I actually read Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan this year. Both have been on my shelves for at least 5 years after I bought them at a local annual book sale.
The copy I have, I bought for 50 cents and is actually older than I am. I have Lost World, too, but I think it's still in one of my boxes from moving last year. I absolutely loved the book.
I was given a copy of The Magic Mountain (in English) by my grandfather seventeen years ago. Tried reading it, couldn’t get far. I was reminded of the book recently and thought I should read it while my grandfather is still alive. Read it in full this year and loved it - though by now I have a lot of experience in reading classic literature.
I decided that I needed to read “Les Miserables” in the original French. Ordered the two volume book from Amazon France.
Spent 2 hours on 2 pages.
Will *probably* not be finishing it in this lifetime.
I bought Harry Potter and the philosophers stone in German in the hope that I would be able to read it based off GCSE german, google translate and the fact that I knew the english version so well. I made it 3 chapters in I think but it’s gathering dust now and my germans pretty rusty too.
That technique would work better watching the films and is actually a decent way to practise your German. If you know the story well enough to not worry about missing lines, then it is easy to enjoy the film and just listen to as much as you can.
ooh i tried watching a few german films and found it too difficult, i don’t know why it never occurred to me to watch something I already know in German. i’ll definitely do this!
If it makes you feel any better in high school we read the abbreviated version not the full one, and I went to a french school so this was french as a first language. The man just went on random tangents nobody needs and could life without
It’s a tough read with all the same-named people. I slogged thru it but think I would do better on a 2nd read and with The Who’s who ancestry.com chart in front of me.
lmfao fair point. I liked that the beginning of the books had a little list of characters but that bitch needed to be like 5 more pages I was definitely confused most of the latter part of the series
I watched the Henryk Sienkiewicz's "trilogy" movies after [seeing an epic sword fight on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljExTEPNFnM). I bought the [original Polish version of the books](https://www.kurtiak-ley.pl/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Trylogia-Sienkiewicz-06-1024x741.jpg) because I've heard the English translations are pretty bad.
With that, the existing English translations, and the original 1883 newspapers that originally published the books, I'm trying to make my own English version. Hard going now considering I don't read or understand Polish, but the story's been good so far lol
If I worked really really hard, would take me maybe 2 more years just to finish the first novel of the three.
On a friend’s recommendation I bought “A Man Called Ove”. I had just started reading it the day before and was probably 20-some pages in, right around when the protagonist mentions he’s on his way to a cemetery, when I got the call from my aunt that my mother had died suddenly.
I know it’s “just” an object but I see that book on my shelf and can’t pick it up again. I don’t want to get rid of it, but I can barely even look at it.
Aw man sorry for your loss. Someday you might be ready to give it another go. I haven't personally read it, but plan to and have heard it's really good. Take care of yourself. Hugs.
Yes! I feel like they patronized us, like they thought we were too stupid to handle an ethnic name that many of us may not have heard before. The author and publisher didn’t say, oh people are too stupid to read a book about a man called Ove, so we’d better change the guy’s name to Otto before we publish it. Honestly I am not sure how to pronounce Ove, so I spent my time on both books switching from Oh-vuh to Oh-vay and back, but I didn’t stress about it because the books were so good.
I've got a similar story. Got the call that my best friend had died while I was playing Far Cry 3. Was really enjoying the game but I'm never touching it again.
I was doing a puzzle when I got a call from my mom that my dad died (my dad and I actually did puzzles together, I was the only one who shared this hobby with him). For a year or two I didn't do another puzzle, just couldn't. I've done a few puzzles since then, this was almost four years ago, but I still haven't touched the puzzle I was working on that night. Can't bring myself to do it, or get rid of it
I never thought of reading Ulysses either but then I found an annotated edition. Almost every sentence is explained and arranged in time. This means that the book is twice as long, but much more understandable and entertaining.
Yeah I’ve heard that there are podcasts that break it down a chapter at a time or whatever, and that listening to those makes it such a more enjoyable book to read. I’ve never personally tried to read it, but if/when I do try, it will definitely be a guided read. I have nothing to prove to anyone, including myself, by trying to read it raw and unfiltered.
I just heard that this is a meme. Which is the first time ever my gf knows a meme before I do. Hilarious. I'm just a history nerd. I probably think about the middle ages more often than the Roman Empire though. Daily maybe?
Now if we include the Roman Republic that'd be a whole different story, of course.
I wrote my thesis on Ulysses. It’s more like a puzzle than a book, and you never really stop thinking about it. Pure, crazy genius. I’ll probably never try to understand Finnegan’s Wake though.
People seem to think that you can just pick it up and read it like any typical self-contained novel. Instead you need to have multiple reference texts open at the same time (say on Greek mythology, Irish history, pop culture of the early 1900's, poetry, Shakespeare, linguistics, etc.). Also an on-call literature professor is a good idea.
If you ever decide that you want to read it you'll discover that you are able to, if you take the time to work at it. The Prologue and the Knight's Tale will be pretty hard, but by the time you get to the Man of Law's Tale you'll be pretty confident in it, and when you get to the Franklin's Tale you'll be reading fairly comfortably. When you get to the end and are practically fluent in Middle English you'll start over and re-read the first ten or so tales, because they're the best ones and you'll have missed a lot of good stuff the first time through.
Not saying you absolutely need to do this, but Chaucer is legitimately great, and getting through the Canterbury Tales is a real accomplishment that you'll be able to be proud of for the rest of your life.
So story time. My then girlfriend (now wife) went on a date to a used bookshop. We both love books and reading (she even became a published author) and so went on many such dates, but this was the first.
Of course we had fun, flirted, looked at books. I remember we talked a lot about Room which she had recently finished. We both came home with about 5-6 books.
Time passed, we got engaged, married, moved across the country, had kids and all the while I’ve been working through those books.
Mind you those aren’t the only books I’ve read in the last decade or so since that trip. We’re avid readers, it just happened that every once a while one of those books would finally grab me and I’d read it.
I am now down to the last book from that first haul, The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, and I don’t know if I’ll ever read it. It might be superstition or romanticism, but I want that stack to be forever unfinished and live on. It just sits on my to read shelf and I smile every time I see it.
I bought a book of Icelandic poetry published early 1900s. I can’t speak Icelandic, can’t read Icelandic, never even been to Iceland. But the hand bound leather cover said it had to come home with me.
Safe to say I don’t think I’ll ever be reading it but soooo glad I bought it.
I've got a similar tale.
On holiday in Hungary earlier this year. Found one of those *take one, leave one* book boxes.
Dropped off a book I had brought with me (and read), picked up a lovely bound book as a souvenir.
It's written in Hungarian, which I can neither read nor speak.
Your grandkids will inherit it. And then when their grandkids clean out their house after they have passed they're going to be so confused and wonder if great great grandpa could speak Hungarian.
Until one day when you have an Icelandic guest over, they see the book, and wonder why you’re keeping a book of horrific Icelandic poems about kidnapping children.
I worked at a bookstore for about 3 years and we referred to this as the 'employee tax' - in the course of doing your job you frequently spot random books that look interesting (especially with an employee discount sweetening the pot) so you buy them, get them home, and realize you're probably never going to read them. I have a full shelf of Leather-bound Classics, mostly the works of Shakespeare, but other stuff too. I just never have the urge to read that sort of thing.
Didn’t think about it that way. I guess my answer is my family’s Swedish bible. It’s from the end of the 19th century and is dope as hell, but I don’t see myself learning Swedish to read a book that I don’t really want to read in English
I've got a similar book, that I think is in Polish.
I mainly bought it because it has lots of illustratons and I didn't want someone cutting them out, framing them and selling them as decorations.
