The Most Difficult Book You've Ever Read (So Far)

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

I think books, above all else, should be enjoyed. This isn't to say that they can't instruct or shape our minds in any way, but I think the act of picking up a book should be one we can have fun with, that there should be a delight in doing so. That being said, there are some books that take an extra effort to enjoy fully due to some difficulty with the text. It doesn't mean they're bad but rather that you can't treat them like "ordinary" books. They take extra diligence and concentration, and in the end, there's a different type of enjoyment - you've conquered a challenge, in a way.

There's a certain canon of books that are considered difficult when compared to typical texts, and I'm wondering if anyone has ever encountered them. So, for the fun of it, what are those books that you have found a challenge to get through? What books gave you the greatest trouble? What are, currently, the hardest texts you've ever encountered, that you feel you've had to struggle to get through them?

Normally, I would just be asking this question and stepping aside, waiting for someone else to answer first (usually Raven), but I think I've found my own peak, at least for the time being: Clarissa (1748) by Samuel Richardson. I first discovered this book through Raven, as he says he once studied this work as part of a college class, and I've learned a good deal since then about both Richardson's importance to English literature as well as the book itself in particular. Having had it on my list for some time (and wanting to try it out since Raven said he never read it completely), I recently purchased it and started it out. It isn't the massive length of the book (1500+ pages) that's intimidating but rather the way it's written - it's a really prosaic novel with large, rather unfamiliar words, constructed in a sophisticated manner outside of common speech. I've found myself having to reread parts of it merely for comprehension. That being said, it's quite fascinating and enjoyable in its own right, and while it's going to be slow going, I intend to get through all of it. As of writing this post, I've gotten through 70 pages of it and reached Letter 11 (for those unaware, it's an epistolary novel - composed of a sequence of letters between individuals - made up of 537 letters); I'm aware of what happens due to the summary on Wikipedia, but even when knowing what happens, the act of the telling itself often makes it worthwhile.

I don't ascribe the difficulty to the age of the book - I read Robinson Crusoe some time ago, and that predates Clarissa by 29 years, and yet I found that book quite easy by comparison. It's just Richardson's style of writing, I guess. But I can see myself gradually getting used to it.

So what's your most difficult book? Did you manage to get through it, or was it just so hard that you had to give up? Do you find difficult books enjoyable in any way, or are they more a burden than a recreation? Or is there another answer I'm missing?

[Raven]

I remember a book in a grad school, a theoretical academic book about interdisciplinary studies, that I found so obfuscated that I couldn't even tell you if it was legitimate or merely an emperor with no clothes academic exercise. I couldn't read it. Never did read much of it in the end.

But apart from that, fiction books normally don't give me too much trouble, if I find them interesting enough to continue. Honestly, if I'm not enjoying the reading experience, why continue? Why struggle with a book just for pleasure reading?

I had my days of academic reading. Many, many years worth of those days. Glad to be through with them. I still have regular stress dreams about college and grad school.

I know this isn't probably how Coir means to discuss this. I know people will tackle big books (Clarissa is a great example) simply for the challenge and the education, if not also for enjoyment.
I basically only read theology or related non-fiction now for anything apart from sheer enjoyment.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

I don't think I've ever found a book that I didn't enjoy. I know I said in the past that my high school reading left something to be desired, but I feel that time and age can change perspectives. For instance, I didn't enjoy The Scarlet Letter when I first encountered it in 10th grade(?), but I picked it up again about 5 years ago and absolutely loved it. It encourages me to seek out what else I read during that time and give it another chance.

As for difficulty, advanced non-fiction is something I'm willing to try, though I make no guarantees of understanding it. There's a lot of philosophy that I want to sample. Fiction-wise, I'd like to tackle Joyce someday - Ulysses, to my knowledge, ranks high among that pantheon of challenging books, and I want to see if a casual reader can get as much out of it as a dedicated academic.

Raven's choice is fine, actually. I can't, for the life of me, figure out why intellectual higher circles are determined to write so obtusely, as if their only audience is peers in ivory towers, and writing anything less that can be understood by "common" folk is beneath them.