81 Comments

War and Peace, because of length and potential long list of characters, Ulysses because of length, and Finnegan's Wake because of lack of punctuation and made up words 😃

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War and Peace is 100000x worth the effort!

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So I've heard!

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True! It’s the best.

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Hey that’s not fair, this was exactly my answer, too!

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Chortle. Great minds etc

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War and Peace *is* the best. And we're reading it next year here on substack if you're tempted.

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I've had Robert Burton's "The Anatomy of Melancholy" on my shelf for years. It is a tome of tomes, and I know I don't have to read every page to engage meaningfully with it, but it's intimidated me for some time. Thanks for the nudge to finally explore it.

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The Tome of Tomes would be a great substack name

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Rather a high bar to hold oneself to!

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I don't actually own a copy but this is on my list too. I saw an exhibition about the book in Oxford in 2021, and the concepts - and the exhibition itself - made it into my first full-length novel (still a WIP).

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I bought Don DeLillo's 'Underworld' in its year of publication (1997) ... I suspect I found it (unexpectedly) in a bookshop in and around Charing Cross; I was working in London at the time in a job that didn't stretch me so I would potter out at lunch time and explore London - long lunch breaks unchecked by any bosses at the time. Anyhow, for reasons unclear to me, I only read it this year, the first selection in my planned 'year of 23 books. Ironically, I suspect the thing that always put me off (827 pages) attracted me at this stage, as I was looking to metaphorically - and actually - slow myself down. I meandered through this epic in a little over a month. Loved it. Timing, huh?

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The Name of the Rose. I really want to read this. I started it. I did not know what I was getting into and backed out carefully. Now I know. So, when I return to it, I'll be ready.

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Eco is one of my favorite authors!

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Dickens, until 6 weeks ago.

Now I'm awestruck and hooked. Just starting David Copperfield, after Great Expectations and Tale of Two Cities.

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This was my answer too! And now I have three additions to my winter reading list. Last summer, I read Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead,” which she wrote as an update/response to Copperfield. Great book.

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A while back, I heard her interviewed on Radio 4, quite by chance. Sounds brilliant - but then I was pre-Dickens, and fearful of such a weighty [I thought] prospect.

Thanks for reminding me. It's on the list!

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I almost put David Copperfield aside. Quite harrowing. But utterly gripping.

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Oh, you’re selling me!

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Don Quixote, because it looks so long and seems so old!

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Oh I know what you mean, but it’s actually very readable and enjoyable!

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Oh good to know. Thanks for the encouragement!

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10000%

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Ulysses. I read the Iliad. No need for a second go-round in prose my simple brain can't understand.

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Having had to read the Illiad in high school and college, I have no desire to read Ulysses.

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Henry James 'The Portrait of a Lady'. I've tried, lord knows, I've tried. Such hard work.

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I agree!!

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It’s gorgeous but you could start with Daisy Miller if you haven’t read it? It’s a novella.

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I loved portrait of a lady, did not find it difficult at all!

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Tolkien’s “The Silmarillion”. Other books just keep cutting the line.

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I’m ashamed to say I’ve started and abandoned that book about 3 times 😅

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How could...? And you published my piece on Tolkein's writing without...? It's like a creation story and fairytale book for cool people. Then again I only got round to reading it last year after putting it down once.

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I know, I know! It shames me I’ve never gotten through it 😭😭

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Finnegan’s Wake... for obvious reasons.

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There are so many. But I’ll throw Proust’s ‘In Search of Lost Time’ into the proverbial hat.

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"The Death of Ivan Ilyich", by Tolstoi. This book is on my shelf for years, but i didn´t read it. I. just don´t know why. But i am gonna think about it

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The Book of Mormon. Uhh.

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You probs don’t need to read it now that they brought out that musical...

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By the time I buy a return first class ticket to NYC, get a limo from JFK to the Ritz Carlton, buy the theater ticket and a couple of decent meals, I think it will be cheaper to wait for the graphic novel edition to hit the bookstores, or on Kindle.

I try to be thrifty when I can because my ancestors came from Scotland and that’s what we are as a people. Just as a footnote, they didn’t emigrate willingly, but because there was a small unpleasantness with the English about some inconsequential arms trading with the French. I’ve tried to put all that behind me, because at this point, does it even matter?

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Not reading BOM on Kindle or any other tablet unless it’s made of gold.

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I did upgrade mine.

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I'd say book(s), as in Dickens. They feel more like "shoulds," so I've rebelled. Where should I start? (see? there's that word again!)

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This would have been my answer until very recently and have to say I feel myself a fool for putting Big D off for so long

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Where shall I start? 😊

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Probably cliche but in case you only ever do one then it should probs be Great Expectations

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Thanks for both suggestions!

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David Copperfield!

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I should come clean: I used to read a lot of fiction, then almost none for 25 years through to my 50s.

Now I am reading fiction again, such a pleasure. (Coinciding it seems with my becoming a novelist!)

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Les Miserable. Started and abandoned a couple of times.

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The Mossad. . . and many to mention. 😂

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I read the abridged version of the Count of Monte Cristo and LOVED IT. Later in life I decided to read the unabridged version but didn't make it very far (it's really long...). Now I guess I'm just afraid of repeating my past failure if I try again. Shame is a pesky feeling!

