Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Top Ten Most Intimidating Books


Today is Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today's Top Ten: the most intimidating books!

1. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandella. It's so long! I got this as a gift and I'm not sure when I'll get around to it.

2. Ulysses by James Joyce. I had made it a goal to read this at one point, and then I realized, that's just not going to happen. One of my friends told me he'd let me borrow a book... to help me read it. No, thanks.

3. The Old Testament. I am working my way through this now. Boy, was God angry a lot back then!

4. From Here to Eternity by James Jones. I just got this from my friend Lori, also a collaborator on The Broke and the Bookish. I had no idea it was so thick! But I do hope I'll get around to it sooner rather than later; she said it was one of her favorites.

5. Sacajawea by Anna Lee Waldo. Another one that is intimidating simply for the sheer length of it. I'm sure it's great. But it just sits there like a brick. I want to read it, and I will. Someday.

6. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Now, when I picked this up I had confidence. I started to get intimidated as I read it. This is because I discovered I didn't like it, but I REFUSED to give up. It took me a month to finish it. I'm silly.

7. The Lord of the Rings or, for that matter, anything by Tolkien. (Okay, I stole this one from Kelly at Fresh Off the Shelf.) Have you ever read anything by him? They are SO HARD TO READ. I managed to make my way through The Hobbit because I had a great copy with beautiful full-page illustrations, and I forced my way through The Fellowship of the Ring. But then, I started The Two Towers, and it was over.

8. I'm going to go with everyone else here and say War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. LONG.

9. Either The Pillars of the Earth or World Without End by Ken Follett. Have you seen the trade paper editions of these? They are monstrous. I don't know how people even hold them without spraining their wrists.

10. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. It's the content in this one. I have it and really want to read it, but I know it will make me really sad. One of my professors at Ithaca told me to read it when I wanted to be really depressed.

Well, those are my picks. What are yours?

6 comments:

  1. Great list! The Old Testament is definitely intimidating! I'm not as intimidated by it after having to take so many Old Testament classes in college but it still makes me nervous when I'm reading it on my own!

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  2. Don Quixote is one of mine. Long, dry, and repetitious. Stick to a children's picture book version!

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  3. That's so funny, I just saw that on another list and thought, I should have put that one on mine. It's a bonus one.

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  4. Pillars of the Earth is so worth it though! I'm reading it at the moment and LOVE it! But I do have to use both hand while reading.

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  5. If you want to read Tolkien, I really liked The Silmarillion. It's more like a history of Middle Earth in short story form. So less of a "THESE ARE THE ROCKS. THEY ARE BROWN" for 400 pages.

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  6. Oh wow, number 10 is great. One of my favorites. It's sad but you'll be glad you read it.

    -Ingrid
    www.thebluebookcase.blogspot.com

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