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Intimidating books I long to read/finish
These are books that I want to read but intimidate me for some reason. Either the length, subject matter, complexity or even print size causes me to avoid these books for easier reads. What about you?
Score
A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
| 1 |
|
War and Peace
by
4.17 avg rating — 359,254 ratings
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| 2 |
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Les Misérables
by
4.21 avg rating — 834,149 ratings
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| 3 |
|
Don Quixote
by
3.91 avg rating — 299,387 ratings
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| 4 |
|
Ulysses
by
3.77 avg rating — 139,074 ratings
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| 5 |
|
The Count of Monte Cristo
by
4.32 avg rating — 1,000,389 ratings
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| 6 |
|
Anna Karenina
by
4.10 avg rating — 913,233 ratings
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| 7 |
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Crime and Punishment
by
4.28 avg rating — 1,039,117 ratings
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| 8 |
|
The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Purgatorio - Paradiso
by
4.08 avg rating — 168,607 ratings
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| 9 |
|
Gone with the Wind
by
4.31 avg rating — 1,248,094 ratings
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| 10 |
|
The Lord of the Rings
by
4.54 avg rating — 720,299 ratings
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| 11 |
|
Moby-Dick
by
3.56 avg rating — 606,416 ratings
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| 12 |
|
The Canterbury Tales
by
3.52 avg rating — 235,488 ratings
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| 13 |
|
Gravity’s Rainbow
by
4.01 avg rating — 47,237 ratings
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| 14 |
|
Middlemarch
by
4.03 avg rating — 176,198 ratings
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| 15 |
|
Infinite Jest
by
4.25 avg rating — 99,429 ratings
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| 16 |
|
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
by
4.51 avg rating — 215,072 ratings
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| 17 |
|
The Brothers Karamazov
by
4.39 avg rating — 374,260 ratings
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| 18 |
|
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)
by
4.45 avg rating — 2,689,418 ratings
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| 19 |
|
Atlas Shrugged
by
3.69 avg rating — 403,959 ratings
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| 20 |
|
The Fountainhead
by
3.89 avg rating — 334,890 ratings
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| 21 |
|
The Scarlet Letter
by
3.44 avg rating — 905,589 ratings
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| 22 |
|
The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)
by
Ken Follett (Goodreads Author)
4.35 avg rating — 815,073 ratings
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| 23 |
|
Finnegans Wake
by
3.68 avg rating — 13,490 ratings
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| 24 |
|
The Faerie Queene
by
3.58 avg rating — 17,185 ratings
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| 25 |
|
2666
by
4.22 avg rating — 47,297 ratings
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| 26 |
|
House of Leaves
by
Mark Z. Danielewski (Goodreads Author)
4.09 avg rating — 193,696 ratings
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| 27 |
|
The Arabian Nights
by
4.03 avg rating — 80,638 ratings
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| 28 |
|
Paradise Lost
by
3.85 avg rating — 179,024 ratings
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| 29 |
|
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
by
3.87 avg rating — 251,307 ratings
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| 30 |
|
Bleak House
by
4.02 avg rating — 112,834 ratings
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| 31 |
|
Dune (Dune #1)
by
4.29 avg rating — 1,586,101 ratings
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| 32 |
|
Vanity Fair
by
3.81 avg rating — 132,335 ratings
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| 33 |
|
Great Expectations
by
3.80 avg rating — 861,827 ratings
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| 34 |
|
The Forsyte Saga (The Forsyte Chronicles, #1-3)
by
4.18 avg rating — 20,561 ratings
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| 35 |
|
A People’s History of the United States: 1492 - Present
by
4.08 avg rating — 261,365 ratings
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| 36 |
|
1Q84 (1Q84, #1-3)
by
3.95 avg rating — 334,914 ratings
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| 37 |
|
In Search of Lost Time
by
4.34 avg rating — 13,793 ratings
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| 38 |
|
The Complete Works
by
4.48 avg rating — 57,609 ratings
|
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| 39 |
|
The Gormenghast Novels (Gormenghast, #1-3)
by
4.03 avg rating — 9,833 ratings
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| 40 |
|
Cloud Atlas
by
4.01 avg rating — 264,109 ratings
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| 41 |
|
Frankenstein
by
3.89 avg rating — 1,789,214 ratings
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| 42 |
|
The Satanic Verses
by
3.71 avg rating — 70,751 ratings
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| 43 |
|
Dracula
by
4.02 avg rating — 1,427,714 ratings
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| 44 |
|
Le Morte d'Arthur
by
3.92 avg rating — 39,118 ratings
score: 836,
and
9 people voted
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| 45 |
|
The Tale of Genji
by
3.72 avg rating — 14,466 ratings
score: 742,
and
8 people voted
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| 46 |
|
A Confederacy of Dunces
by
3.89 avg rating — 293,470 ratings
score: 730,
and
8 people voted
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| 47 |
|
V.
