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What to do - Challenging Books
Posted on 10/20/17 at 11:00 am
Posted on 10/20/17 at 11:00 am
What do you do with challenging books? And by challenging, I mean having to look up every other word? Typically, I jot down some words that I do not understand to expand my vocabulary. I'm currently reading a book that is overly challenging (just for the sake of it) in my opinion.
Do you press on? Put it away?
Do you press on? Put it away?
8
Posted on 10/20/17 at 2:06 pm to Kid Charlemagne
Questa è una domanda interessante. Quello che probabilmente farò è usare un qualche tipo di dizionario online o traduttore.
Posted on 10/20/17 at 4:47 pm to Kid Charlemagne
Buy a kindle and look that shite up as you go old man
Posted on 10/20/17 at 4:48 pm to Kid Charlemagne
For me a challenging book is one I just can’t get into, either topically/subject matter, author’s tedious writing style, or characters I don’t like or just can’t appreciate. So I usually poke into it a bit (if I start reading at all) and if I decide it doesn’t work for me, I chuck it and move on. Why torture yourself? Too many good reads out there.
This post was edited on 10/20/17 at 4:50 pm
Posted on 10/21/17 at 2:30 pm to Kid Charlemagne
Press on. Expanding one's vocabulary is not a negative thing.
Posted on 10/22/17 at 8:39 pm to TaTa Toothy
limit your crayons to two colors ...
Posted on 10/23/17 at 12:32 am to Kid Charlemagne
I give up and move on to something easier. Reading is about entertainment not education.
Posted on 10/23/17 at 11:37 am to Kid Charlemagne
Challenging like Joyce's Finnegan's Wake? Or something like Seveneves by Neal Stephenson? For Finnegan's Wake, I put it down and never picked it up again. Didn't need that kind of challenge. As for Seveneves, I stuck it out and learned a thing or two, but didn't really enjoy it. So my answer is, it depends...
Posted on 10/23/17 at 3:51 pm to Kid Charlemagne
I usually press on, if I'm enjoying it. I read a LOT of modern and postmodern "difficult" fiction from Joyce to Rushdie, to DFW, to Pynchon to DeliLLo to Lowry. I have points in the text where I'll really slow down and relish it if I'm in the mood and try to unravel it... I have other points where I just push forward.
I'll confess, though, that I mainly read for pure enjoyment these days, and if it's not a "page turner," then I'm likely not going to finish it. There are just too many things competing for my attention. As an English Lit. graduate student, though, I pretty much survived by just pressing on.
I'll take any crazy convoluted, encyclopedic modern or pomo fiction over reading Shakespeare's plays, though. Jesus. I had to do two a week for a Tue/Thursday class one semester. We'd do a different play each day. We were expected to have read the play and viewed it prior to coming to class as well as ready some critical piece on the play. That was awful.
I'll confess, though, that I mainly read for pure enjoyment these days, and if it's not a "page turner," then I'm likely not going to finish it. There are just too many things competing for my attention. As an English Lit. graduate student, though, I pretty much survived by just pressing on.
I'll take any crazy convoluted, encyclopedic modern or pomo fiction over reading Shakespeare's plays, though. Jesus. I had to do two a week for a Tue/Thursday class one semester. We'd do a different play each day. We were expected to have read the play and viewed it prior to coming to class as well as ready some critical piece on the play. That was awful.
This post was edited on 10/23/17 at 3:53 pm
Posted on 10/24/17 at 3:19 pm to biglego
quote:
Reading is about entertainment not education.
Most would differ
Posted on 10/28/17 at 9:59 pm to Kid Charlemagne
I use an index card as a bookmark. I keep a pencil with me when I read. I look up every word I don't know on my phone and write it down on the index card.
Well, that's what I used to do. Now I just skip words I don't know and regret it later.
Well, that's what I used to do. Now I just skip words I don't know and regret it later.
Posted on 10/30/17 at 6:02 pm to biglego
quote:
I give up and move on to something easier. Reading is about entertainment not education.
this, i have to learn enough in school, i read novels to relax i read textbooks to educate myself.
Posted on 10/31/17 at 9:54 am to hogfly
quote:
DeLillo
i'm about to start over with Underworld. I was in a bad place when i started it the first time and just got lost (would read chapters without paying attention), but I love the writing.
One writer whom I'm supposed to love and just find tedious is Proust.
There are so many authors/works that were groundbreaking for their time and worthy of reading for that fact and to understand various developments over time, but in and of themselves are meh-burgers. I'm giving Proust one more try and then I'll accept my fate as a non-intellectual.
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