it doesn’t have to be your favorite book or anything. It can be any book that you find yourself thinking of with a sense of pride for having read it.

Personally, I am really proud of myself for not DNFing A Little Life and pushing forward. I read a very good chunk of that book with tears running down my face–mind you, I was reading it on my phone during lectures for the entirety of my first semester last year–and I was always on the verge of putting it down just because of the horrible content. Also, it was pretty long; too long, actually. So when I was done, I was simultaneously Heartbroken, broken (just like in general), and relieved. It was truly a feat.

An honorable mention is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, because I swear to God I did not understand a single thing about it even 10 chapters in. Charles Dickens is too much.

  • QuellDisquiet@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. I had to read it for uni. Hardest book I’ve ever read

    • YourPureSexcellence@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Just bought thrift copies or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dublineers yesterday for a dollar each. Popped open Dublineers and it seems straightforward. APOTAAAYM is really that tough? I wanted to start it after finishing Heart or Darkness.

    • QuinnCrux@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      If that was a grind for you in British Lit, be glad the prof didn’t assign Finnegans Wake.

      • Ok-Sprinklez@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        There is a book club, in California I believe, that has been meeting for 25 years to discuss only this book. It was recently published in the newspaper. I applaud their commitment.

      • AquaStarRedHeart@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        I got a lit degree in Texas in the mid-late 2000s and I had to read Joyce AND Finnegan’s Wake. Good times.

    • D3athRider@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      That’s weird, I remember Portrait being fairly straight forward. Read it for an Irish Lit class and absolutely adored it. One of the books that had a profound impact on me at the time. I last read it in 2006 or 2007, but left a lasting impression.

    • Qualia_1@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I came here waiting to see Joyce mentioned! I’ve been a big fan since my teenage, don’t ask me why. I loved A Portrait. Ulysses is a masterpiece that I keep coming back to. Finnegans Wake, I’ve read it piece by piece, over the years. It’s a book that always fascinated me, not that I’d pretend to really understand it, but the stylistic tour de force is enough to keep me interested.