by
3.97 avg rating — 24,908 ratings
score: 663,
and
7 people voted
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| 47 |
|
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
by
4.29 avg rating — 51,891 ratings
score: 663,
and
7 people voted
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| 49 |
|
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
by
4.14 avg rating — 309,025 ratings
score: 648,
and
7 people voted
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| 50 |
|
The Republic
by
3.97 avg rating — 221,680 ratings
score: 642,
and
7 people voted
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| 51 |
|
Against the Day
by
4.05 avg rating — 10,076 ratings
score: 582,
and
6 people voted
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| 52 |
|
The Pickwick Papers
by
3.85 avg rating — 31,638 ratings
score: 556,
and
6 people voted
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| 53 |
|
Watership Down (Watership Down, #1)
by
4.09 avg rating — 500,973 ratings
score: 555,
and
6 people voted
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| 54 |
|
The Three Musketeers
by
4.10 avg rating — 346,408 ratings
score: 551,
and
6 people voted
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| 55 |
|
The Red and the Black
by
3.86 avg rating — 81,796 ratings
score: 547,
and
6 people voted
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| 56 |
|
A Clockwork Orange
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 757,711 ratings
score: 543,
and
6 people voted
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| 57 |
|
The Idiot
by
4.21 avg rating — 210,352 ratings
score: 540,
and
6 people voted
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| 58 |
|
The Wings of the Dove
by
3.78 avg rating — 17,434 ratings
score: 532,
and
6 people voted
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| 59 |
|
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
by
4.29 avg rating — 52,425 ratings
score: 482,
and
5 people voted
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| 60 |
|
Shōgun (Asian Saga, #1)
by
4.41 avg rating — 208,410 ratings
score: 470,
and
5 people voted
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| 61 |
|
Doctor Faustus
by
4.08 avg rating — 13,566 ratings
score: 454,
and
5 people voted
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| 62 |
|
The Chronicles of Narnia
by
4.28 avg rating — 697,783 ratings
score: 450,
and
5 people voted
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| 63 |
|
The Once and Future King (The Once and Future King, #1-5)
by
4.07 avg rating — 116,830 ratings
score: 448,
and
5 people voted
|
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| 64 |
|
Critique of Pure Reason
by
3.96 avg rating — 41,278 ratings
score: 446,
and
5 people voted
|
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| 65 |
|
The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)
by
Brandon Sanderson (Goodreads Author)
4.67 avg rating — 637,773 ratings
score: 439,
and
5 people voted
|
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| 66 |
|
The Man Without Qualities
by
4.19 avg rating — 7,236 ratings
score: 388,
and
4 people voted
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| 67 |
|
A Fine Balance
by
4.38 avg rating — 157,756 ratings
score: 380,
and
4 people voted
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| 68 |
|
The Pale King
by
3.97 avg rating — 19,556 ratings
score: 376,
and
4 people voted
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| 69 |
|
The Recognitions
by
4.20 avg rating — 6,212 ratings
score: 373,
and
4 people voted
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| 70 |
|
The Life of Samuel Johnson
by
3.80 avg rating — 5,315 ratings
score: 371,
and
4 people voted
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| 71 |
|
Joseph and His Brothers
by
4.44 avg rating — 2,162 ratings
score: 369,
and
4 people voted
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| 72 |
|
Kushiel's Justice (Imriel's Trilogy, #2)
by
Jacqueline Carey (Goodreads Author)
4.28 avg rating — 19,748 ratings
score: 354,
and
4 people voted
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| 73 |
|
Mary Queen of Scots
by
3.99 avg rating — 17,370 ratings
score: 341,
and
4 people voted
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| 74 |
|
East of Eden
by
4.43 avg rating — 611,829 ratings
score: 332,
and
4 people voted
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| 75 |
|
Possession
by
3.90 avg rating — 83,486 ratings
score: 331,
and
4 people voted
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| 76 |
|
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
by
4.11 avg rating — 530,312 ratings
score: 328,
and
4 people voted
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| 77 |
|
The Ambassadors
by
3.63 avg rating — 12,898 ratings
score: 327,
and
4 people voted
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| 78 |
|
The Last Cavalier: Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon
by
3.66 avg rating — 841 ratings
score: 291,
and
3 people voted
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| 79 |
|
