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.
Don’t get me wrong, I truly admire you dedication, but the idea of having to get through 300 pages of slog in order to reach the good bits is so insane to me. I’ve been meaning to pick up Infinite Jest for years now, but every time I hear something about it from people who’ve actually finished it–even if they liked it–just makes me so discouraged, lol.
That’s totally fair and I get that. What I’ll add is that “the slog” is well-written and interesting, it’s just that none of it appears cohesive for a long time. You find yourself thinking, “What does any of this have to do with a larger narrative?” It does have a larger narrative, but my memory is that it takes approximately 300 pages for you to get it.
Agree wholeheartedly - it may be a slog from a perspective of understanding how everything is connected, but the writing is electric the whole way through