Here's this week's meme from Lost in Books. All the books that I've been intimidated by in the past, like Atlas Shrugged or Anna Karenina, are never scary once I read them. But before I pick them up they seem impossible.
1) Marcel Proust's seven volume "Remembrance of Things Past." This book has always terrified me. I know I'll read it (all of it) one day, but not yet.
2) "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. I don't know why exactly, but this one just never really appealed to me, but I want to eventually read it. I'm waiting until it seems like less of a struggle to tackle it.
3) "The Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri. This epic poem terrifies me. In my head it's going to be incredibly difficult to read.
7 comments:
Ah, Marcel Proust. How did I not think of this one. Definitely intimidating.
I didn't think of Proust either. What on Earth was wrong with that man? Was he hypergraphic? Or did he just have a plot to take down as many trees as possible?
I will probably try it,someday, too.
The Divine Comedy is not as hard as I thought it would be- first, it's divided into three separate books. It's possible to get through life just by reading the Inferno (which is awesome).
When I look at your list, I think, yeah, same! Except I had to teach the Inferno a few years ago for a class, and when I read it I was surprised how much I enjoyed it--the way the punishments fit the crime is interesting, and the way Dante named names is fascinating to me (the context for that is that I'm a student of 18th-century satire, which always names names).
sharazad - I don't know what Proust's problem was, but seven volumes, really?
Jeanne - Thanks for the thoughts on Dante. You've encouraged me to at least tackle the Inferno.
I also never thought about Proust, great choice! I know I would never be able to tackle that volume! I considered adding Dante to my list also but I had to narrow it to 3. :) BTW, Don Quixote wasn't so bad but I think it would really depend on getting a good translation. I read it years ago for a Lit. class and can't remember what edition it was but I enjoyed it.
The Divine Comedy! Good one! Very intimidating. I have it but I haven't read much of it. Proust has never intrigued me in the least for some reason. I want to get to Don Quixote one day but I am procrastinating on that one too.
I'm with you on all three .. I'm easily intimidated ... usually by any book published prior to the 1900s.
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