31–40 of 118 posts
I've been slogging through Blood Meridian for the past couple of months, only taking little sips of content here and there, but it finally clicked for me last night and I'm fully engaged with it. And man was it worth the effort. The way he paints scenes with just the right amount of words is pretty amazing. I'd love to see this book adapted onto film.
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Agreed, good list for HN. Especially Calvino, Cormac, and PKD tend to be popular with math nerds. Also if PKD qualifies as difficult enough, maybe Borges can fit here too. Not fiction or difficult, but I suggest Calvino's "Six Memos for the Next Millennium". It's novella-length lecture series for writers/readers, but I'd say it's really a critical/creative framework that's as relevant for math as it is for myth, or n…
Agreed. I've read about half the books on this list and wouldn't consider them difficult. But I've got some new books to buy now, which is always a good thing. If you like Ubik, Martian Time Slip might also pass as difficult.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exegesis_of_Philip_K._Dick
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It is very likely that a book funny to adult you would went over 9th grade you regardless of reading speed.
This is a problem I have yet to see schools tackle. A kid in junior high school has no mental context for the Russian Revolution of 1917, for instance. Having them read Animal Farm is a pointless waste of time.
I happened to have been assigned Moby Dick in 9th grade English class. Foolishly put off reading it until the night before the book report was due. Got about 1/3 of the way through and went through life thinking it was boring. Fast forward decades, I'm now reading it for real. It hilarious, it's pause encouraging, I love it! (And I'm still only 1/3 through.)
My teacher tried to talk me out of it, but I insisted and ultimately she let me do it because Billy Budd is very a short novella.
To this day, Moby Dick is still my second favorite book of all time (with my all time favourite being The Lord of the Rings). I only read it once, 20 years ago, for a book report but it really stuck with me.
I've been slogging through Blood Meridian for the past couple of months, only taking little sips of content here and there, but it finally clicked for me last night and I'm fully engaged with it. And man was it worth the effort. The way he paints scenes with just the right amount of words is pretty amazing. I'd love to see this book adapted onto film.
Ha, I'm in a similar position, having given up on it after a few months of sips. At what point did it click for you?
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It is very likely that a book funny to adult you would went over 9th grade you regardless of reading speed.
This is a problem I have yet to see schools tackle. A kid in junior high school has no mental context for the Russian Revolution of 1917, for instance. Having them read Animal Farm is a pointless waste of time.
Extremely tortuous phraseology. But I finished it, with gritted teeth at 15.
I have long since abandoned the desire to finish every book I start. Life is too short.
Do what makes you happy, but don't pretend that reading "difficult" books makes you morally-superior to the rest of us. I read fiction for fun, and non-fiction for personal growth.
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This is a problem I have yet to see schools tackle. A kid in junior high school has no mental context for the Russian Revolution of 1917, for instance. Having them read Animal Farm is a pointless waste of time.
Same with things like (picking at random) The Great Gatsby and a lot of literature having to do with adult relationships and romance. How on earth is a 16-year-old in 2025 going to understand what's happening in Gatsby? I read it, wrote some papers and got As on them, but didn't really make sense of it at the time.