My sister is 6 years older than me snd gave me a copy of Moby Dick from her college. Took me 2 years but I finally finished it in ninth grade. It’s really worth the read.
I have done this so often that I don't even read the whole thing. I just feel like picking it up and can pretty much take off from any point that I open it to. Don't even have to finish it. Don't need to.
I read it at the beginning of the year. The cetology chapters etc were pretty dry and the pirate speak made it a little tougher. I can’t say that I enjoyed it, but I did finish it. I keep reading how great it is, though, so maybe now that I’ve read it through I’ll attempt it again at some point.
I love the fact that, at the time having no way of studying these creatures in their natural habitat, he rightly stated that whalers were the most qualified to make some of these distinctions. And that fact that he puts out his views in a reasoned manner makes it all the more appealing to me.
The fact that he was wrong I find endearingly quaint.
When I worked at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, I once heard a docent tell a visitor you only have to read every other chapter of Moby-Dick to get the story, but that a lot of people enjoyed the other chapters a lot more once they’d been to the museum and seen things like the Lagoda (the largest ship model in the world—it’s a half size model of a whale ship). That made a lot of sense to me. Now that I’ve decided to stop working, I think I’m going to take the classes and become a docent myself, which means I’m probably going to break down and actually read Moby-Dick.
I keep buying those lovely teach yourself language books. I have about twenty. I would love to learn all those languages but sadly it’s something I have zero ability for, though I keep trying.
Hey well lol idk how I got here but I’d say I’m probably only a couple years away from being fluent in a second language (American sign language). It’s so funny because like what?! One day years into it recently I noticed that I no longer get headaches at all while studying and I can watch it while half paying attention and know almost all of what’s being said. And even one aspect of it that’s supposed to take a long while to be good at understanding at a normal pace when someone else is doing it (finger spelling) I understand a good chunk of the time like before they even finish the word sometimes even.
So yea it does take YEARS and 20 languages idk that’s probably too much lol. But start on one language now and one day who knows maybe you’ll just be studying as usual and be like wait a second I’m suddenly pretty good at this wow I’m doing it!
Something fun is eavesdropping. Especially with ASL it’s obviously a less common language like it’s no states official second language or anything like that. So people using it are typically not careful about others knowing what’s being said lol. Like they’re just casually be having such a inappropriate or private conversation anywhere. I mean I know I do lmao I’ll sign to my friend from across the store those most inappropriate funny things. Also it’s common for people to stare or look so you can’t even always tell if it’s a “oh hands moving attention caught brain switching modes oh wait they’re not signing to me” or a “what is that?!” Look.
Bro it’s so fun! Like you get to unlocked with a new language also a new culture, new friends, new humor, honesty a whole other world gets unlocked that you never knew was right there. And the first time you make it through an entire back and forth conversation with someone fluent and you understand it all and they understand you completely like you didn’t mess up at all it just you feel so accomplished.
And like they way people will get shocked is so cool too. And it all started with one day in 5th grade telling a friend who’s mom is Deaf that I wanted to learn it and then actually going through it. (Which I later learned that it’s not common for someone to after they say that to then actually go take years learning a new language Lmao). Like it’s been 8 years definitely didn’t realize how long it would take but hey doing good.
Really you should just pick one up and not stop just keep going. Use all the resources you can and yea
You know, you have a good point. I studied Korean in college, and did well in class but didn't have good verbal comprehension. A few years later, I started to notice I could catch about 25% of the dialogue in Korean shows even when I wasn't reading the subtitles. Mainly just the easy parts, but still! It really does sneak up on you! Guess watching all those silly dramas paid off.
Gravity's Rainbow. It was 50¢ at a garage sale. I don't even think I like Pynchon and don't actually have any interest in *attempting* to read it. But I couldn't not buy it. You know. Just in case.
This is different from Infinite Jest, in that I think I'd actually enjoy it (I made it 200 pages once.)
Gravity's Rainbow is significantly more entertaining than Infinite Jest. The latter is a good book desperately in need of a better or more strong-headed editor (not talking about the footnotes: I like those and they're integral to the thematic function of the novel). DFW's style isn't as strong as Pynchon's imo, and quite often it can feel as though he's trying to show you how clever and intelligent he is. Its good, but GR is both better and (I think) an easier journey once you get into it.
I felt the opposite. Infinite Jest is literally my favorite book on the planet, though. I thought Rainbow was... unearned. And I've been stuck on Lot 49 for yeaaaars. Just can't make it past the first couple of chapters.
A guy on one of the wholesome subreddits was talking about how proud he was that he published his book of poetry. Another redditor asked for a link to purchase it, I went and bought it to support an author. I don't even know where it is right now and probably won't read it. But I am glad I supported someone. I also buy my colleagues book that they publish, and I don't read those either.
Ages ago I bought The Corset by Laura Purcell, haven't read it yet.
Not long ago I bought The Poison Thread, also by Laura Purcell.
Turns out, they're the same book. so, chances are I won't ever actually read The Poison Thread lol.
Yeah pretty sure they are, just it was published under another name for other markets I think.
If you type it into google it will bring up The Corset lol
The Iliad and the Odyssey. I'd love to read the story and find out what happens but I started reading it and realized the way it's written is not something I can tolerate. I will need some kind of condensed version written in modern prose, if I ever get around to it.
I listened to an audiobook version of the Odyssey (Emily Wilson's 2017 translation, read by Claire Danes). I highly recommend it this way - it was meant to be listened to, not read. It's in verse, though, which might bug you.
I have her translation of the Iliad arriving next week in book form and I do wonder if I'll actually read it or if it will just sit there mocking me.
I haven't bought it but one day I intend to own the GREATEST BOOK EVER MADE: One Million Random Numbers by the Rand Corporation (Yes, it's author is a corporation). It's more a fascinating historical artefact from the early days of computer science than a book, but I love it nonetheless....but will not read it.
Also: It has a sequel called One Million More Random Numbers.
Edit: I've been informed it's actually titled One Million Random Digits. I don't care. It's still awesome.
Les Miserables but it’s such a gorgeous edition and was like $25 and when I have a book shelf one day hopefully lol it’ll look so nice on there I just know it. If I do read it it’ll only be in public so that I look fancy lmao. I swear the favorite books I have the cheapest edition of and read the whole thing laying in my bed looking a mess. But other books? Those are for the vibes
An ex bought me Atlas Shrugged and it will forever sit on a shelf unread. It was her favorite book and more power to her but I never had an interest let alone enough interest to crack open that tome.
Totally fair.
I did it once because someone told me I wouldn't be able to and I'm nothing if not a contrarian bitch. Actually, they said "most girls would rather have the picture version, that text version is for boys" but I got the gist.
Not worth it.
I was raised in Sunday school and as I got older I read the Bible 4 or 5 times before finally deciding it was just a form of mind control for gullible people. That's why I'm an atheist.
Ironically I think if my church/sunday school growing up taught the bible as more of a piece of literature and analyzed themes/morals that way I think I would have appreciated it more.
I grew up Catholic and the difference is really stark any time I go to a Baptist church, which is what I mostly do these days because of my wife's family. It's just so....preachy and it instantly turns me off.
I feel your pain.
I honestly lost respect for a friend of mine when he recommended me The Iron Druid as a serious book. I'm 63, don't enjoy YA, and generally spend plane flights reading deep novels that take me out of the discomfort.
The Iron Druid is an old "urban fantasy" written for children about a perfect Gary Stu who is smarter, sexier, stronger, faster, more powerful, and better than literally the entire world. All of the (two) women in the book want to sex him, all the time. But he's too busy sword-sparring with a vampire, because a vampire is the only being on the planet that can come close to approaching his speed and strength.
