Books on the Nightstand discussion

I just bought a copy of Love by Toni Morrison. This will be my 3rd attempt in trying to read one of her novels. I read Jazz years ago and it left me cold. I tried Song of Solomon and didn't finish it. I'm just realizing she has been one of the most challenging authors to read. The other really challenging author I've read over the years has been the science fiction writer, Gene Wolfe.

Who has been the most challenging author that you have read or attempted to read?

Marion

James Joyce - Ulysses

Marion wrote: "I just bought a copy of Love by Toni Morrison. This will be my 3rd attempt in trying to read one of her novels. I read Jazz years ago and it left me cold. I tried [book..."

Marion, you are not alone in having difficulty with books by Toni Morrison. I've tried to read The Bluest Eye a few times but haven't been able to get through it.

I too had a hard time with Toni Morrison. I don't recall which one I tried, but I didn't finish it.

However, the hardest for me was Thomas Pynchon --- I think it was Gravity's Rainbow. I also didnt like Virginia Woolf.

James Joyce.

I've read Portrait and Ulysses, but Finnegan's Wake defeated me.

I abandoned Eimear McBride's A Girl is a Half Formed Thing. Feel bad about it though... I heard such good things.

Marion wrote: "I just bought a copy of Love by Toni Morrison. This will be my 3rd attempt in trying to read one of her novels. I read Jazz years ago and it left me cold. I tried [book..."

I too have had a hard time with Toni Morrison

Eric wrote: "James Joyce.

I've read Portrait and Ulysses, but Finnegan's Wake defeated me."

Eric, have you read South of Broad by Pat Conroy? I have gotten such a big kick out of it because the main character, Leo Bloom King, is the son of a Joycean expert.

I've tried to read Middlemarch by George Elliot a couple of times....I just thought about it this morning as a matter of fact and I'm considering trying the audiobook. I can't stand that it has defeated me!
Pynchon is notoriously hard to read but I've never tried and Infinite Jest (David Foster Wallace) sits on my shelf taunting me.
It's funny though, I've never had a problem with Morrison. Beloved seems to trip up a lot of people but I'm a big fan of stream of consciousness writing and Beloved is my favorite of hers.

Linda, I love Conroy. This year I'll read that.

Thanks Tracey, JoLene, and Becky. I guess I'm not the only one whose had a hard time reading Toni Morrison. I know she is a beloved author and deserves her reputation but I have not connected with her books. Hmmm....I will try Love and that will be it for me. LOL!!

James Joyce (ALL), The Sound and the Fury, and The Crying of Lot 49. And House of Leaves was difficult but also so different that I kept my momentum going.

do you mean intellectually challenging?
hard to read can mean "too long" for me. i'm not a big fan of doorstop books!

Adore wrote: "do you mean intellectually challenging?
hard to read can mean "too long" for me. i'm not a big fan of doorstop books!"

Adore,

Yes I mean intellectually challenging. The length of a novel doesn't bother if its good.

Marion wrote: "Adore wrote: "do you mean intellectually challenging?
hard to read can mean "too long" for me. i'm not a big fan of doorstop books!"

Adore,

Yes I mean intellectually challenging. The length of a..."


in that case, i'd say pynchon and richard powers. i'm also not a fan of susan choi's writing style.

I just read it, . A little surprising for me. A lot of "what the heck is going on here"? I am not sure that I want to read any more Vonnegut but I still have two or three other Vonnegut novels to read.

Interesting how some people equate "challenging" with "I don't like it" and others don't.

Me, I like a challenge, as long as there seems to be a discernable point to it.

The only time the point has ever eluded me was with Finnegan's Wake. I enjoyed the rest of Joyce, Woolf, Powers, Pynchon, Morrison, Wallace, Proust, Faulkner, etc.

One that I need to get back to is Henry James.

I usually have no problems reading novels in English, even if it is my second language, but Faulkner was too hard for me to understand - I tried Absalom, Absalom! and gave up after about 20 pages.

For the last few years I've struggled with The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell - it has been recommended by soo many people, and the writing is not bad, I just Loose interest after 1-2 pages. So after 1½ year on my nightstand I've suceeded in finishing the first part "Justine"...

T.S.Eliot I must expand my knowledge of his allusions. Proust. It will never happen.

I remember I started Les Miserables (in English) after seeing the musical a few years ago, and got a bit bogged down in the philosophical parts. Since I'm feeling a bit more philosophical these days, maybe I'll give it another shot. Now I just have to find time to read a book that huge (60 hours of audio.)

Ellen it's Victor Hugo

Birthday today

Eric wrote: "James Joyce.

I've read Portrait and Ulysses, but Finnegan's Wake defeated me."

Amen, Eric! Although Ulysses almost destroyed me, too...