Nakia Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 a single book from the "intellectually challenging book" thread? Well except for the Dr. Seuss books. :svengo: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathmom Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 some of them I've never heard of even! I don't read sciencey-mathy things really, so a few of those are out. Right now I don't have time to even read a Harlequin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Well, I have read a couple of them, but NOT BY PERSONAL choice. :tongue_smilie: And I needed the cliff notes and lots of explanation from my professor! I am not sure if I really couldn't "get" them or if I just am not that interested in reading them and didn't put forth the effort. Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbecueMom Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I've read excerpts of some, but never the whole books. I should have read more in college, but it's hard to do that when you have a trumpet glued to your face half the day. My only literature class was on autobiographies. I've never read Fox in Socks, either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I'm with the Seuss crowd! Seriously, most of my reading selections these days are from the YA section at the library. I like my reading light and entertaining. Dh is the one who prefers challenging (mostly nonfiction) books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrganicAnn Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Personally I read most of my challenging books in college and grad school. In everyday life, I read only moderately challenging books, fun to read books on vacation and books on education/practical areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I'm with the Seuss crowd! Seriously, most of my reading selections these days are from the YA section at the library. I like my reading light and entertaining. :iagree: I've been bummed since I finished The Hunger Games Trilogy this summer because I've not found anything since that's sucked me in like those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denisemomof4 Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 :lol::lol::lol: I didn't read any of the titles. On a serious note, I can't handle threads, or books, like that since my head injury. On a Denise note, I can't handle thinking of tackling a book like that during the homeschool year. I find myself tired at the end of the day and if I'm going to read, it's going to be for PURE enjoyment..... as in mind fluff. :lol::lol::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mothersweets Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 You're not alone. I haven't even heard of most of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWOB Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Does it count if I've read the first five pages of SOME of them? I'm trying to rectify my idiocy, but it just ain't working;). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 From the few I've personally read listed on the other thread, you aren't missing anything. Except maybe a good night's sleep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiller Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I don't think I have. lol I just got myself the book Wayside School Is Falling Down.... to reread. If that explains anything. hehehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I have read 'War and Peace.' It was so dull it took me a year and a half. Most I've only heard of because I hang out here where people sometimes talk about them. Can't say I'm feeling inspired to tackle more. I'm still stupefied by my attempt at St Teresa of Avila's biography. I haven't read all of the Dr Seuss books either. :blush: Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veggiegal Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 From the few I've personally read listed on the other thread, you aren't missing anything. Except maybe a good night's sleep. LOL! Exactly! One of the books I mentioned, Kant's Critique of Pure Reason which I read during my undergrad degree in philosophy, I never parted with. It's now my go to book when I have horrid insomnia. That book could put ANYONE to sleep. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Go, add your own hard-to-read-book that you HAVE read, & poof! You've read at least one of them! :D As to your original question...I plead the 5th. :leaving: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 (edited) I haven't read many of them. Generally I read what I like, not what I "should" read. I do have a reading list I'm slowly working through, but I won't plow through something I am getting absolutely nothing out of just to say I've read it. I'll read something fluffy and light that I can get through in a couple of hours, or I'll read something that takes a few more brain cells but gives me a lot to think about, lots of amusement etc. It's a cost benefit thing: the more effort required to read the book, the more interesting/engaging/meaningful/funny it has to be. Moreover, some of the most interesting things I read are books that weren't on my list, that I just happened across one way or another. Just finished a biography of Jeanne Baret and loved it, but I only got it out of the library because the cover caught my eye as I walked past. (Also, I find I have to be at the right stage in life, as well as the right mood on the day, for some books. So it's always worth having another look at that boring/difficult book a few years later in case it turns out to be just what you feel like then.) Edited September 28, 2011 by Hotdrink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 (Also, I find I have to be at the right stage in