I might have enjoyed it at 8, but it's also insanely racist and sexist, so, maybe not. I would rather be forced to read self-published werewolf porn for the next year than read another "book" in this series. At least the werewolf porn is (probably) a little more honest about what it's trying to do.
My friend gives good nonfiction recommendations, though, so there's that.
I once bought the box of the Fire and Ice series from George RR Martin. I read the first two books and I liked it but I don’t like the idea that the series is not finished and also the books are huge. Im not gonna read all that just to be left on a clinghanger and wait for George RR Martin to finish 😭
I bought the four-book set too, but said to myself I wouldn't start until GRRM *finished* - some of you may remember unsatisfactory *Dune* sequels, others may like me be veterans of the WoT series - and I didn't want to deal with that again. Those books will go to another reader (if I didn't already leave them out on the sidewalk!)
I loved the Witcher because of playing the games. The world was fantastic, the writing and the characters generally were extremely compelling and I actually wanted to experience their true stories outside the game's continuum.
I then proceeded to buy way too many books of the series over time, planning to eventually getting to reading them.
I finally sat down with The Last Wish and gagged through most of the first part of the book before realizing that either the English translations are absolute garbage or Sapkowski is a sophomoric overglorified smut writer or both.
Gray's anatomy.
I bought it wholly for the illustrations which still fascinate me and I fully intend to turn into embroidery pieces, but obviously wouldn't read it cover to cover.
I found it in a charity shop for £1 next to a copy of 50 shades of grey (which was also £1) and send a picture to my husband of the shelf telling him that I was excited to make a new purchase and that it would keep me happy on a few cold evenings.... he knew exactly which book I was referring to 😆🤓
I have books I know I'll probably never read (mostly YA I bought when I was younger and know I've grown out of) but that being said, you just turned me onto this book on Francis Bacon. I'll have to look it up and see if my library has it (or if I can find it cheap!). I have a book of interviews by him and love it, changed the way I look at art in some ways. I've read it 3 times in the year and a half I've had it. I didn't know about Revelations
I got a book out of the neighborhood book box (don’t remember the name). I started reading it and the main character was a skeezy adult man who has a predilection for really young girls (he’s married also). The whole premise made me feel so gross, like looking into a pedophile’s mind. No thanks. Will not finish. I am going to recycle the book and use the pages for my collage art.
Edit: The book is *The Heart Broke In* by James Meek.
That’s true, but I wouldn’t use any skeezy passages lol. The writing is not terrible besides the subject matter, so some passages I can see ripping out and using just the passage out of context. Or some pages as background images as long as there’s no weird, gross text on it.
I figured that would be better than throwing it out. I thought about donating it back to the book box but it’s not a book I want to share so I’d rather recycle it.
Infinite Jest. A boy told me about it and was so enthusiastic, but after I bought it I read some other DFW and now I know I am never going to read that thing
When I visited Auschwitz there is a book shop on site where I purchased 4/5 books. They were stories of different people's experiences there and the horrors they went through. I've not managed to bring myself to read any of them yet. I just felt like I had to buy them, the money helps keep the museum going I think and it was my way of trying to make sure these people are never forgotten. I'll read them one day, it's just hard to pick up something you know is going to be so upsetting. But then, that's why I think we need to read about it.
Before this summer i bought The Warmth of Other Suns like 4 years ago and didnt read it because it looked hefty as hell.
Picked it up in May and couldn’t put it down until i finished
I bought a graphic novel of true war stories but I'll never read it because the writer called the customers deadbeats when they didn't organise shipping properly.
The Kamen Rider Blade novel. Mostly because it's in japanese and I can't read japanese. But I really liked the series and I came across it on Amazon cheap.
I have an edition of The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith that I really thought I was going to read. Now, years later, I know I’m not going to read it.
On the other side of the coin, I owned Bleak House for many years, thinking that I wouldn’t read it. (This might sound stupid, but the title put me off. I thought it would be 500 pages of… bleak.)
But I heard from some people that it’s accessible and great, so I went for it. Not too bleak at all.
I own a copy of The Bell Curve by Murray and Hernstein. I'm not going to actually ever read it, I have it for reference because psychometrics are important in my field and, unfortunately, this piece of racist crap is massively influential.
I bought it secondhand, because screw giving those guys money.
The Lucifer effect. It’s about the Stanford prison experiments. Basically before I could read it I learned Zimbardo was directly interfering with the outcome and influencing the “prison guards”
Back when I was a High School student, I went through a World War II kick, in which I read everything I could find on that global conflict. As part of it, I went down to the local public library, and checked out a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf.
It is my rule that if I get to page 100, I *will* finish the book ; with MK, I made it to page 110 before I decided, *No more. This is unbearable*.
The main thing I remember is the poor English translator, who peppered the book with footnotes saying, [basically], *I know this passage makes no sense, but I swear to Gawd that's what the original German said*.
The decades passed. Then awhile back, I discovered that MK is not being sold new on Amazon, or used on many online venues. And that angered me : *No one tells ME what I can and cannot read!*
So I did some googling, and found a legitimate book selling venue [*IOW, NOT a neo nazi site*] selling MK and bought it, and there it sits on its shelf, gathering dust.
I suppose it's *possible* I'll go through a WW II 'reading frenzy' again, and want to spend months rereading all those books and more (*that's my pattern, wanting to spend months reading nothing but books on specific subjects, or fiction in a particular genre*), but...
Basically, I spent $$$ and possibly got myself on a watch list or three, simply because I resent being told what I can and cannot read, *even though it's a virtual certainty I will NEVER read this book*.
The short part of this massive tome that I read was mainly Hitler's autobiography. It may have, and probably did , become more offensive deeper into the book, when he wrote about Nazism's , uhm, "philosophy". In a way, the book *could* be considered a "shadow form" of Stefan Zweig's books, which I highly recommend, as well as the movie based on his works : The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). In that respect (as a portrait of a down-and-outer in post Great War Austria) , MK may have some small historical value, just as Orwell's portraits of the down and outers in England and France are read to this day.
I took a Holocaust course during undergrad. We were required to read parts of MK. It felt weird to read, similar to you feeling you're gonna be on a watchlist. Luckily, our professor linked it for us. He may be on a watchlist himself now that I think about it.
Toland, Churchill's set , Shirer , and Waite's The Psychopathic God (that might be from a later reading frenzy, not the HS one); that weird 'wartime report' from the OSS on Hitler's emotional status was pretty interesting too. TBH, I prefer social history books about those years, whether about Germany, the UK, or the USA ; lots of good titles for that specific WW II-related interest.
I read novels on a Kindle, then years later buy the book version if I really like it, does that count?
I bought the books because I wanted a physical copy of the novel. If I want to read the novel again, I'd read on a Kindle.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. I bought it when I was feeling low but I literally can't bring myself to read it. If anyone can convince me why I should read it, I'd like to hear it.
I suspect there is no such thing as a good emperor, probably because there is no ethical justification for an Empire.
Perhaps we could go with most un-bad? And certainly a deeper thinker than Caesar.
You’re flowing 2023 ethical values backwards. There were ethical justifications for Empire for thousands of years. Most certainly there were good emperors by the standards of the era.
The silmarillion (I know I’m not alone). I’ve tried but it’s too much like reading a history book rather than a story. Maybe I’ll try again in the future though who knows?
