Book List: 3 Books That Intimidate You

Tuesday, April 27, 2010



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:

Unknown said...

Ah, Marcel Proust. How did I not think of this one. Definitely intimidating.

BioPeach said...

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).

Jeanne said...

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).

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

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.

Icedream said...

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.

Becca said...

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.

Jenners said...

I'm with you on all three .. I'm easily intimidated ... usually by any book published prior to the 1900s.