What books do you keep starting with the intent of legitimately reading only to lose interest shortly after ?
Pic related is a book that I will never be able to devote myself to. Every month or so I pick it up with the aim of finally striking it off my list, and every time I lose interest within the same day. The furthest I've gotten is 105 pages and I keep forgetting why I stopped reading until I try starting again. The writing is god-tier at times, but the style of the book is a chore to get through.
Lincoln Ortiz
pleb general?
Leo Johnson
No, I wouldn't say so. I don't find it difficult to read books in general, just this one specifically. Challenges are fun, but for some reason reading Ulysses just doesn't feel rewarding at all. Jung's critique of the book is very accurate.
Oliver Jackson
Same here. Same book.
Owen Perez
yeah pretty much
Jacob Peterson
Harry Potter I always get a few chapters in, but it just gets too difficult to keep up with all the characters and who's a wizard/who isn't.
Hunter Moore
wtf I hate Jung now!
Kayden Perez
...
Ayden Lewis
>Jung's critique of the book is very accurate how do you know if you haven't read it?
Jung is wrong in many aspects and what happened to him happened to a lot of writers, artists and scientists, they were jealous, of his writing and his intelligence, a poor "queasy undergraduate" who wrote the greatest masterpiece in literature. They also felt stupid for not understanding it, but hey were so focused on trying to understand the book when in fact they should've tried to understand Joyce
The motifs and metaphors and all the puzzles and hidden shit are just a plus, Joyce might be one of the few artists who really pushed his craft to the farthest corners, he wasn't trying to show off like many people think, he was trying to see what is possible, he wanted to show us what is possible with just... words
Only Borges and Nabokov understood back then Joyce's ambition with writing, it is meant to inspire and be studied, not to be envied
It's all about the jinglish janglage friendo
Jayden Wood
wow, you make me want to read Joyce
Levi Cook
I finished Ulysses yesterday. You're making a big mistake imho.. There are some parts that are kind of a chore to get through (at first!) but the book is mostly rewarding, even more so on repeated readings.
Michael Jones
dude, what's up with all those goofy names and latin spells, i can't read this shit
Christian Bell
I'll admit maybe the first section is hard to pierce, but anyone who's read Portrait and has any goodwill for Stephen will probably want to read on. Besides, that first Bloom section is like a breath of fresh air, comfy and epicurean. People who give up in the first 50 pages are missing out big time (same goes for Proust, ).
Gabriel Morgan
Well I'm reading it right now, currently doing a consistent pace and have gotten to the sixth episode since posting this thread. I've gotten back into Joyce's style since getting to the third, but this book has been bothering me for so long that it's gotten to quite an intimidating state. But Gravity's Rainbow was the same way and if I can read to the end of that book then I can do this one, too.
And I actually find the Stephen bit in the second and third episodes to be much more enjoyable than the Bloom bits. Bloom's thoughts are easier to read but they're also so erratic that I don't really get much from them. The beauty is all in Stephen's sections. So far, at least.
Aaron Edwards
1984. George Orwell can't write for shit.
Jose Lewis
I'd also like to advise everyone to stay the fuck away from the Oxford Press edition pictured above. The book is so packed with unnecessary commentary, errata, introductions, and other garbage that the pages don't easily stay open. Even in the middle pages, it needs to be forcefully held open and holding the book with one hand is horribly uncomfortable. And this isn't even to mention all the typos that come with the facsimile of the 1922 text. I deeply regret getting this edition of the book instead of the slightly more expensive but vastly superior one.
Lucas Torres
>with the aim of finally striking it off my list if that's your only motivation, reading it so you can say you did, then that's why you can't get through it
John Morgan
Well fuck, I just received this edition in the mail today.
Seemed like the right choice to make because I wanted the original text. Which (more expensive) edition are you referring to? Gabler's? I've heard some bad things about his revisions
Adam Edwards
My diary, desu.
Evan Nguyen
just get the penguin classics edition
Hunter Murphy
Ayn Rands fountain head and atlas shrugged. They are the most bland and poorly paced books I have ever looked into. But at the same time im interested in her pespective on individual incentive. Could anyone point me to some of her essays and where to get them for free?
Dominic Carter
A History of Gravity
Juan Gutierrez
Which edition is it? I'll just stick with my Oxford copy anyway, after reading some of the appendices I can confirm that it's actually not as bad as the other user said in terms of readability.
Evan Long
No, I think it was the Vintage edition. It had the title written in big letters from the top down and the U was wearing a hat. I don't usually put much thought into which editions I get, so I just went with the slightly cheaper one.
Anthony Hall
That wasn't my intention at first. The reason why I started reading it was because of how much I loved A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, but I lost interest after only 100 pages. I'm reading it much more faithfully now, so I'm back at the point where I left off the first time.
Henry Barnes
Gravity's Rainbow.
Pychon is such a wise-ass/sarcastic/shit-talking writer that I can't stand him for more than 10 pages at a time.
Cooper Reed
Sorry, it was from the bottom up and the S was wearing both a hat and a pince-nez. It looks like this.
nigga that's my favorite book aside from portrait. take that back right now.
Leo Nguyen
any Kafka books tbqh
Isaac Sanders
The Count of Monte Cristo
It just sucks, I've restarted it about three times now. I don't care about any of the characters and I don't like the prose. It's like a better written, longer James Patterson novel.
Levi Price
Even the Metamorphoses ?
Henry Rogers
Then why do you keep starting it ?
Adam Scott
I had a phase where I was determined to read all of "the classics" so I could call myself well read. Also, there is still a lot of praise for the book, maybe not so much from truely literary circles but back then I didn't know any better.
My copy of it is right on the bookshelf behind me. I'll probably donate it ,eventually.
Sebastian Hernandez
Well there are plenty more classics than just Monte Cristo
Camden Miller
Thats weird as fuck Kafka is not difficult to read
Maybe you just dont like his way of writing. If thats the case, just dont read him
Samuel Hughes
Nice one desu
Benjamin Wood
>it just sucks It doesn't
I dislike the second part. But when he is in prison its very interesting imo.
Austin Jackson
>the greatest masterpiece in literature I hope this is shitpost. I'll agree it was very innovative in technique and content but calling it the greatest masterpiece of literature is nothing short of idolatry.
Lucas Scott
I hope this is a shitpost. Also hope for you to neck yourself.