It is time again for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the Broke and The Bookish!
This week's theme is: Top Ten Books That Were Hard For Me To Read
The reason why each of these book was difficult is different, but here we go!
1. The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway: Being a huge fan of literature, I was one of the few kids who got excited when a new book was announced for English class at school. I had heard wonderful things about Hemingway, and here it was, the first of his books I was to read.
And it will be the last! Reading this book was like chugging down some NyQuil just as I cracked it open. There were times when I LITERALLY would start reading and wake up hours later, only to discover I hadn't even read a page. I struggled through this snore-fest only to be disappointed at how lame it all turned out. I got nothing from this book but a few unexpected naps.
2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: Unlike The Old Man and The Sea, I LOVED this book! But I struggled with the language. It was complicated and the book was long. It took me over a year to read this.
3. Rabbit at Rest by John Updike: In an attempt to read through all the fiction Pulitzer Prize winners, I ran across this gem.....and hated it. I thought it was gross and pointless.
4. The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne: This book was rather boring, but more than that, the way it was written was weird. It was like Hawthorne was trying way too hard.
5. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy: I love true crime books and even fictional books based on true crimes. Its so fascinating! I was thrilled when I picked up this book. Sadly, it was a long book of muddling through a cop soap opera that had very little to do with the actual crime.
6. Stiff by Mary Roach: This is a fantastic book, but considering the topic, it made me a bit queasy from time to time.
7. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: I read this one for book club and hated it. It was confusing and boring. I hated that he didn't call the characters by names except for occasionally, which just got confusing.
8. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher: This book made me mad because I thought the girl who died had some valid reasons to send the tapes and some very not-even-close-to-valid-borderline-mean reasons to send the tapes to different people, including the main character of the book and a girl who was raped. Thanks for spilling her secret. Seriously, you don't do that.
9. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: I liked the book, but WOW was it filled with a ridiculous amount of language a sheer-utter evil.
10. Sex on the Moon by Ben Mezrich: I have ranted about this book a lot but to sum it up: claims to be non-fiction, but really its more of a fictitious tale of a non-loveable (despite the author trying) douche-bag.
3. Rabbit at Rest by John Updike: In an attempt to read through all the fiction Pulitzer Prize winners, I ran across this gem.....and hated it. I thought it was gross and pointless.
4. The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne: This book was rather boring, but more than that, the way it was written was weird. It was like Hawthorne was trying way too hard.
5. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy: I love true crime books and even fictional books based on true crimes. Its so fascinating! I was thrilled when I picked up this book. Sadly, it was a long book of muddling through a cop soap opera that had very little to do with the actual crime.
7. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: I read this one for book club and hated it. It was confusing and boring. I hated that he didn't call the characters by names except for occasionally, which just got confusing.
8. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher: This book made me mad because I thought the girl who died had some valid reasons to send the tapes and some very not-even-close-to-valid-borderline-mean reasons to send the tapes to different people, including the main character of the book and a girl who was raped. Thanks for spilling her secret. Seriously, you don't do that.
9. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: I liked the book, but WOW was it filled with a ridiculous amount of language a sheer-utter evil.
10. Sex on the Moon by Ben Mezrich: I have ranted about this book a lot but to sum it up: claims to be non-fiction, but really its more of a fictitious tale of a non-loveable (despite the author trying) douche-bag.
Hemingway is hit and miss with me but I understand your frustration. I felt the exact same way about A Farewell to Arms but I actually really liked The Old Man and the Sea--at least it was short right?
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