this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
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Fiction Books

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Time to brag: what’s the hardest book you read? (literature.cafe)
submitted 1 year ago by Eq0@literature.cafe to c/fiction@literature.cafe
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By this I mean, a book you had to brace yourself to read, and you feel proud for having read. Did you enjoy the process of reading it?

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[–] Cherenkov_Effect@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Anathem by Neal Stephenson is a tough book to get through, but extremely rewarding if you do.

I found Blindsight by Peter Watts to be a hard read mostly because a lot of the philosophy went right over my head. Good book though.

[–] Eq0@literature.cafe 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I loved Anathem, but the ending was a bit too much all over the place for my taste. I honestly enjoy random philosophical discussions, so the first third of the book was my bread and butter.

Stephenson is a weird author, Anathem is great, I enjoyed the Criptonomicon but really did not like Snow Crash.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Try 'Reamde.' It's Stephenson's version of a Jack Ryan novel. Billionaire's niece is kidnapped by the Russian mob...

[–] boson@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

I love Blindsight too, looking to read more Stephenson though

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

'Anathem.' Got about 20 pages in and threw it down, because it was just Stephenson being deliberately confusing. Someone advised me to stick with it, but warned me that it took about 200 pages for the plot to get going. Skipped over the last section with all the multiple world nonsense.

I did read all three books of the Baroque Cycle, but threw Book One at the wall when I got to the end and found the damn gloassary hidden away like a pearl in an oyster.