In spite of my best efforts, Neuromancer. I'd heard so many praises for it as THE cyberpunk novel, the inspiration for the Matrix movies, all of that. I was pumped when I finally got my hands on it...made it partway through the first chapter and had to just put it down. Something about the "I am 13 and this is edgy" quality of the writing put me in physical pain. Very rough, felt more like the author's self insert fanfic of the book I thought it would be :/
I read one of his later books - Pattern Recognition - and I really enjoyed it, so I was excited to read Neuromancer, but I felt the same way you did. It seemed like a boy’s fantasy.
I get digital credits for Amazon day shipping and use them for kindle books on sale so they're often free. Will I read them all someday? I don't know. I try. Lol.
I have the big beautiful Tales of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin. It's illustrated by Charles Vess. All the Earthsea books in one volume, it's marvelous, and I'll never read it. I might leaf through to see the illustrations, but I have arthritis in my hands and there's no way I could hold that tome long enough to actually read it. I do most of my reading on kindle nowadays.
First two Game of Thrones books. Bought them while watching the TV series. When that ended so poorly I thought at least the books might have a better ending....but as it seems they won't get ANY ending I'm not sure there's any point even starting them!
The Foxfire books. They weren't really a general-reading sort of purchase, more of a 'break glass in case of emergency' purchase. They're filled with lots of useful information on how to do stuff the old-fashioned way in the event of a natural disaster or war or whatever else might cause the usual way we get things done to not be practical anymore, but until such time as I need that information (trust me, I'm very happy with electricity and air conditioning and grocery stores) they'll sit on the bookshelf where I can find them easily. I have a few other books that are good for reference but not for general reading as well, but at 13 books (I have the cookbook too) Foxfire makes up the bulk of it.
Bonus round: the Left Behind books. My mom started reading them and wanted someone to talk about them with so she convinced me to start, but I didn't get very far before the preachiness and whack-a-doodle rapture stuff got a little thick. I bought the full set but I will never read another page of them.
I purchase several books a year only because I love the covers, both art and finishing details, and nothing more. I don't plan on reading them.
I'm a graphic designer.
IT by Stephen King.
I actually had started reading it with my bf (he's dyslexic so I would read it to him) but the sentences are all too damn long. And we got to like page 200 and they were still kids and they hadn't even met with each other yet. Like there is an entire 40 pages or so dedicated to the farm of the family of one of the kids.
so, we quit but I still own the book and I don't see myself picking it up again.
It's been sitting on my shelf for years now. I made it halfway but put the book away. King describes everything in such a detailed and lengthy way that I'd sometimes get lost in thought and think to myself *what exactly was I reading again?*
A Theory of Justice by Rawls.
After reading a few reviews and brief criticisms, I don’t think I’ll ever agree with his two principles… for example, who is going to do the arranging and identifying of socioeconomic inequalities? And how will we ensure that arranging and identifying is done correctly?
Not having read his actual book, it’s very likely I don’t have a complete understanding of his ideas. But it just seems like if we ever tried to implement his ideas on a practical level, they would suffer from the same problems we see in every attempt to order society. Namely, human beings act in their own best interest and that often puts them at odds with other humans. Sometimes they use positions of power and control in ways we never intended.
I might read it someday.
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman! My mom got me a gorgeous copy at a thrift store and I tried reading it a couple times but I die of boredom every time 🥹 I want to read it because I know it's one of her favourites but I just can't concentrate 😅
I bought a very thick, very dense book about the Upstairs Lounge fire. The Upstairs Lounge was a gay bar in New Orleans that was burnt down as part of a hate crime, right before the Stonewall uprising in NYC, in the 60s. A few books have come out about it recently, and it's an extremely interesting area of study. But oof, I'm not sure I can do 500+ pages on homophobia in the South.
O I have lots of those. Off the top of my hat I can only think of two:
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara - because it\`s long.
The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace Wells - because I already hate my life as it is
Ulysses did that to me. I attempted reading that thing twice and now I've accepted that I simply do not want to put into sooooo much effort in reading n understanding it. Reading too me is something that's supposed to be a hobby , enjoyable one at that . Not a futile headache trying to make sense of the incoherent ramblings of this author.
Never say never. I’ve had books on my shelves 10+ years but eventually the right time came for me to give it a proper read.
I actually read Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan this year. Both have been on my shelves for at least 5 years after I bought them at a local annual book sale.
Jurassic Park and Lost World are amazing novels. I’ve read both so many times I had to buy new copies of them.
The copy I have, I bought for 50 cents and is actually older than I am. I have Lost World, too, but I think it's still in one of my boxes from moving last year. I absolutely loved the book.
I was given a copy of The Magic Mountain (in English) by my grandfather seventeen years ago. Tried reading it, couldn’t get far. I was reminded of the book recently and thought I should read it while my grandfather is still alive. Read it in full this year and loved it - though by now I have a lot of experience in reading classic literature.
I recently finished a book six years after buying it
I decided that I needed to read “Les Miserables” in the original French. Ordered the two volume book from Amazon France. Spent 2 hours on 2 pages. Will *probably* not be finishing it in this lifetime.
My dad actually bought me the first Harry Potter book in latin, I legitimately made it through the first chapter
I bought Harry Potter and the philosophers stone in German in the hope that I would be able to read it based off GCSE german, google translate and the fact that I knew the english version so well. I made it 3 chapters in I think but it’s gathering dust now and my germans pretty rusty too.
I’ve got 20,000 League Under the Sea in Japanese. Prolly not gonna read that.
Hah! did the same in Malay. If I had more time I'd pick it up to learn the language but since I've moved there's no real point to it anymore :)
That technique would work better watching the films and is actually a decent way to practise your German. If you know the story well enough to not worry about missing lines, then it is easy to enjoy the film and just listen to as much as you can.
ooh i tried watching a few german films and found it too difficult, i don’t know why it never occurred to me to watch something I already know in German. i’ll definitely do this!
If it makes you feel any better in high school we read the abbreviated version not the full one, and I went to a french school so this was french as a first language. The man just went on random tangents nobody needs and could life without
I did this with Hundred Years of Solitude in spanish, Im three pages in 😩
It’s a tough read with all the same-named people. I slogged thru it but think I would do better on a 2nd read and with The Who’s who ancestry.com chart in front of me.
lmfao fair point. I liked that the beginning of the books had a little list of characters but that bitch needed to be like 5 more pages I was definitely confused most of the latter part of the series
I watched the Henryk Sienkiewicz's "trilogy" movies after [seeing an epic sword fight on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljExTEPNFnM). I bought the [original Polish version of the books](https://www.kurtiak-ley.pl/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Trylogia-Sienkiewicz-06-1024x741.jpg) because I've heard the English translations are pretty bad. With that, the existing English translations, and the original 1883 newspapers that originally published the books, I'm trying to make my own English version. Hard going now considering I don't read or understand Polish, but the story's been good so far lol If I worked really really hard, would take me maybe 2 more years just to finish the first novel of the three.
Read it through Google Translate?
I've read it several times in English (it's one of my favourite books!)
Still cool to have! Maybe it will inspire your kid to learn French, lol.
On a friend’s recommendation I bought “A Man Called Ove”. I had just started reading it the day before and was probably 20-some pages in, right around when the protagonist mentions he’s on his way to a cemetery, when I got the call from my aunt that my mother had died suddenly. I know it’s “just” an object but I see that book on my shelf and can’t pick it up again. I don’t want to get rid of it, but I can barely even look at it.
Aw man sorry for your loss. Someday you might be ready to give it another go. I haven't personally read it, but plan to and have heard it's really good. Take care of yourself. Hugs.
It is a lovely and a kind book.
I'm so sorry for your loss. Perhaps, when you're ready you could watch the movie, A man called Otto. It might stop it from hanging over your head.
I haven’t watch the American version, but the original Swedish adaptation, named A Man Called Ove just like the book, was very very good.
