Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Use this space to discuss books you're reading or that might fit the 1st Read Harder task.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo! it's so long!

Laura Cort wrote: "Les Miserables by Victor Hugo! it's so long!" haha same here

Priority of the Orange Tree is what I'm choosing for this one.

Sarum. It is taking me forever. I read some and then put it aside.

My first thought was an anti-racism book, but that's category 2.

Maybe The Tale of Genji?

If the book you're intimidated to read is a classic that's freely available, I can recommend the Serial Reader app.

It breaks down novels into chunks of 10-20 minutes of reading time, and tells you how long it will take to read the whole thing. (If I start Anna Karenina today, I'll finish on May 15.)

I will finally read War and Peace.

I'm doing this right now with 2312--so long and the plot is a little tenuous but very immersive. Will have to think more about what else I think of as "intimidating" for 2021

Kelsey wrote: "I'm doing this right now with 2312--so long and the plot is a little tenuous but very immersive. Will have to think more about what else I think of as "intimidating" for 2021"
I'll go with this one from the Red Mars from the same author, on my TBR for a long long time now

Finally time for Ulysses!!

1Q84 has been staring me down from my TBR pile for years now.

Laura Cort wrote: "Les Miserables by Victor Hugo! it's so long!"

This will probably also be what I end up using

Is this the year I finally read In Search of Lost Time? Maybe...

Eames wrote: "Is this the year I finally read In Search of Lost Time? Maybe..."

I may just go with Swann's Way for the challenge.

I think I will finally go past chapter 1 of Lolita

Also considering The Anatomy of Melancholy which could work for Task 23 - A book demystifying a common mental illness.

A few friends want to buddy read War and Peace, so that seems like a pretty obvious choice for me.

House of Leaves

by
Mark Z. Danielewski

This book has such great reviews. I bought it went it came out and have let it sit for years without reading it. Over 700 pages!

A Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wild

I think I'll pick this one since I've always wanted to read this book, but have always been intimidated by it.

another for les Misérables- in French !

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. It's almost as long as Les Miserables.

Maryam wrote: "Laura Cort wrote: "Les Miserables by Victor Hugo! it's so long!" haha same here"

I read this in high school when the musical was big, and I'm here to tell you now, as a professional librarian, you can get an abridged version and still get the full story, and you should. Maybe not Jean Valjean - that cuts out too much. But there are other abridged versions and presumably they just cut out all the rambling off onto tangents about French politics.

T.M wrote: "I think I will finally go past chapter 1 of Lolita"

I might go with this one also... I have never even started it!

Anyone else thinking about tackling Infinite Jest?

I don’t know how to reply to another users comment but I immediately thought of Infinite Jest for this one!

I'm thinking The Hobbit!

The Fall of Gondolin Tolkien's writing is super dense, and I know I'm gonna cry about Glorfindel, but it had to happen sooner or later.

I'll either read Infinite Jest or 1Q84.

Sean wrote: "1Q84 has been staring me down from my TBR pile for years now."

This is my longest book ala popsugar advanced prompt. Somebody is going to force me to read this book. :). It is supposed to be amazing.

Does the Berne Brown books count? I get uncomfortable even thinking of reading self help

I’m not sure about this one, because books aren’t intimidating to me. Maybe I’ll try to read something short in Spanish?

I am going with Mason & Dixon I think. I started it a couple months ago, but with US Election brain drain I gave up fairly early on. 2021 is a new year and I am hoping I regain enough brain function to read Pynchon again.

For me, the book that intimidates me is The Queen of The Night by Alexander Chee. It sits on my shelf and watches me........

The Second Sex - picked up a used copy a few months ago and have just been eyeing it - very excited to give a try!

Anna wrote: "If the book you're intimidated to read is a classic that's freely available, I can recommend the Serial Reader app.

It breaks down novels into chunks of 10-20 minutes of reading time, and tells y..."

Thanks for this tip. I hadn't heard about this app. It's perfect for those long, scary reads!

- Somehow I keep putting this one off. It's time!

I am going to try for .

Alli wrote: "I am going to try for ."

You should! I am an unapologetic stan for it.

I'm going to attempt The Brothers Karamazov. The first reviews on Goodreads are pretty intimidating: you need a solid month to get through it, it's heavy-duty philosophy disguised as a novel...

Milena wrote: "I will finally read War and Peace."

That was my exact same thought! War and Peace, I am finally coming for you.

Octavia wrote: "Milena wrote: "I will finally read War and Peace."

That was my exact same thought! War and Peace, I am finally coming for you."

Let me know if you need moral support. I am sure I will.

I will start reading the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula Le Guin here.

Carrie wrote: "House of Leaves

by
Mark Z. Danielewski

This book has such great reviews. I bought it went it came out and have let it sit for years wi..."

I was thinking about this one, too! It's long AND creepy, which I don't generally do very well with.

Or Anna Karenina because there's an "epilogue" by another author for in translation I'm considering.

I might ignore my diverse authors rule for this one, and go with Gravity's Rainbow. My issue is that I tend to abandon books as soon as they lose my interest :(

Sherri wrote: "Finally time for Ulysses!!"

i'm thinking i'm going with this one too because it's shorter than others which makes it less likely i will abandon it. will be using DailyLit to get through it in hopefully readable chunks too

Carrie wrote: "House of Leaves

by
Mark Z. Danielewski

This book has such great reviews. I bought it went it came out and have let it sit for years wi..."

I'm also planning on reading this!

I will shoot for Ulysses by Joyce.

For those reading Les Miserables or Anna Karenina, they are totally worth it!

Finally tackling Moby-Dick

My copy of IQ84 has sadly never been read. Thinking I’ll finally tackle that one and glad to see others are thinking same.