How to read difficult book?

MayBeMaw

I find this incredibly patronising - both the concept and some of the suggestions.
We are no longer at school/college/university studying literature - and I usually found studying a book was a sure fire kiss of death to enjoying it.
Read what you like- one person’s “difficult” book is another’s bedtime favourite.
If you are not gripped by a book or enjoying it - why bother.
As adults we are no longer required to eat up our greens or the crusts on our bread (if we don’t want to) so why apply that to reading matter?
Watch any ”film of the book” for the story if you want, they are often quite different but who is to deny anybody the pleasure of Colin Firth in his wet shirt even if Jane Austen didn’t think of it first.
There is a lot of virtue signalling when it comes to talking about books, and I think book groups are often to blame. It’s a bit like wine or art- you can hear a lot of tosh talked about them too.

Totally agree here. Same for films, same for art. I want to enjoy it, be challenged perhaps... but not discuss it.

When I was doing my Teaching Degree, I took French as an extra subject, as it is my MT. And for one essay about a book, I just wrote 'Last thing the author would have wanted, was students writing about it, rather than 'feeling' it'.

Lecturer agreed with me- but had to give me an F- which didn't matter to me at all. I wore it with pride.

Maggiemaybe

Now that’s one I persevered with and wish I hadn’t. Though the rest of my book club, or at least the ones who read it , loved it.

I think it was another case of suspending disbelief eg where did he find clothes from when he suddenly appeared. Once I managed to do that I was hooked.

Now that’s one I persevered with and wish I hadn’t. Though the rest of my book club, or at least the ones who read it , loved it.

MayBee
Loved Time Travellers Wife

Sara1954

Jane43
Catch22 is one of the very few books I’ve given up on, Cloud Atlas was given to me as a present, otherwise, it may have joined it.
I really struggled with ‘Midnights Children’ last year, it took me ages, and I really couldn’t get into it, but I persevered, I feel bad if I don’t finish.

I’ve tried to watch the film of Cloud Atlas several times, having given up on the book ( which had been highly recommended to me ) but still can’t understand what’s happening. I gave up on The Time Travellers Wife several times until I finally found myself loving it. My ex husband said he read it on a plane and was crying at the end. I actually loved the film of that one, especially as it was such a difficult concept to film.

I don’t know why I feel the need to finish a book, I guess I just keep hoping it will improve, and by the time I decide it won’t, I’m nearly finished anyway.

As adults we are no longer required to eat up our greens or the crusts on our bread (if we don’t want to) so why apply that to reading matter?
Thank you so much, MayBeMaw

I don't like eating my crusts but sometimes have a little eagle-eyed DGC asking me why I'm not finishing them.

Jane43
Catch22 is one of the very few books I’ve given up on, Cloud Atlas was given to me as a present, otherwise, it may have joined it.
I really struggled with ‘Midnights Children’ last year, it took me ages, and I really couldn’t get into it, but I persevered, I feel bad if I don’t finish.

I think it can also depend on the book you read immediately before. If it was an easy read and you enjoyed it, then a more taxing book e.g. in a different writing style or slower /more complicated plot can be harder to get into.

I started reading The Snow Child but gave up after a few chapters as it was such a slow book. I picked it up a few months later and I was so glad I did. It is one of the best books I have ever read.

I find it hard to give up with a book but do confess to 'speed reading' books that I am not enjoying.

I applied the first hundred pages to rule to Captain Corelli's Mandolin' and was so glad that I did; it was worth persevering. At present I am struggling to get through Becoming... Michelle, not difficult to read but 428 pages all about Me, in less than a month. Hard going.

NotTooOld

I always used to finish any book I started but now I don't bother. As someone above says, life is too short. There are many really good books out there just waiting to be discovered.

That's exactly how I feel, there are so many other books that people could be reading, rather than waste time finishing something that isn't doing anything for them.

MayBeMaw I am totally with you on this! Having reached my 70's I know what sort of books I enjoy reading and what genres really don't interest me. I started reading "Piranesi" which got great reviews, won the Women's prize 2021 and was reviewed enthusiastically on BBC's book club. It's not a difficult book, it's very well written and initially I thought I was going to enjoy it but I just started to find it rather tedious and ditched it. It's being read on radio 4 ATM if anyone is interested, I'm not!

I find this incredibly patronising - both the concept and some of the suggestions.
We are no longer at school/college/university studying literature - and I usually found studying a book was a sure fire kiss of death to enjoying it.
Read what you like- one person’s “difficult” book is another’s bedtime favourite.
If you are not gripped by a book or enjoying it - why bother.
As adults we are no longer required to eat up our greens or the crusts on our bread (if we don’t want to) so why apply that to reading matter?
Watch any ”film of the book” for the story if you want, they are often quite different but who is to deny anybody the pleasure of Colin Firth in his wet shirt even if Jane Austen didn’t think of it first.
There is a lot of virtue signalling when it comes to talking about books, and I think book groups are often to blame. It’s a bit like wine or art- you can hear a lot of tosh talked about them too.

It sounds thrilling, I shall go and research!
?

Callistemon21

You're the one without wine of course, Maggiemaybe ?
Read the wrong book?
Or didn't start the book?

You need a ?

Our latest book was The Last House on Needless Street, by Catriona Ward. Good Lord, but it was depressing. I’d never have got through it without the help of a Shiraz or several.

I’ve perfected a habit of skimming through a book I don’t like at a great rate of knots, and somehow manage to get the gist. But if it’s really bad, I don’t even bother doing that. Then I feel guilty taking it to the charity shop and subjecting someone else to it.

I gave up on The Shadow of the Wind when I’d read about 80% of it. Got chatting to someone on a train a few years later and he said he gave up round about the same place. Mind you I tried to read the Gormenghast trilogy several time. Couldn’t get behind the first couple of chapters and then it was as if I’d opened a door and entered another world and I sailed through the rest. That’s why I do try to persevere with books. Or did. I don’t seem to read these days.

You're the one without wine of course, Maggiemaybe ?
Read the wrong book?
Or didn't start the book?

You need a ?

I can remember the contents but can never remember the title or author ?

Should I worry?

Brilliant Maggiemaybe

I won’t say which one is me.

My book club.

tidyskatemum

I’ve been guilty of buying books on kindle at 99p - or even ones free to download. They are inevitably rubbish and I often don’t get past chapter 2 or sometimes even page 2! I keep telling myself not to do it again but I never seem to learn.

My Kindle is full of books that looked promising but I haven't even started.

The book I'm reading at the moment is quite hard work but I'm persevering. There is a historical theme about something I knew little, interwoven with a family story.

I started a book on the way up to Scotland, and couldn't get into it.

Then a few visits later, I started ot again, and it was a real page turner.
Then it got dropped behind a large chest of drawers, and I never did get to finish it.

I gave up on War and Peace from the school library when I was 14. Many years later, aged around 70, I bought a copy from Amazon and read it all. I didn`t really enjoy it, but it gave me a sense of achievement.