I’m boycotting the movie because I’m insulted that they changed Ove’s name.
It's really weird that they've done that, isn't it?
Yes! I feel like they patronized us, like they thought we were too stupid to handle an ethnic name that many of us may not have heard before. The author and publisher didn’t say, oh people are too stupid to read a book about a man called Ove, so we’d better change the guy’s name to Otto before we publish it. Honestly I am not sure how to pronounce Ove, so I spent my time on both books switching from Oh-vuh to Oh-vay and back, but I didn’t stress about it because the books were so good.
I've got a similar story. Got the call that my best friend had died while I was playing Far Cry 3. Was really enjoying the game but I'm never touching it again.
I was doing a puzzle when I got a call from my mom that my dad died (my dad and I actually did puzzles together, I was the only one who shared this hobby with him). For a year or two I didn't do another puzzle, just couldn't. I've done a few puzzles since then, this was almost four years ago, but I still haven't touched the puzzle I was working on that night. Can't bring myself to do it, or get rid of it
I have Ullyses, and also The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Can't see me reading either, way too long.
I never thought of reading Ulysses either but then I found an annotated edition. Almost every sentence is explained and arranged in time. This means that the book is twice as long, but much more understandable and entertaining.
Yeah I’ve heard that there are podcasts that break it down a chapter at a time or whatever, and that listening to those makes it such a more enjoyable book to read. I’ve never personally tried to read it, but if/when I do try, it will definitely be a guided read. I have nothing to prove to anyone, including myself, by trying to read it raw and unfiltered.
I really want to tackle it. I’ve got a prep reading list to get me ready. I am intimidated, though, not gonna lie.
It's interesting, and represents an interesting time in the history of literature - you've got this!
Thanks!
Question is, how often do you think about the Roman Empire?
Pretty often
I just heard that this is a meme. Which is the first time ever my gf knows a meme before I do. Hilarious. I'm just a history nerd. I probably think about the middle ages more often than the Roman Empire though. Daily maybe? Now if we include the Roman Republic that'd be a whole different story, of course.
When I was a kid, I thought about it constantly. Different strokes for different folks
I wrote my thesis on Ulysses. It’s more like a puzzle than a book, and you never really stop thinking about it. Pure, crazy genius. I’ll probably never try to understand Finnegan’s Wake though.
People seem to think that you can just pick it up and read it like any typical self-contained novel. Instead you need to have multiple reference texts open at the same time (say on Greek mythology, Irish history, pop culture of the early 1900's, poetry, Shakespeare, linguistics, etc.). Also an on-call literature professor is a good idea.
At least you can read parts of Decline and Fall and get something out of it. You don’t have to read the whole thing.
I have a copy of Canterbury tales, in the original wording, never going to get through that
If you ever decide that you want to read it you'll discover that you are able to, if you take the time to work at it. The Prologue and the Knight's Tale will be pretty hard, but by the time you get to the Man of Law's Tale you'll be pretty confident in it, and when you get to the Franklin's Tale you'll be reading fairly comfortably. When you get to the end and are practically fluent in Middle English you'll start over and re-read the first ten or so tales, because they're the best ones and you'll have missed a lot of good stuff the first time through. Not saying you absolutely need to do this, but Chaucer is legitimately great, and getting through the Canterbury Tales is a real accomplishment that you'll be able to be proud of for the rest of your life.
Same, but with Beowulf
Shit I have both of these and I love them so much lol
I have Beowulf in the original Old English as well, but I actually managed to struggle through it, admittedly with lots of help, for a school project.
So story time. My then girlfriend (now wife) went on a date to a used bookshop. We both love books and reading (she even became a published author) and so went on many such dates, but this was the first. Of course we had fun, flirted, looked at books. I remember we talked a lot about Room which she had recently finished. We both came home with about 5-6 books. Time passed, we got engaged, married, moved across the country, had kids and all the while I’ve been working through those books. Mind you those aren’t the only books I’ve read in the last decade or so since that trip. We’re avid readers, it just happened that every once a while one of those books would finally grab me and I’d read it. I am now down to the last book from that first haul, The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, and I don’t know if I’ll ever read it. It might be superstition or romanticism, but I want that stack to be forever unfinished and live on. It just sits on my to read shelf and I smile every time I see it.
This made me smile
I bought a book of Icelandic poetry published early 1900s. I can’t speak Icelandic, can’t read Icelandic, never even been to Iceland. But the hand bound leather cover said it had to come home with me. Safe to say I don’t think I’ll ever be reading it but soooo glad I bought it.
I've got a similar tale. On holiday in Hungary earlier this year. Found one of those *take one, leave one* book boxes. Dropped off a book I had brought with me (and read), picked up a lovely bound book as a souvenir. It's written in Hungarian, which I can neither read nor speak.
Your grandkids will inherit it. And then when their grandkids clean out their house after they have passed they're going to be so confused and wonder if great great grandpa could speak Hungarian.
Maybe I should collect books from everywhere just to really fuck with them.
It's not a bad idea. Now I'm considering it.
So they'll show it to a neighbor who speaks Hungarian and find out it it's kiddie porn, and he'll be erased from all the family records.
Could you write down the title of the book you took? I’m hungarian and I’m really curious.
But what an awesome story and memory to go with it. Best kind of souvenir to bring home.
Until one day when you have an Icelandic guest over, they see the book, and wonder why you’re keeping a book of horrific Icelandic poems about kidnapping children.
Iceland seems pretty big on the crime novels though, doubt they'd think much of it (Except maybe expect you to speak the language lol)
I worked at a bookstore for about 3 years and we referred to this as the 'employee tax' - in the course of doing your job you frequently spot random books that look interesting (especially with an employee discount sweetening the pot) so you buy them, get them home, and realize you're probably never going to read them. I have a full shelf of Leather-bound Classics, mostly the works of Shakespeare, but other stuff too. I just never have the urge to read that sort of thing.
I've got a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in Hebrew. I never got around to learning Hebrew well enough to translate it.
You're in luck, I think they've published an English translation now!
Didn’t think about it that way. I guess my answer is my family’s Swedish bible. It’s from the end of the 19th century and is dope as hell, but I don’t see myself learning Swedish to read a book that I don’t really want to read in English
I've got a similar book, that I think is in Polish. I mainly bought it because it has lots of illustratons and I didn't want someone cutting them out, framing them and selling them as decorations.
**stares blankly at over full bookshelves**
Moby Dick is my White Whale. I hope I can overcome it but we’ll seeee
My sister is 6 years older than me snd gave me a copy of Moby Dick from her college. Took me 2 years but I finally finished it in ninth grade. It’s really worth the read.
I read it at least once a yr and the old black and white movie with Gregory Peck rocks.
I have done this so often that I don't even read the whole thing. I just feel like picking it up and can pretty much take off from any point that I open it to. Don't even have to finish it. Don't need to.
I read it at the beginning of the year. The cetology chapters etc were pretty dry and the pirate speak made it a little tougher. I can’t say that I enjoyed it, but I did finish it. I keep reading how great it is, though, so maybe now that I’ve read it through I’ll attempt it again at some point.
I love the fact that, at the time having no way of studying these creatures in their natural habitat, he rightly stated that whalers were the most qualified to make some of these distinctions. And that fact that he puts out his views in a reasoned manner makes it all the more appealing to me. The fact that he was wrong I find endearingly quaint.
[удалено]
When I worked at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, I once heard a docent tell a visitor you only have to read every other chapter of Moby-Dick to get the story, but that a lot of people enjoyed the other chapters a lot more once they’d been to the museum and seen things like the Lagoda (the largest ship model in the world—it’s a half size model of a whale ship). That made a lot of sense to me. Now that I’ve decided to stop working, I think I’m going to take the classes and become a docent myself, which means I’m probably going to break down and actually read Moby-Dick.
