Seriously, I have zero patience for Melville and his tangents. Zero. Still, this book is integral to the American mythos. Great for readers interested in the notion of an obsessive pursuit of the unattainable, or for whale anatomy enthusiasts.
- General Recommendations
- Staff-Created List
Notoriously Long & Difficult Books
Abstract, tangential, or just plain long - scale these literary Everests and earn major bragging rights. Some are well worth the effort, some...maybe not so much, but there is only one way to find out!
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Daniel Boone Regional Library
User from Daniel Boone Regional Library
20 items
- I do have patience for Hugo's tangents. Like the musical it inspired (only much more intricate), this book weaves a narrative that elevates love and compassion, even in the darkest times. Beautiful, immersive, and uplifting.
- A modernist so modernist even modernists couldn't stand him. Virginia Woolf called the novel "an illiterate, underbred book," and added that after the cemetery scene she was "puzzled, bored, irritated, and disillusioned, as by a queasy undergraduate…
- Just pulling a sentence out to give you an idea of what you're getting into: “The great fall of the offwall entailed at such short notice the pftjschute of Finnegan, erse solid man, that the humptyhillhead of humself prumptly sends an unquiring one…
- I approached this book blindly, thinking I could simply pick it up and read it like any other book. I committed the cardinal sin of skipping the footnotes. 150 pages in, I still had no idea what was going on, so I gave up. Maybe I'll get back to it…
- This article gives an overview of a few methods for approaching Infinite Jest. Some of them are extreme (such as ripping out the footnotes and taping them to the front of the book). If I eventually take a second crack at it, I think the three…
- While the style of this book is often compared to that of David Foster Wallace, I find it much more approachable. Perhaps because I am a fan of horror, I loved the layered narrative of the reader of the manuscript and the manuscript itself, which…
- At 1200 pages, this book is daunting. Supposedly, the most difficult parts of this book are the first hundred pages and the multitude of names they introduce. So the last 1100 pages should be a breeze.
- Like many Russian novels, many readers cite the multitude of names as a major source of difficulty with this work. If you are not ready for a 900 page commitment, consider reading "The Grand Inquisitor," a roughly 100 page poem from within the…
- Though gloomy and - you guessed it! - full of difficult names, this book can teach you so much about empathy and complexity. Clocking in at a comparatively modest 564 pages, this may be a good start for readers wary of notoriously difficult Russian…
- The length of this book alone is intimidating, and the philosophy the book presents is often unpalatable to readers. Still, this book is heavily influential, with Rand boasting a huge following amongst political conservatives.
- Though lengthy, this is an easier one to stick with. The book features a large and diverse group of people making their way from London to Canterbury, in a competition to tell the best story. Since the narrators change throughout the book, if you're…
- Dickens can definitely be wordy and has a tendency to draw the stories out. The oft-cited excuse that he was paid by the word is a myth, but the serial release does (partially) account for the length. Approach this odd novel with a sense of humor.…
- If you're going to tackle this one, I would suggest an edition with good footnotes. The people Dante places in the afterlife are classical figures or contemporary Italian politicians, and it's a lot more fun if you know who the people are and why…
- This book brought one of my favorite words into existence: quixotic, which means extremely idealistic to the point of impracticality. Don Quixote sticks to his anachronistic chivalrous ideals (no matter how deeply incongruent with the world he…
- Faulkner initially intended to publish this stream-of-consciousness work in different colored inks to help make the sudden changes in time and perspective more accessible. Most copies of the book, however, are in black and white. So good luck.
- I can attest to this being so worth the investment. The whole book is basically daydreamy tangents that sweep you away, triggered by the taste of a madeleine or some other sensory experience. This book does take a while to read, partially because it…
- Often referred to as the definitive novel of Postmodernism (which probably tells you everything you need to know), this novel features 400 characters, complex subject matter, and its fair share of difficult and lengthy sentences. Though nominated…
- Let's be real, if you're already a Lord of the Rings fan who made it through the trilogy and The Hobbit, this will be easy work for you.
- This article gives practical tips on how to approach a long and difficult text. Most importantly, don't give up!
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