Leviathan
by
3.70 avg rating — 51,771 ratings
score: 288,
and
3 people voted
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| 80 |
|
Little Women (Little Women, #1)
by
4.17 avg rating — 2,410,067 ratings
score: 286,
and
3 people voted
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| 81 |
|
Master of the Senate (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, #3)
by
4.42 avg rating — 23,803 ratings
score: 278,
and
3 people voted
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| 82 |
|
Holy Bible: The New King James Version
by
4.41 avg rating — 8,030 ratings
score: 271,
and
3 people voted
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| 83 |
|
Kushiel's Dart (Phèdre's Trilogy, #1)
by
Jacqueline Carey (Goodreads Author)
4.02 avg rating — 83,525 ratings
score: 265,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 84 |
|
Under the Dome
by
Stephen King (Goodreads Author)
3.93 avg rating — 319,532 ratings
score: 261,
and
3 people voted
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| 85 |
|
Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)
by
4.32 avg rating — 1,088,376 ratings
score: 260,
and
3 people voted
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| 85 |
|
Life: A User's Manual
by
4.18 avg rating — 9,933 ratings
score: 260,
and
3 people voted
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| 87 |
|
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Allen Lane History, 3 Volume Set)
by
4.02 avg rating — 15,311 ratings
score: 238,
and
3 people voted
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| 88 |
|
Walden and Civil Disobedience
by
3.94 avg rating — 38,728 ratings
score: 235,
and
3 people voted
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| 88 |
|
The Anatomy of Melancholy
by
4.11 avg rating — 1,859 ratings
score: 235,
and
3 people voted
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| 90 |
|
Lucifer's Hammer
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 45,130 ratings
score: 197,
and
2 people voted
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| 90 |
|
Of Grammatology
by
3.97 avg rating — 5,304 ratings
score: 197,
and
2 people voted
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| 90 |
|
It
by
Stephen King (Goodreads Author)
4.24 avg rating — 1,236,862 ratings
score: 197,
and
2 people voted
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| 93 |
|
O Lost: A Story of the Buried Life
by
4.36 avg rating — 193 ratings
score: 194,
and
2 people voted
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| 94 |
|
The Man in the Iron Mask (Le vicomte de Bragelonne, #4)
by
3.99 avg rating — 66,649 ratings
score: 193,
and
2 people voted
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| 95 |
|
J R
by
4.32 avg rating — 3,711 ratings
score: 188,
and
2 people voted
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| 96 |
|
The Toilers of the Sea
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4.06 avg rating — 4,919 ratings
score: 187,
and
2 people voted
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| 97 |
|
Fear and Trembling
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 30,359 ratings
score: 183,
and
2 people voted
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| 98 |
|
Camilla
by
3.75 avg rating — 2,900 ratings
score: 182,
and
2 people voted
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| 99 |
|
Ethics
by
4.10 avg rating — 20,530 ratings
score: 180,
and
2 people voted
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| 100 |
|
Kushiel's Chosen (Phèdre's Trilogy, #2)
by
Jacqueline Carey (Goodreads Author)
4.30 avg rating — 41,569 ratings
score: 179,
and
2 people voted
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Tags:
intimidating
Comments Showing 1-7 of 7 (7 new)
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message 1:
by
[deleted user]
(last edited Feb 11, 2010 11:22AM)
(new)
Feb 11, 2010 11:19AM
Oh no! The Count (of Monte Cristo) is just plain fun!! don't be intimidated... now Moby Dick on the other hand gives me the jim jams!!
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The Count may be quite thick, but he really does read fast. Promise!
I may take you up on that. I'm currently reading Pickwick Papers by Dickens. I figure 800+ pages on the tiniest type is the least daunting reason for not finishing the 'intimidating' books on my list. Perhaps Count will be next.
What is said of the Count applies equally to Gone with the Wind! Only daunting in size, not matter. It is pretty heartwrenching (in my opinion) which makes its re-read daunting, but I still love it, and would recommend it to anyone, not just avid readers. All those pages fly by fast and are completely worth it!
Don Quixote is not hard to read at all. It's an extremely funny and intriguing text. Everyone should take a closer look at it.
Excellent List. How can i save this list on my computer.
War and Peace is long, slow paced at times and may be a bit boring but amazing. I hope you'll give it a chance. (I was scared of the size, too, so I bought it in 3 or 4 poket sized books)
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