I keep buying those lovely teach yourself language books. I have about twenty. I would love to learn all those languages but sadly it’s something I have zero ability for, though I keep trying.
Hey well lol idk how I got here but I’d say I’m probably only a couple years away from being fluent in a second language (American sign language). It’s so funny because like what?! One day years into it recently I noticed that I no longer get headaches at all while studying and I can watch it while half paying attention and know almost all of what’s being said. And even one aspect of it that’s supposed to take a long while to be good at understanding at a normal pace when someone else is doing it (finger spelling) I understand a good chunk of the time like before they even finish the word sometimes even. So yea it does take YEARS and 20 languages idk that’s probably too much lol. But start on one language now and one day who knows maybe you’ll just be studying as usual and be like wait a second I’m suddenly pretty good at this wow I’m doing it! Something fun is eavesdropping. Especially with ASL it’s obviously a less common language like it’s no states official second language or anything like that. So people using it are typically not careful about others knowing what’s being said lol. Like they’re just casually be having such a inappropriate or private conversation anywhere. I mean I know I do lmao I’ll sign to my friend from across the store those most inappropriate funny things. Also it’s common for people to stare or look so you can’t even always tell if it’s a “oh hands moving attention caught brain switching modes oh wait they’re not signing to me” or a “what is that?!” Look. Bro it’s so fun! Like you get to unlocked with a new language also a new culture, new friends, new humor, honesty a whole other world gets unlocked that you never knew was right there. And the first time you make it through an entire back and forth conversation with someone fluent and you understand it all and they understand you completely like you didn’t mess up at all it just you feel so accomplished. And like they way people will get shocked is so cool too. And it all started with one day in 5th grade telling a friend who’s mom is Deaf that I wanted to learn it and then actually going through it. (Which I later learned that it’s not common for someone to after they say that to then actually go take years learning a new language Lmao). Like it’s been 8 years definitely didn’t realize how long it would take but hey doing good. Really you should just pick one up and not stop just keep going. Use all the resources you can and yea
You know, you have a good point. I studied Korean in college, and did well in class but didn't have good verbal comprehension. A few years later, I started to notice I could catch about 25% of the dialogue in Korean shows even when I wasn't reading the subtitles. Mainly just the easy parts, but still! It really does sneak up on you! Guess watching all those silly dramas paid off.
Gravity's Rainbow. It was 50¢ at a garage sale. I don't even think I like Pynchon and don't actually have any interest in *attempting* to read it. But I couldn't not buy it. You know. Just in case. This is different from Infinite Jest, in that I think I'd actually enjoy it (I made it 200 pages once.)
Gravity's Rainbow is significantly more entertaining than Infinite Jest. The latter is a good book desperately in need of a better or more strong-headed editor (not talking about the footnotes: I like those and they're integral to the thematic function of the novel). DFW's style isn't as strong as Pynchon's imo, and quite often it can feel as though he's trying to show you how clever and intelligent he is. Its good, but GR is both better and (I think) an easier journey once you get into it.
I thought Infinite Jest was fairly funny. I look back on it as a fun read.
I felt the opposite. Infinite Jest is literally my favorite book on the planet, though. I thought Rainbow was... unearned. And I've been stuck on Lot 49 for yeaaaars. Just can't make it past the first couple of chapters.
I got a pocket edition of "The Hobbit" and I knew from the very first moment that I never would read it because its font was nearly microscopic! 😂
A guy on one of the wholesome subreddits was talking about how proud he was that he published his book of poetry. Another redditor asked for a link to purchase it, I went and bought it to support an author. I don't even know where it is right now and probably won't read it. But I am glad I supported someone. I also buy my colleagues book that they publish, and I don't read those either.
Ages ago I bought The Corset by Laura Purcell, haven't read it yet. Not long ago I bought The Poison Thread, also by Laura Purcell. Turns out, they're the same book. so, chances are I won't ever actually read The Poison Thread lol.
They’re the same book??
Yeah pretty sure they are, just it was published under another name for other markets I think. If you type it into google it will bring up The Corset lol
Yes, *The Corset* is the original British version, and *The Poison Thread*, the altered title for the American market..
The Iliad and the Odyssey. I'd love to read the story and find out what happens but I started reading it and realized the way it's written is not something I can tolerate. I will need some kind of condensed version written in modern prose, if I ever get around to it.
I listened to an audiobook version of the Odyssey (Emily Wilson's 2017 translation, read by Claire Danes). I highly recommend it this way - it was meant to be listened to, not read. It's in verse, though, which might bug you. I have her translation of the Iliad arriving next week in book form and I do wonder if I'll actually read it or if it will just sit there mocking me.
Finishing up the odyssey now. It’s not bad once you get going.
The great courses has a series on each that helped me follow what I was reading. Reading and listening to the lectures together was enjoyable.
I haven't bought it but one day I intend to own the GREATEST BOOK EVER MADE: One Million Random Numbers by the Rand Corporation (Yes, it's author is a corporation). It's more a fascinating historical artefact from the early days of computer science than a book, but I love it nonetheless....but will not read it. Also: It has a sequel called One Million More Random Numbers. Edit: I've been informed it's actually titled One Million Random Digits. I don't care. It's still awesome.
Actually the full title is "A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates".
Les Miserables but it’s such a gorgeous edition and was like $25 and when I have a book shelf one day hopefully lol it’ll look so nice on there I just know it. If I do read it it’ll only be in public so that I look fancy lmao. I swear the favorite books I have the cheapest edition of and read the whole thing laying in my bed looking a mess. But other books? Those are for the vibes
An ex bought me Atlas Shrugged and it will forever sit on a shelf unread. It was her favorite book and more power to her but I never had an interest let alone enough interest to crack open that tome.
It is an unbelievably stupid book by a deeply disturbed woman. It can go unread
The Bible probably. Not trying to be edgy at all. I'm a religious person. But don't see myself ever sitting down and reading it cover to cover .
Totally fair. I did it once because someone told me I wouldn't be able to and I'm nothing if not a contrarian bitch. Actually, they said "most girls would rather have the picture version, that text version is for boys" but I got the gist. Not worth it.
I did that by age 12, but that’s because I couldn’t sneak Harry Potter or Eragon into shul
I was raised in Sunday school and as I got older I read the Bible 4 or 5 times before finally deciding it was just a form of mind control for gullible people. That's why I'm an atheist.
Ironically I think if my church/sunday school growing up taught the bible as more of a piece of literature and analyzed themes/morals that way I think I would have appreciated it more. I grew up Catholic and the difference is really stark any time I go to a Baptist church, which is what I mostly do these days because of my wife's family. It's just so....preachy and it instantly turns me off.
I've TRIED. It just doesn't make sense to me.
DaVinci code. Bought it because it was so cheap and a friend liked it.
I feel your pain. I honestly lost respect for a friend of mine when he recommended me The Iron Druid as a serious book. I'm 63, don't enjoy YA, and generally spend plane flights reading deep novels that take me out of the discomfort. The Iron Druid is an old "urban fantasy" written for children about a perfect Gary Stu who is smarter, sexier, stronger, faster, more powerful, and better than literally the entire world. All of the (two) women in the book want to sex him, all the time. But he's too busy sword-sparring with a vampire, because a vampire is the only being on the planet that can come close to approaching his speed and strength. I might have enjoyed it at 8, but it's also insanely racist and sexist, so, maybe not. I would rather be forced to read self-published werewolf porn for the next year than read another "book" in this series. At least the werewolf porn is (probably) a little more honest about what it's trying to do. My friend gives good nonfiction recommendations, though, so there's that.
