,

List here those books that you found difficult even to apprehend, let alone comprehend.
1

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3.68 avg rating — 13,738 ratings
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2

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3.76 avg rating — 139,667 ratings
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3

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3.97 avg rating — 20,769 ratings
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4

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4.02 avg rating — 49,206 ratings
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5

by
3.96 avg rating — 43,229 ratings
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6

by
4.05 avg rating — 28,259 ratings
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7

by
4.25 avg rating — 103,322 ratings
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8

by
3.99 avg rating — 48,585 ratings
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9

by
3.92 avg rating — 5,433 ratings
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10

by
4.10 avg rating — 22,714 ratings
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11

by
3.46 avg rating — 99,598 ratings
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12

by
3.86 avg rating — 198,404 ratings
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13

by
3.99 avg rating — 35,475 ratings
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14

by
3.97 avg rating — 5,373 ratings
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15

by
3.64 avg rating — 166,156 ratings
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16

by
4.18 avg rating — 8,868 ratings
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17

by
4.22 avg rating — 11,282 ratings
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18

by
4.09 avg rating — 175,691 ratings
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19

by
3.81 avg rating — 219,545 ratings
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20

by
4.29 avg rating — 53,189 ratings
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21

by
4.07 avg rating — 180,111 ratings
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22

by
4.39 avg rating — 399,308 ratings
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23

by
3.57 avg rating — 624,364 ratings
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24

by
4.34 avg rating — 14,298 ratings
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25

by
3.89 avg rating — 51,879 ratings
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26

by
4.03 avg rating — 3,407 ratings
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27

by
3.84 avg rating — 82,250 ratings
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28

by
3.84 avg rating — 1,217,454 ratings
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29

by
3.69 avg rating — 99,600 ratings
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30

by
4.17 avg rating — 371,310 ratings
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31

by
3.43 avg rating — 566,260 ratings
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32

by
4.19 avg rating — 7,514 ratings
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33

by
3.91 avg rating — 240,523 ratings
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34

by
3.91 avg rating — 309,836 ratings
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35

by
3.93 avg rating — 520,472 ratings
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36

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,946,243 ratings
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37

by
3.97 avg rating — 25,682 ratings
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38

by
4.21 avg rating — 852,418 ratings
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39

by
4.03 avg rating — 116,841 ratings
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40

by
3.76 avg rating — 27,208 ratings
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41

by
4.15 avg rating — 12,856 ratings
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42

by
4.01 avg rating — 104,226 ratings
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43

by
4.33 avg rating — 7,125 ratings
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44

by
4.10 avg rating — 21,773 ratings
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45

by
4.26 avg rating — 3,897 ratings
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46

by
4.02 avg rating — 15,614 ratings
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47

by
3.86 avg rating — 185,100 ratings
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48

by
4.27 avg rating — 572 ratings
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49

by
3.61 avg rating — 453,611 ratings
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50

by
3.18 avg rating — 11 ratings
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51

by
3.69 avg rating — 409,430 ratings
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52

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7,935 ratings
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53

by
4.11 avg rating — 7,474 ratings
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54

by
4.40 avg rating — 81,150 ratings
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55

by
4.28 avg rating — 433,483 ratings
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56

by
4.11 avg rating — 947,753 ratings
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57

by
4.06 avg rating — 107,725 ratings
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58

by
4.17 avg rating — 214 ratings
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59

by
4.03 avg rating — 23,918 ratings
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60

by
4.09 avg rating — 206,074 ratings
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61

by
3.92 avg rating — 39,763 ratings
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62

by
3.77 avg rating — 37,258 ratings
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63

by
3.65 avg rating — 16,384 ratings
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64

by
4.21 avg rating — 6,485 ratings
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65

by
3.59 avg rating — 17,432 ratings
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66

by
3.53 avg rating — 239,737 ratings
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67

by
3.84 avg rating — 225,476 ratings
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68

by
3.67 avg rating — 2,894,476 ratings
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69

by
4.13 avg rating — 1,933,885 ratings
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70

by
4.17 avg rating — 605,025 ratings
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71

by
3.77 avg rating — 364,612 ratings
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72

by
3.82 avg rating — 3,804 ratings
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73

by
3.94 avg rating — 14,603 ratings
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74

by
3.81 avg rating — 277 ratings
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75

by
4.22 avg rating — 50,253 ratings
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76

by
4.18 avg rating — 48,786 ratings
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77

by
3.88 avg rating — 145,763 ratings
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78

by
4.18 avg rating — 22 ratings
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79

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7,564 ratings
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80

by
3.82 avg rating — 429 ratings
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81

by
4.07 avg rating — 3,203 ratings
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82

by
4.10 avg rating — 1,944 ratings
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83

by
4.32 avg rating — 3,883 ratings
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84

by
3.77 avg rating — 12,456 ratings
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85

by
2.81 avg rating — 88 ratings
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86

by
4.07 avg rating — 1,340 ratings
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87

by
3.59 avg rating — 239,525 ratings
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88

by
4.09 avg rating — 12,475 ratings
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89

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,364 ratings
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90

by
4.17 avg rating — 10,367 ratings
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91