life, as well as the right mood on the day, for some books. So it's always worth having another look at that boring/difficult book a few years later in case it turns out to be just what you feel like then.) Yeah, Anna Karenina went right back to the library after two days. It's just not the sort of book you can read two pages at a time while you are breastfeeding. :lol: Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 (edited) Does it count if I've read the first five pages of SOME of them? I'm trying to rectify my idiocy, but it just ain't working;). :iagree: I have heard of a lot of the books -my DH is an English teacher and has read them most of them (some of them even by choice :D) I, however, fall asleep whenever I sit down to read a book so I need it to be a page turner and if it is a challenging read it is guaranteed I won't get past the first page -so there is no point really :tongue_smilie: I was more ambitious as a teenager -I remember trying to read the Communist Manifesto a few times to impress a Social Studies teacher I had LOL LOL LOL. Edited September 28, 2011 by sewingmama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheReader Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I trudged through one or two of the lighter ones on that list (100 years of solitude...ugh.) (and I can never remember if I read War & Peace or not......) (and we had Heart of Darkness assigned in high school, but I so did not read it. It made my head hurt.....). Mostly I'd not heard of most of them. And remember splitting headaches associated with the ones I've heard of and tried to read (see above). My most challenging book??? Les Mis, unabridged. The social commentary and all the bits about the actual revolution just did me in. I'd like the abridged version I think.....the parts that were in the musical -- awesome. the parts that make it twice the size -- forget it. Oh, and I did read Lord of the Rings and found it verbose, long, drawn out, and like the movies much better. Terrible, I know. I'll stick with light reading.....I'm on a detective novel kick right now. JA Jance, anyone? Jeffery Deaver? LOL!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I didn't read the thread - does that count? :lol: In general, I read what I like and what I like can range from Dick Francis mysteries (read them all) to books like Open Lands: Travels Through Russia's Once Forbidden Places by Mark Taplin. I like what is entertaining to me not necessarily others. Chances are that I've read some of the books on the thread back in high school or college. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I read a few of them but most weren't by choice. It was also way back in my high school and college days. I definitely don't have the attention span, the uninterrupted quiet time or the initiative to get into any of them at this point. I sometimes can't get up the energy to read basic fluff. There were also quite a few on that list that I've never even heard of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I'm in the Dr. Seuss camp, too. I even loaded my kindle with freebie read-alouds for the girls! But give me some credit, due to the fact that Green Eggs and Ham has deep nutritional significance. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I've read a few (One Hundred Years of Solitude, Clockwork Orange, Till We Have Faces, assorted Dickens titles, etc.), but it's pretty much just the fiction. When folks start talking about physics, they've lost me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Yeah, Anna Karenina went right back to the library after two days. It's just not the sort of book you can read two pages at a time while you are breastfeeding. :lol: Rosie Not Anna, but I actually listened to a lot of audiobooks while I was breastfeeding. It kept me from going crazy sitting still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayle in Guatemala Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Who's to say what's considered "intellectually challenging"? There are books I've read that challenge me in more ways than just intellectually and then there are books that are so "intellectual" I'm left wondering after a few pages just what in the blazes the author is getting at.:glare: What makes a book "intellectually challenging"? Is it lofty words or ideas or phrasing? Is it a sense of making us think outside the box? Both? For every person that could easily be a different list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Well, I've read a few of them like Faulkner, Dickens, Dostoevsky and Joyce (not Ulysses):tongue_smilie:. As a French major, I had to read Sartre and Camus. I've even read some Kant and other philosophers, but only so I could understand what the heck my college boyfriend (philosophy major) was talking about. I enjoyed Dickens and Dostoevsky, but the rest of them were painful. I don't want my reading to be painful. I prefer to enjoy what I'm reading. I can enjoy some intellectually stimulating literature, but when it bashes you over the head with its literary import, I'm not that into it. :lol: This probably stems from getting a Master's Degree in French Lit. I'm so over literary analysis! I swear my professor's were just making stuff up so they'd have something to talk about at conferences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathleen in VA Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 :lol::lol::lol: I didn't read any of the titles. On a serious note, I can't handle threads, or books, like that since my head injury. On a Denise note, I can't handle thinking of tackling a book like that during the homeschool year. I find myself tired at the end of the day and if I'm going to read, it's going to be for PURE enjoyment..... as in mind