Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Top ten most intimidating books

From: http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com/2011/04/julias-top-ten-tuesday-rewind.html

The aim was to make a book related top ten on any subject you liked. e.g Favourite books, childhood favourites, Book crushes etc.

Intimidating books: Books that i was unable to start, finish/understand.

1) Anything by Dickens:
The Problem with Charles Dickens's writing is that it is so overly descriptive that me, the reader gets bored, tired and confused as to what actually happened in between all of the adjectives and similes. My teacher in Year 11 tried to convince me that it was the writing style of the era, but I had since read 'Sense and Sensibility', 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Jane Eyre' and 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' with no problems what so ever. It was just my luck that we had to read 'Oliver Twist' and right a report on it. As much as I dislike Dickens from trying to read 'Bleak House' and from having to read 'Oliver Twist' i have heard that 'Little Dorrit' is pretty good, so I might give it a go one day.


2) Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Okay, so I have this special place in my heart for suicidal authors and had heard great reviews about this author, so I decided to read her book. I started the book twice within a week, gave up on it and then months later picked it up and made myself finish it. The whole "stream of conscience" writing a style made me go to sleep and while the imagery was just beautiful I felt like that was all there was to the book. It was like a multi-character monologue about the dresses and parties and flowers, then you have one man who was in love with his best friend and a woman who feels regret and some random politician who doesn't seem to have anything to do with the other characters at all who feels empty inside. And till this day I still have no idea as to what actually happened/what the point of this book was. 


3)Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte'
I Loooved 'Jane Eyre', but before I read it I attempted to read her sister's novel 'Wuthering Heights'. I got about three pages through and started again. It was so confusing. It started with conversations. You can't just start a book with pages and pages of conversation. I might however, attempt it again. 


4)The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams
I finished this book recently and was annoyed at how many big words the author used. I know that the character was very smart and that the story was in first person, but I basically needed a dictionary by my side. I did to some point understand what happened in the book, but I didn't get why. I think that if there is a message in the story it must be too high academically for me to grip.


5)The Wicked Lovely Series
I started reading this series on wattpad and the whole time I didn't really get the gist of what was going on. I think it started without enough explanation at the begining or somethingand I just couldn't catch on. I know that most of you book bloggers out there will be laughing at this, but I gave up. I know that a lot of people love these novels, so like many of the others on this list, I may try to read them again.


6)Sixty Lights by Gail Jones
I bought this book online because it was by an Australian author, it had a pretty cover, it was a historical novel and had a catchy title. When I finally got around to reading it, I couldn't keep interested in it. Like the wicked lovely series I may try to read this book again. I guess if I own it, I put in more effort to get my moneys worth.


7) The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
My local library has this book and each time I walk past it and pick it up before putting it back on the shelf. I have no idea what it's about except that it's gothic and has pretty name and cover, but each time i pick it up I  notice how many pages it has and I think that I won't beable to finish it before my books are due back.


8) The Mortal Instruments Series
They do look really interesting and I'm not worried that they would be too hard to read, it's just that they are a series and I wouldn't be able to get much other reading done as well as the fact that I can't afford to rush out and buy the series and I don't have room to store them. Mabye if the library has them I might give them a go.


9) Any Biography
Autobiography's are fine. I can read many memoirs, first person books etc. I just really dislike the fact that some of these biographers know so much about these people and sometimes write about them when they are not allowed to. Plus all the gossip and Obsession that the writer has with the person gets a bit tiring. I sometimes feel like the author writes things about themselves because they think that you actually care.


10) Anything by Anne Rice
Anything by Anne Rice (or Virginia Andrews for that matter) is bound to be a bit creepy. I get spooked easily, what more can I say.

5 comments:

Trish said...

I've had a hard time with Virginia Woolf too. I've been trying to read A Room of One's Own and just can't get past how rambling she is *argh* woman! Just get on with the story already!

Lisa said...

I got The Mortal Instruments series from the library and I loved them. I read them really fast because they were so good, but I understand the trepidation to start another series.

Sarah Joyce said...

I had the same problem with Mrs Dalloway. It's my best friends favorite book and she couldn't stop raving about it. I couldn't finish it, to much description, not enough story.

Natalie_vintage_girl said...

so glad that i'm not the only one..

LBC said...

I love Mrs. Dalloway. I do think Woolf is difficult, but it is beautiful.

Here is my list