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What to do - Challenging Books

Posted on 10/20/17 at 11:00 am
Posted by Kid Charlemagne
Lawrenceville, GA
Member since Dec 2010
1709 posts
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?
Posted by Kafka
I am the moral conscience of TD
Member since Jul 2007
142485 posts
Posted on 10/20/17 at 2:06 pm to
Questa è una domanda interessante. Quello che probabilmente farò è usare un qualche tipo di dizionario online o traduttore.
Posted by Kvothe
Member since Sep 2016
2023 posts
Posted on 10/20/17 at 4:47 pm to
Buy a kindle and look that shite up as you go old man
Posted by JawjaTigah
Bizarro World
Member since Sep 2003
22506 posts
Posted on 10/20/17 at 4:48 pm to
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 by TaTa Toothy
Everything in its right place
Member since Sep 2017
944 posts
Posted on 10/21/17 at 2:30 pm to
Press on. Expanding one's vocabulary is not a negative thing.
Posted by biglego
Ask your mom where I been
Member since Nov 2007
76547 posts
Posted on 10/23/17 at 12:32 am to
I give up and move on to something easier. Reading is about entertainment not education.
Posted by Big Chipper
Charlotte, NC
Member since Sep 2008
2778 posts
Posted on 10/23/17 at 11:37 am to
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 by hogfly
Fayetteville, AR
Member since May 2014
4657 posts
Posted on 10/23/17 at 3:51 pm to
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.
This post was edited on 10/23/17 at 3:53 pm
Posted by LaTeX
Charlottesville, VA
Member since Aug 2017
13 posts
Posted on 10/28/17 at 9:59 pm to
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.
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