterloo have to do with anything? It was pure authorial self-indulgence and added nothing to the story at all. I think he just ran out of ideas and trod water for a while just filling the page until he thought up something else.
I’m proud of the fact that after being an avid reader growing up and then falling off in my twenties for about a decade, I started reading again this year and finished over a dozen books I’d been meaning to get to for years. Good to be back in the game :)
Congrats Bloom! I fell off the avid reader list after being Mom!! Of course, 3 of mine are over 18 so now they call me Mother, stop talking to people!
IT by Stephen King, mainly due to sheer volume. I was 16 or 17 at the time I read it, and having read such a tome in only 10 days made me feel really proud!
I would have never imagined that IT is more than 350 or so pages, if it weren’t for these replies, I’m so shocked
Anna Karenina. It’s a great story, but SO LONG, and why does every character have 3 different complicated Russian names?
It was everyone being a ‘princess’ that had me constantly flipping back pages.
Dune by Frank Herbert. The vocabulary and the sheer contents of the book scared me at first(I was a fairly rare reader then ).
But as I read on, the very things that scared me brought me closer to the book. The insane amount of details and the magnitude of work Frank put towards this book kept me hooked. The characters were of so much life with minor quarks and unsuspecting depths to their development.
It took me about an year to finish this book, it was worth every second spent.
I would say that the book has reshaped my thought processes and perceptions to an extent. I had so many epiphanies reading the book.
10/10 Reading the sequels.
I remember reading it the first time in college. I was totally lost. I’ve re-read it easily a dozen times. When the movie came out in 1984, all the words were totally different from how I was pronouncing them.
Yeah same story here lol. Let’s see if it’s just us or there’s company.
Dracula and Frankenstein, because they just seemed like something all real readers should get around to at some point.
Mary Shelleys Frankenstein was amazing! And a way easier read than Alexandre Dumas Count of Monti Cristo, Man in the Iron Mask and Three Musketeers. Those are the only ones i read. I know he wrote more and lots from his attempt as a lawyer. (I spell badly! Please forgive any errors)
Les Misérables when I was 13/14. Man I wish I had that drive as an adult. I was absolutely obsessed with that book.
I feel like my brain is not developed enough to fully understand that book yet, how tf did you read it at 14??
Honestly… no clue. I just needed to. I remember when I finished it at 3am at a summer camp and just stayed up crying until it was time to get up. I was a massive nerd is how, and once I was obsessed with something there was no escape until I’d exhausted the subject.
Now? At 25, I lose focus after reading an email and my eyes are too tired to look at a book without falling asleep most of the time. Burnt out disappointment of an ex “gifted” child, prime example, right here :’)
I am most proud of finishing the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
While I LOVE Tolkien’s worldbuilding I just don’t vibe with his writing style. Halfway theough book 2 my ex said “No issue if you want to quit now, so many women stop the series there. No shame.” The sheer spite after that sentence made me finish the trilogy (and I did like book 3 more than 2).
You go girl! I started reading because of The Hobbit. My mom was reading it to me and my sister. She would stop as soon as my sister fell asleep. I started reading myself because i wanted to know what happened some time before i was able to have my own children. It’s only like 88 pages! And a new reader was born! You want your children to read?? Read a book they want to hear and stop 15 pages in.
My sweetest, deearest Jonathan,
Mine is Dracula. I’ve never been much of a reader, but I’ve always wanted to read some “origin” story of Dracula, since everyone knows who that is.
Certainly, a really good read.
Yours, truly and forevermore,
Mina Harker
I loved Dracula. Especially as most of it is in letter or diary form. Like Diary of Anne Frank. Dracula is also on my “most adaptions ever made” list. Ok, i don’t have a list.
2666 by Roberto Bolaño, it took me 2 years to finish. I read it more as a series than one continuous book because I needed breaks. It was so good, just bleak and depressing. Def read a lot of comic books and fantasy in between to help break it up, it baffles me that some people can just do it all in one go!
Started 2666 in my teens and finished it…not in my teens.