fluff. :lol::lol::lol: I could never read the book I mentioned (The Making of the Atomic Bomb) during the school year - it took me the whole summer and I was motivated because my dad was also reading it and it gave us something to talk about. Also, one of my friends dh's is a nuclear physicist and I could ask him to explain stuff to me each week at church. And, it also won the Pulitzer Prize and so that meant that even though it was filled with nearly incomprehesible (to me) physics the writing was excellent so much of the book was really quite enjoyable. During the school year I limit myself to children's lit and YA novels. Last night I read The Color of My Words by Lynn Joseph. Highly recommend it. From the few I've personally read listed on the other thread, you aren't missing anything. Except maybe a good night's sleep. :iagree:I have read the first five or so pages of many of the books listed and couldn't have read more if I'd been paid. Ugh. Life's too stinking short. Dickens just takes some getting used to. He really is fun after you figure out how he goes about writing a story. It also helps to buy the Cliff notes.:D Oh, and Fox in Socks is one of my all-time favorites. When I had littles I rarely read anything but picture books. I'm 52 so I've gotten to a stage in my life where reading long involved works is not as tasking. I wouldn't have attempted that when mine were small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernm Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I had never even heard of Finnegan's Wake. I looked it up on Amazon and couldn't get through the first few lines. I would need a dictionary in hand to read that one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 A few of them I read in high school or college for classes. I also read at least one of the books mentioned while in college but not for a class (100 years of Solitude). Then I didn't read any classics for years. The last two years I have read a few- THe Heart of Darkness, As I Lay Dying and I read them because my older dd was reading them for classes and I decided to read them too. (I didn't need to but wanted to). I still have some other classics I will read- namely many Russian ones, and a few she read last year and I didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usetoschool Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I have read and enjoyed some but agree with the pp about figuring out what makes a great intellectual work. What is hard or thought provoking or life changing to some may be the crazy, alcoholic ramblings of a modernist writer just trying to be different, to another. I choose what I want to read and often tell my kids that just because something is famous or technically interesting or well written doesn't make it a great book and doesn't mean you need it in your head. Heart of Darkness comes to mind...you can never "un-read" things. I carried Anna Karenina around with me and read it at lunch and between classes and I love to read physics and math but some books I have absolutely no interest in ever reading and am fine with understanding the basics of the author and subject and style (Cliff Notes version) and moving on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Occasionally Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Yeah, Anna Karenina went right back to the library after two days. It's just not the sort of book you can read two pages at a time while you are breastfeeding. :lol: Rosie That's so funny, because the last time I read Anna Karenina was *exactly* when I was breastfeeding. To each her own, is all. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 What is hard or thought provoking or life changing to some may be the crazy, alcoholic ramblings of a modernist writer just trying to be different, to another.... I carried Anna Karenina around with me and read it at lunch and between classes and I love to read physics and math but some books I have absolutely no interest in ever reading and am fine with understanding the basics of the author and subject and style (Cliff Notes version) and moving on. So well put. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeannpal Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Who's to say what's considered "intellectually challenging"? There are books I've read that challenge me in more ways than just intellectually and then there are books that are so "intellectual" I'm left wondering after a few pages just what in the blazes the author is getting at.:glare: What makes a book "intellectually challenging"? Is it lofty words or ideas or phrasing? Is it a sense of making us think outside the box? Both? For every person that could easily be a different list! I wanted to say this very thing. I've read books with very simplistic language that, in a concise manner, got me to really think about something. While I do love Shakespeare, Dickens, etc. (Iwas an English major), I don't think a book has to be old with stilted language to be intellectually challenging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakia Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 Whew! I feel better. I am reading Dracula now, and I love it, but it's hard because I have to concentrate fully or I get lost. And it's hard to concentrate fully when 3 children are calling for me, or the TV is on, or my husband is chomping potato chips right beside me. Yes, I'm easily distracted, why do you ask? :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkInTheBlue Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 I might have read one or two and I have very little desire to read any of the others titles I recall reading. :) I like to stretch my mind from time to time but eyes-glazing-over only gets about a 50 - 100 page opportunity before I say "I tried". :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 I've read some of the more literary titles and excerpts of some of the philosophical ones in college, but some I hadn't heard of, either. Although I will say that I really enjoy reading Faulkner. Also, I actually picked up a copy of Ulysses at the library yesterday. I flipped to a random page in the middle and my brain nearly exploded, but I'm going to try to wade through it. I studied literature in college, so I feel a little bit ashamed every time I have to admit I've never read it. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginevra Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Whew! I feel better. I am reading Dracula now, and I love it, but it's hard because I have to concentrate fully or I get lost. And it's hard to concentrate fully when 3 children are calling for me, or the TV is on, or my husband is chomping potato chips right beside me. Yes, I'm easily distracted, why do you ask? :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: I read Dracula a couple years ago. I was amazed how much I got into it! I'm not really a goth or horror fan, but reading Dracula was cool. Everybody else was into Twilight and I was, "My vampire pwns your vampire," snobbin'. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 I read Dracula a couple years ago. I was amazed how much I got into it! I'm not really a goth or horror fan, but reading Dracula was cool. Everybody else was into Twilight and I was, "My vampire pwns your vampire," snobbin'. :D I read it last year for the first time. I had expected it to be dry and stuffy, but it was amazing! I was surprised at how much I liked it. I was also surprised at how much modern fantasy has drawn from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 I can't read Dracula because I'm scared of vampires. :crying: Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Nope. I've read almost all of them. Never finished Finnegan's Wake, and am not familiar with the one called Fox in Socks, must be very obscure :D Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denisemomof4 Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Does it count if I've read the first five pages of SOME of them? I'm trying to rectify my idiocy, but it just ain't working;). of course it counts! You're further ahead than many.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Whew! I feel better. I am reading Dracula now, and I love it, but it's hard because I have to concentrate fully or I get lost. And it's hard to concentrate fully when 3 children are calling for me, or the TV is on, or my husband is chomping potato chips right beside me. Yes, I'm easily distracted, why do you ask? :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: I read Dracula a couple years ago. I was amazed how much I got into it! I'm not really a goth or horror fan, but reading Dracula was cool. Everybody else was into Twilight and I was, "My vampire pwns your vampire," snobbin'. :D I read it last year for the first time. I had expected it to be dry and stuffy, but it was amazing! I was surprised at how much I liked it. I was also surprised at how much modern fantasy has drawn from it. O.K., I have Dracula on my Nook, I'm going to have to actually read it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 I was a music major in college...and I opted for an etymology class (after 3 YEARS of Latin!) instead of English Lit in high school b/c I could, it didn't matter to college admission at that point, and it was an easy A. Needless to say, most every decent book I've ever read has been read since having babies. Well, that's not entirely true. I did take a couple good lit classes in college...I just couldn't savor the books by the schedule of the syllabi AND do well in music at the same time...not enough time in the day. I've since read a few of those books in my own time and it's a different experience. I enjoyed Jane Austen's P&P and S&S these last several weeks/months. It wasn't difficult reading, but it sure beats foxes and soxes in the "I'm not poking my eyeballs out with sporks" department. I read either while my dc are playing (I'm interupted.) or just before bed (I'm tired.), and so I better stick to the light-weights for now. I can't read Dracula because I'm scared of vampires. :crying: Rosie Same.:grouphug: I can't read anything scary. I have a vivid imagination and an uncanny knack for visualizing what I'm thinking about....*shudders* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWOB Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 I read Dracula a couple years ago. I was amazed how much I got into it! I'm not really a goth or horror fan, but reading Dracula was cool. Everybody else was into Twilight and I was, "My vampire pwns your vampire," snobbin'. :D I read it last year for the first time. I had expected it to be dry and stuffy, but it was amazing! I was surprised at how much I liked it. I was also surprised at how much modern fantasy has drawn from it. I loved Dracula! I thought I would hate it, but I figured I would give it a shot. So glad I did. Someone (maybe Rosie) mentioned something to the effect of reading books during certain seasons of your life. I tried to read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school and just couldn't get into it. When I came back to it later, after I had moved away from my kinda rascist parents, I absolutely loved it. Same with The Scarlett Letter. Perhaps one day I will be wise enough to finish (and maybe even enjoy) many of "those" books. Right now the thought of reading Joyce makes me want to stockpile vodka. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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