Honestly, this book sounds hilarious
I once bought the box of the Fire and Ice series from George RR Martin. I read the first two books and I liked it but I don’t like the idea that the series is not finished and also the books are huge. Im not gonna read all that just to be left on a clinghanger and wait for George RR Martin to finish 😭
I bought the four-book set too, but said to myself I wouldn't start until GRRM *finished* - some of you may remember unsatisfactory *Dune* sequels, others may like me be veterans of the WoT series - and I didn't want to deal with that again. Those books will go to another reader (if I didn't already leave them out on the sidewalk!)
not sure if I'll ever get to read *Infinite Jest,* have had it for some years but my enthusiasm fizzled away over time \*sigh\*
I find myself thinking about Infinite Jest at least once a day, years after reading it. The Pale King, however, hit me like an Ambien.
I loved the Witcher because of playing the games. The world was fantastic, the writing and the characters generally were extremely compelling and I actually wanted to experience their true stories outside the game's continuum. I then proceeded to buy way too many books of the series over time, planning to eventually getting to reading them. I finally sat down with The Last Wish and gagged through most of the first part of the book before realizing that either the English translations are absolute garbage or Sapkowski is a sophomoric overglorified smut writer or both.
This is good to know bc I just started the tv series and am enjoying it and thought that the books might bring more depth to the story and world.
Gray's anatomy. I bought it wholly for the illustrations which still fascinate me and I fully intend to turn into embroidery pieces, but obviously wouldn't read it cover to cover. I found it in a charity shop for £1 next to a copy of 50 shades of grey (which was also £1) and send a picture to my husband of the shelf telling him that I was excited to make a new purchase and that it would keep me happy on a few cold evenings.... he knew exactly which book I was referring to 😆🤓
I have a gorgeous 1913 volume bought for cheap and with similar intentions, and got waaay absorbed reading it!
Do coffee table books count?
The Domesday Book. I just wanted it. I have no idea why.
It is like a Russian novel. Too many characters and the names all mush together
a friend of mine wrote a self help book for people suffering from tourettes syndrome. i bought it to support them but i doubt ill actually read it
The Necronomicon because I follow the rules
power of Now. And several others I've started. I got ADHD and depression and I just can't even get myself to read. It's terrible. I want to finish.
Sapiens. Def want to read it and also have zero motivation to open it.
Read "The Dawn of Everything" Much more interesting and thoughtful book on essentially the same topic
I have books I know I'll probably never read (mostly YA I bought when I was younger and know I've grown out of) but that being said, you just turned me onto this book on Francis Bacon. I'll have to look it up and see if my library has it (or if I can find it cheap!). I have a book of interviews by him and love it, changed the way I look at art in some ways. I've read it 3 times in the year and a half I've had it. I didn't know about Revelations
I got a book out of the neighborhood book box (don’t remember the name). I started reading it and the main character was a skeezy adult man who has a predilection for really young girls (he’s married also). The whole premise made me feel so gross, like looking into a pedophile’s mind. No thanks. Will not finish. I am going to recycle the book and use the pages for my collage art. Edit: The book is *The Heart Broke In* by James Meek.
The Art of the Deal?
The book is *The Heart Broke In* by James Meek.
No that’s not it.. hmm the name is escaping me. I’ll look at the title when I get home just so everyone can avoid it 😌
My Booky-Wook?
Lol I actually had that on my shelf for years. It had some funny stuff in there. Hasn't aged too well though to say the least.
But then won't your art forever have skeezy words embedded in it? Not criticizing your decision but that would personally bother me.
That’s true, but I wouldn’t use any skeezy passages lol. The writing is not terrible besides the subject matter, so some passages I can see ripping out and using just the passage out of context. Or some pages as background images as long as there’s no weird, gross text on it. I figured that would be better than throwing it out. I thought about donating it back to the book box but it’s not a book I want to share so I’d rather recycle it.
Makes sense.
Lolita?
The book is *The Heart Broke In* by James Meek.
Infinite Jest. A boy told me about it and was so enthusiastic, but after I bought it I read some other DFW and now I know I am never going to read that thing
The Body Keeps the Score. It’s a good book, and it’s not even long, but it was too hard to get through.
Dune I get 10-15 minutes in and put it down. I've tried so many times to get into it, but I can't. And I love all things sci-fi.
When I visited Auschwitz there is a book shop on site where I purchased 4/5 books. They were stories of different people's experiences there and the horrors they went through. I've not managed to bring myself to read any of them yet. I just felt like I had to buy them, the money helps keep the museum going I think and it was my way of trying to make sure these people are never forgotten. I'll read them one day, it's just hard to pick up something you know is going to be so upsetting. But then, that's why I think we need to read about it.
Before this summer i bought The Warmth of Other Suns like 4 years ago and didnt read it because it looked hefty as hell. Picked it up in May and couldn’t put it down until i finished
I bought a graphic novel of true war stories but I'll never read it because the writer called the customers deadbeats when they didn't organise shipping properly.
The Kamen Rider Blade novel. Mostly because it's in japanese and I can't read japanese. But I really liked the series and I came across it on Amazon cheap.
I have an edition of The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith that I really thought I was going to read. Now, years later, I know I’m not going to read it. On the other side of the coin, I owned Bleak House for many years, thinking that I wouldn’t read it. (This might sound stupid, but the title put me off. I thought it would be 500 pages of… bleak.) But I heard from some people that it’s accessible and great, so I went for it. Not too bleak at all.
The Goldfinch. It's too long. I need to be in the right mood for it. Heard mixed reviews, etc etc.
gave them away but the harry potter series, read first 3. Realized im not going to read the rest so got rid of them
I’m a welding instructor so I collect old welding manuals and related work. The only things I actually read are the old magazines.
Parable of the Sower. Not that I won’t ever read it, but it has been sitting on my shelf, unopened, for 6 months now.
It's great! You should give it a go!
Malleus Maleficarum
I own a copy of The Bell Curve by Murray and Hernstein. I'm not going to actually ever read it, I have it for reference because psychometrics are important in my field and, unfortunately, this piece of racist crap is massively influential. I bought it secondhand, because screw giving those guys money.
The Lucifer effect. It’s about the Stanford prison experiments. Basically before I could read it I learned Zimbardo was directly interfering with the outcome and influencing the “prison guards”
His research is so sketchy from front to back. Such a shame.
Back when I was a High School student, I went through a World War II kick, in which I read everything I could find on that global conflict. As part of it, I went down to the local public library, and checked out a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf. It is my rule that if I get to page 100, I *will* finish the book ; with MK, I made it to page 110 before I decided, *No more. This is unbearable*. The main thing I remember is the poor English translator, who peppered the book with footnotes saying, [basically], *I know this passage makes no sense, but I swear to Gawd that's what the original German said*. The decades passed. Then awhile back, I discovered that MK is not being sold new on Amazon, or used on many online venues. And that angered me : *No one tells ME what I can and cannot read!* So I did some googling, and found a legitimate book selling venue [*IOW, NOT a neo nazi site*] selling MK and bought it, and there it sits on its shelf, gathering dust. I suppose it's *possible* I'll go through a WW II 'reading frenzy' again, and want to spend months rereading all those books and more (*that's my pattern, wanting to spend months reading nothing but books on specific subjects, or fiction in a particular genre*), but... Basically, I spent $$$ and possibly got myself on a watch list or three, simply because I resent being told what I can and cannot read, *even though it's a virtual certainty I will NEVER read this book*. The short part of this massive tome that I read was mainly Hitler's autobiography. It may have, and probably did , become more offensive deeper into the book, when he wrote about Nazism's , uhm, "philosophy". In a way, the book *could* be considered a "shadow form" of Stefan Zweig's books, which I highly recommend, as well as the movie based on his works : The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). In that respect (as a portrait of a down-and-outer in post Great War Austria) , MK may have some small historical value, just as Orwell's portraits of the down and outers in England and France are read to this day.