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,467 ratings
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92

by
4.10 avg rating — 1,497 ratings
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92

by
4.01 avg rating — 271,479 ratings
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94

by
3.94 avg rating — 27,390 ratings
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95

by
4.26 avg rating — 277 ratings
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96

by
3.72 avg rating — 25,763 ratings
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97

by
3.98 avg rating — 213 ratings
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97

by
3.50 avg rating — 351,170 ratings
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99

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,364,958 ratings
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100

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 32,370 ratings
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260 books · 364 voters · list created November 3rd, 2009 by Thom Dunn (votes) .
323 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Thom 6022 books
293 friends
Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) 546 books
365 friends
Caitlin 965 books
44 friends
Antoine 949 books
177 friends
Richard 1723 books
315 friends
Mary M 69 books
17 friends
Tara 2334 books
192 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3388 books
851 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-25 of 25 (25 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Should we also include books that we could not discern, capiche, appreciate, absorb, assimilate, catch, fathom, get, make out, perceive, take in, or cognize?


message 2: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn Lobstergirl wrote: "Should we also include books that we could not discern, capiche, appreciate, absorb, assimilate, catch, fathom, get, make out, perceive, take in, or cognize?"

All of the above.


message 3: by [deleted user] (new)

What about remember? ;-)

teasing, Alice


message 4: by Lachlan (new)

Lachlan Lot 49 is Small-Time


message 5: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn Lachlan wrote: "Lot 49 is Small-Time"

Lot 49 is the Word of God !! .... gods ?


message 6: by Lachlan (new)

Lachlan many god


message 7: by Nicolaus (new)

Nicolaus Stengl only read 4 of the 84 books :(


message 8: by Tom (new)

Tom THE CRYING OF LOT 49 is difficult?


message 9: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn Tom wrote: "THE CRYING OF LOT 49 is difficult?"

I don't think so. A bit bizarre, but quite clearly stated.


message 10: by Marianinna (new)

Marianinna twilight is not difficult, is stupid


message 11: by David (new)

David HEART OF DARKNESS?! It's like 60 pages of plain English! Perhaps a bit symbolic, but very easy to read!


message 12: by Ivan (new)

Ivan Difficult?! Are you joking me.
Some of this books we had to read in secondary school.


message 13: by Donna (new)

Donna Davis So to be clear, we are voting on books according to their difficulty level, regardless of whether or not we liked them? Because I got pissed at Joyce during my reading of Ulysses, but would gladly vote that it was a hard read.


message 14: by [deleted user] (new)

not to be a dismissive, condescending prick, but is gilead really 'really, really difficult'?


message 15: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn Donna wrote: "So to be clear, we are voting on books according to their difficulty level, regardless of whether or not we liked them? Because I got pissed at Joyce during my reading of Ulysses, but would gladly ..."

Yes, any book you personally found difficult to plow your way through.


message 16: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj Twilight is the MOST difficult book to read, for this particular audience. Should be promoted right to the top.


message 17: by cabmok (new)

cabmok Lobstergirl wrote: "Should we also include books that we could not discern, capiche, appreciate, absorb, assimilate, catch, fathom, get, make out, perceive, take in, or cognize?"

Isn't a question of being ready, rather ?


message 18: by Jacob (new)

Jacob Fight Club is harder than William T. Vollmann or David Foster Wallace? Give me a break.


message 19: by Siisso (new)

Siisso Frankenstein? Huh!?


message 20: by Farhad (new)

Farhad Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey, so goodreads community is actually 4chan, 9gag community in hiding?


message 21: by Daniel (new)

Daniel Wieser Why is 50 Shades of Grey in this list, before Spinoza and Badiou? Am I missing something?


message 22: by Halvor (Raknes) (new)

Halvor (Raknes) Daniel wrote: "Why is 50 Shades of Grey in this list, before Spinoza and Badiou? Am I missing something?"

Daniel, people will vote for books that they have read, so if someone adds an inapplicable book people who have read it will vote for it. At least I suppose that is the reason why.


message 23: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Oct 11, 2020 02:58PM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Daniel wrote: "Why is 50 Shades of Grey in this list, ...? Am I missing something?"

I personally don't think 50 Shades belongs on this "REALLY, REALLY DIFFICULT BOOKS" list either. It badly written, but difficult? Nah... But that's personal :-)


message 24: by Liam (last edited Oct 11, 2020 02:42PM) (new)

Liam Who the hell voted for Atlas Shrugged on here? It's not a hard read if you just turn off your brain like Rand did when she wrote it.


message 25: by Ifer (new)

Ifer S So…?
I might not be any kind of scholar, but I’m not comfortable naming manny of these books as being “difficult”. In most cases i would suggest some pre-reading, or background information would be helpful.
For example, some knowledge of historical figures and what they had been known for, before reading Alighieri, Homer, etc?🤷🏻‍♀️
Nothing too crazy.

With that note; there are other titles which have no business being remotely associated with this list…
It’s vaguely insulting to see.
But more significantly, it’s alarming!
If this is a reflection of modern standards, thats a whole other dythopia…😰


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