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In fiction books it’s the Handmaids Tale by Magret Atwood for me. I started reading it twice already, but I can’t really pinpoint why I didn’t continue. Simply put, I didn’t enjoy reading it.

In non fiction books it’s the Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler. Interesting topic, but written in such a boring way. Cutler has written the book like an hours long interview. Maybe nice as an audio book.

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Jonathan Strange and Mr.Norrell by Susanna Clarke

I was first entranced by the TV adaptation but lost a bit of interest after finding out the novel is a bit of a tome. Maybe one rainy day, or week, I'll pick it.

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Same here. Mid-way through it, after having bought it 4-5 years ago. Tried it at the time and couldn’t get into it. Tried it again and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. It’s almost soothing in its pace and rhythm. I feel that I’m going to miss it when I’m done reading it.

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On the Origin of Species, the seminal work of my field, and I even have a pretty little collectors edition (maybe that makes the situation worse). Darwin has a pretty readable style but it’s still not light reading.

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The Body Keeps the Score, because I know it’s going to be devastatingly true.

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I read it and found it both soothing and an answer to a ton of questions I’ve struggled with. It is written with extraordinary empathy and understanding. It’s worth giving it a try.

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That is lovely to hear. I definitely will, I know it’ll be good for me. Even if it also makes me cry haha.

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It wouldn’t be good if it didn’t make you cry!

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Or start with biographical stuff. Easier for me because it’s someone else’s story. But then it gives me aha moments anyway.

Like Stefanie Foo: What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing From Complex Trauma.

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I was born and raised in New Orleans. I will never finish A Confederacy of Dunces. It's NOT all it's cracked up to be.

My go to genre for reading has always been scifi and fantasy. However, I've never been able to get past book 1 of The Wheel of Time series.

The one book (or really graphic novel) that my husband PESTERED me about for years to read was Sandman. Once I finally read the damned thing, I wondered what took me so long. And now there's the OMG HOLY SHIT Netflix season 1 of it. (Fingers crossed for season 2)

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Crime and Punishment - bought it so long ago and it continues to stare at me from my shelf. I guess I am apprehensive it might be a challenge and I want to save it for when I’m open to being challenged by a book (which apparently hasn’t been the case for over 2 years 🥴) also it’s long

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Leave the fears aside, it’s a fascinating read. Almost a psychological thriller.

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One of my favorites. It steered me away from a life of crime because it tapped into my Calvinist guilt aversion.

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Thank you for the encouragement! It does sound amazing, which makes my hesitation more confusing

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Agreed.

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The Odyssey is probably my nest answer. I've always liked Greek mythology. My class even did a version as a play when I was 11. (I got eaten by the cyclops.)

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I’m sorry to hear about your mealy demise there Harvey

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Thank you, much appreciated

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Tough way to go. I imagine the level of dental hygiene wasn’t great, either.

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Fyodor Dostoevsky - "The Brothers Karamazov". I don't know why, just find it difficult getting into

the rhythm of it.

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My favourite book of all time. If I had to read only one book over and over for the rest of my life it would be that one

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Cool! I'm going to give it another go one of these days.

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The Divine Comedy. I’ve read parts but not in entirety because once upon a time my Italian was not bad, and I thought I’d keep practicing so I could read it in the original. I’ve done that with a couple German books too (and my German IS bad) 🙈 guess it’s time to admit I’m only reading books in English or French.

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This is such an interesting conversation and I love that William suggested it with his own story in Notes.

I'm trying to think of whether or not I've put off reading something that I actually do think I'll tend to read later. I don't know if I have. I'm very much someone who will stop reading a book at any stage if I'm not finding it worthwhile.

And I also am at the stage of life where I know my likes and dislikes and although I stretch myself in certain ways, there are certain things I just don't bother with. Like I really don't enjoy most "classic literature" especially that written by men (this isn't intentional - I've only noticed in retrospect that I largely prefer women writers, it must be something about the tendencies in tone etc and certainly isn't always applicable). So any of those classics that I didn't read when I was in high school I'm probably not going to read ever. There are occasional exceptions.

Honestly, a weird answer perhaps, but the books I've put off reading are the ones I've written. Meaning that someday I'm going to go back and re-read them in full but I'm putting that off until a future time. I tend to get embarrassed about some of them if I read them too closely - because I was young when I wrote them or because I think differently now than I did then or because I wasn't excited to write the book in the first place but did so I see only flaws. I'm gentle with myself about this and see everything as contributing to a big body of work so it's fine but I'm still not ready to closely read and dissect those earlier works.

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Boswell's Life of Johnson, because of length and size. I'm a bit worried about the damage it might do to my nose if I fell asleep while reading.

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😂😂😂

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Wow ... thanks for launching my new week with such a generous mention!

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Oct 17, 2023
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A little life is worth the struggle. I guarantee it.

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The chances of long-term incarceration are low but never zero. With that possibility in mind, keep a bugout bag full of thousand pagers ready to go. That way prison can become an opportunity for growth instead of a life wasted.

Also, don’t rule out the possibility of writing your own thousand pagers. Smuggle them out chapter by chapter. There’s good money to be made in banned literature.

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I knew a woman who worked in a publishing house. She saved the individual “signatures” of not-yet-bound books from whatever production stage and brought just pieces of books with her when travelling.

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