(Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish.)
I must admit that I’m not often intimidated by a book. I don’t say this to be arrogant; it’s more a reflection of my not reading out of my comfort zone very often. Fortunately the bloggers I follow have tastes similar to mine, so I’m not often led astray. Here’s a handful of some intimidating books from my shelves.
- What Alice Forgot (Liane Moriarty) – Was really unsure about how this was going to go.
- The Gift: The Poetry of Hafiz (Hafiz) – Poetry and religion, two things I’m not great with. But Hafiz is marvelous.
- Chapman’s Odyssey (Paul Bailey) – This one still on my unread shelf, and I’m less than certain about whether I’ll enjoy it. Time shall tell.
- The Letters of John and Abigail Adams – History and politics, eek.
- The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) – A chunkster if there ever was one, plus lots of plot twists.
- Team of Rivals (Doris Kearns Goodwin) – Again, more politics. Plus a less-than-happy ending (at least for Lincoln).
- The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) – Dystopian, the bane of my existence. The book is very well done, but incredibly intimidating and difficult to read.
Your turn. What books do you find intimidating?
Hmmm…good list, though, I love dystopian and can’t agree with your last choice. Here are a couple more dystops for you if you want even more intimidation. Both of which I’ve read and thoroughly loved and can’t say enough about: Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, most people won’t go near this and to that I say, cowards! And, your loss. Also, The Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, as you say, a chunkster, but if I can do it, anyone can. Soooo much better than the movie.
My other choices? Anything Jane Austen-ish. Or Russian. And to my eternal shame, I’ve never made it though One Hundred Years of Solitude.
I don’t think I could handle any more intimidating dystopian, Gloria. The whole genre just isn’t my thing, no matter how much I try. :p
Huge disagreement re: Austen — she’s one of my favorites, and I’ll read most things in that genre. But I definitely understand why some people dislike it.
Ugh, Russian. I’ve tried reading Anna Karenina a couple times and just can’t muscle past all the depressing…Russian-ness of it all.
“The depressing Russian-ness of it all…” Pretty much my thoughts of Tolstoy! I want to read Anna Karenina eventually, but I admit that I’ve been avoiding it in favor of “summer reading” (for shame.) 🙂
It’s much too hot to read anything that takes a lot of brain power. 🙂
I want to read The Count of Monte Cristo too. It used to be the length that intimidated me…but I’m on book 4 of A Song of Ice and Fire so length doesn’t really scare me anymore.
TTT
Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know
Yea, Martin’s books will definitely knock the fear of chunksters right out of you. Monte Cristo is a long book as well, but what intimidated me most is the complexity. It covers many years, many characters, and is in its own way a thriller — there’s mystery, there’s betrayal, etc. But it’s worth a read.
I LOVE The Count of Monte Cristo, but it IS intimidating! A lot of the books I’m intimidated by are the ones that are really hyped. That being said, it’s my English major shame that I’m super intimidated by Russian literature and avoid the well-known Russian books like the plague.
I hear ya about hyped books — generally if there’s a book that everyone is reading, I tend to avoid it until all the hullabaloo has died down. Or I avoid reading reviews until I’ve read it myself.
Russian literature is a huge challenge for most readers, even English majors. 😉 I’m a pretty cynical/sarcastic person, so when I read something and find myself thinking, “Man, can’t they just cheer up a little?” I know it’s a depressing book.
I just read your review of What Alice Forgot & immediately added it to goodreads. 🙂 the only book on your list I know of is The Handmaiden’s Tale. thanks for stopping by 🙂
Awesome, Daphne! I hope you like What Alice Forgot. I really, really enjoyed it. Can’t say the same for The Handmaid’s Tale, but then again I think that was probably Atwood’s goal. 🙂
The Handmaid’s Tale is one of my all-time favorites. Atwood’s writing style is definitely a bit different, but I think once you make it past the first twenty pages the story, and desire to learn more, will suck you in.
It was definitely a well-written book, Christine — it’s just that dystopian and I don’t get along. The genre as a whole makes me really uncomfortable (which is the idea, I imagine), plus there are few happy endings — something every book should have if it possibly can. 🙂
I agree, reading out of your comfort zone can be intimidating. That’s probably the reason why I avoid epic fantasies/epically long classics! I’ve had The Count of Monte Cristo staring at me in the living room for years, daring me to read it, but I haven’t had the guts to start!
The good news is that once you find good people from whom to take out-of-comfort-zone recommendations, you often enjoy works you thought you wouldn’t, or would never have picked up on your own.
I know some book people hate this, but you might try watching a film adaptation of Monte Cristo. They’ll all be different from the book, of course, but it might be a good baby step into actually reading it.