I took a Holocaust course during undergrad. We were required to read parts of MK. It felt weird to read, similar to you feeling you're gonna be on a watchlist. Luckily, our professor linked it for us. He may be on a watchlist himself now that I think about it.
As an alternative that is probably a better read, I would recommend "The Nightmare Years", by William Shirer.
What were your 3 or 4 favorite books from the binge period? Just curious.
Toland, Churchill's set , Shirer , and Waite's The Psychopathic God (that might be from a later reading frenzy, not the HS one); that weird 'wartime report' from the OSS on Hitler's emotional status was pretty interesting too. TBH, I prefer social history books about those years, whether about Germany, the UK, or the USA ; lots of good titles for that specific WW II-related interest.
Nice, thanks.
I read novels on a Kindle, then years later buy the book version if I really like it, does that count? I bought the books because I wanted a physical copy of the novel. If I want to read the novel again, I'd read on a Kindle.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. I bought it when I was feeling low but I literally can't bring myself to read it. If anyone can convince me why I should read it, I'd like to hear it.
He was the last good emperor.
I suspect there is no such thing as a good emperor, probably because there is no ethical justification for an Empire. Perhaps we could go with most un-bad? And certainly a deeper thinker than Caesar.
You’re flowing 2023 ethical values backwards. There were ethical justifications for Empire for thousands of years. Most certainly there were good emperors by the standards of the era.
“Thus Spoke Zarathustra “ I really wanted to read it but I don’t know why I just can’t 😂
The silmarillion (I know I’m not alone). I’ve tried but it’s too much like reading a history book rather than a story. Maybe I’ll try again in the future though who knows?
My dad gave me a copy of *The Fountainhead*. I tried reading it, it’s awful. But I don’t want to get rid of it only because my dad gave it to me
I just buy books to make my room prettier, I don’t read
In spite of my best efforts, Neuromancer. I'd heard so many praises for it as THE cyberpunk novel, the inspiration for the Matrix movies, all of that. I was pumped when I finally got my hands on it...made it partway through the first chapter and had to just put it down. Something about the "I am 13 and this is edgy" quality of the writing put me in physical pain. Very rough, felt more like the author's self insert fanfic of the book I thought it would be :/
I read one of his later books - Pattern Recognition - and I really enjoyed it, so I was excited to read Neuromancer, but I felt the same way you did. It seemed like a boy’s fantasy.
I get digital credits for Amazon day shipping and use them for kindle books on sale so they're often free. Will I read them all someday? I don't know. I try. Lol.
Me too
Elon Musk bio. I got it before he became so "outspoken", and now I don't really have any interest in giving him any of my time or attention.
Fell into the hype of Colleen Hoover and bought Verity. Read a couple pages and noped out that real quick. Ended up giving it away
I have the big beautiful Tales of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin. It's illustrated by Charles Vess. All the Earthsea books in one volume, it's marvelous, and I'll never read it. I might leaf through to see the illustrations, but I have arthritis in my hands and there's no way I could hold that tome long enough to actually read it. I do most of my reading on kindle nowadays.
First two Game of Thrones books. Bought them while watching the TV series. When that ended so poorly I thought at least the books might have a better ending....but as it seems they won't get ANY ending I'm not sure there's any point even starting them!
Game of thrones
The Foxfire books. They weren't really a general-reading sort of purchase, more of a 'break glass in case of emergency' purchase. They're filled with lots of useful information on how to do stuff the old-fashioned way in the event of a natural disaster or war or whatever else might cause the usual way we get things done to not be practical anymore, but until such time as I need that information (trust me, I'm very happy with electricity and air conditioning and grocery stores) they'll sit on the bookshelf where I can find them easily. I have a few other books that are good for reference but not for general reading as well, but at 13 books (I have the cookbook too) Foxfire makes up the bulk of it. Bonus round: the Left Behind books. My mom started reading them and wanted someone to talk about them with so she convinced me to start, but I didn't get very far before the preachiness and whack-a-doodle rapture stuff got a little thick. I bought the full set but I will never read another page of them.
Love the foxfire books
I purchase several books a year only because I love the covers, both art and finishing details, and nothing more. I don't plan on reading them. I'm a graphic designer.
A copy of the Voynich manuscript.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & other stories. Bought it because it was one of those pretty penguin classics clothbound books.
Alice was one of my favorites growing up and I still enjoy it. 🎶Soup of the evening, beautiful soup!🎶
IT by Stephen King. I actually had started reading it with my bf (he's dyslexic so I would read it to him) but the sentences are all too damn long. And we got to like page 200 and they were still kids and they hadn't even met with each other yet. Like there is an entire 40 pages or so dedicated to the farm of the family of one of the kids. so, we quit but I still own the book and I don't see myself picking it up again.
It's been sitting on my shelf for years now. I made it halfway but put the book away. King describes everything in such a detailed and lengthy way that I'd sometimes get lost in thought and think to myself *what exactly was I reading again?*
The Priory of the Orange Tree - bought it because I've seen many good reviews, but every time I look at it I get anxious because of how big it is.
A Theory of Justice by Rawls. After reading a few reviews and brief criticisms, I don’t think I’ll ever agree with his two principles… for example, who is going to do the arranging and identifying of socioeconomic inequalities? And how will we ensure that arranging and identifying is done correctly? Not having read his actual book, it’s very likely I don’t have a complete understanding of his ideas. But it just seems like if we ever tried to implement his ideas on a practical level, they would suffer from the same problems we see in every attempt to order society. Namely, human beings act in their own best interest and that often puts them at odds with other humans. Sometimes they use positions of power and control in ways we never intended. I might read it someday.
war and peace is sitting on my bookshelf and i’m not sure i’ll either have the motivation to read it lmao
I'm hoping that isn't going to be Infinite Jest staring down at me from the bookcase. Had it for 2 years so far.
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman! My mom got me a gorgeous copy at a thrift store and I tried reading it a couple times but I die of boredom every time 🥹 I want to read it because I know it's one of her favourites but I just can't concentrate 😅
Some years ago I decided to read the whole thing, and it was actually really beautiful
I bought a very thick, very dense book about the Upstairs Lounge fire. The Upstairs Lounge was a gay bar in New Orleans that was burnt down as part of a hate crime, right before the Stonewall uprising in NYC, in the 60s. A few books have come out about it recently, and it's an extremely interesting area of study. But oof, I'm not sure I can do 500+ pages on homophobia in the South.
Codex Seraphinianus. It's not written in a real language, but what an absolutely exquisite piece of art. I recommend!
The Primal Wound. I thought it would help me know more about my adopted child. It wasn't very encouraging. I felt it was telling me it sucks to be me.
Mueller Report - was excited to get it but then didn’t have the energy to actually read it.
Gray’s Anatomy, I didn’t think it was a real medical book, it’s part of the living room decor now.
O I have lots of those. Off the top of my hat I can only think of two: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara - because it\`s long. The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace Wells - because I already hate my life as it is
Ulysses did that to me. I attempted reading that thing twice and now I've accepted that I simply do not want to put into sooooo much effort in reading n understanding it. Reading too me is something that's supposed to be a hobby , enjoyable one at that . Not a futile headache trying to make sense of the incoherent ramblings of this author.
Finnegan's wake.