Blood Meridian was very hard to read. Not because of the overwhelming amount of violence, I actually liked that.

But the language is on another level. I thought my english was pretty good but the poetic style really challenged me.

One of the greatest books I've read so far.

Silmarillion

No One Like Him by Feinberg.

Does such a good job of summing up the ending to the series, too!

The Tunnel by William Gass really challenges you to wrestle with what makes an individual evil, sort of how the everyday unfairnesses of life can create a hateful ideology. It’s also at times challenging prose so it’s “tough” in that sense as well.

Why? What’s so tough about it?

i feel the book scratches the same itch Anastasia did for a lot of American (Western?) audiences. it is about a culture and history that not well known in the west with a bit of unrealistic charm sprinkled on top.

It is written for a mid-20th century audience, so the pacing is definitely a bit different from what modern audiences expect.

Entertainment media today tends to be much faster paced (movies especially but books as well). But part of the reward of reading older books is getting a sense of what reading audiences of the past were into. After a bit of practice and immersion I think most people are able to shrug off the “present day bias” and enjoy the story for what it is.

If you press on to the end of chapter 10, book 1 the story picks up quite a bit and settles into the more exciting epic tone that characterizes the rest of the text.

Dune Only read 15 pages and then drop it Shesssh

I think this verb tense is future progressive. But it's been 15 years since I taught grammar, so hopefully someone smarter than me will come along to identify it.

I particularly liked a first line of a chapter in the middle of a book: "There was a demon in the room's corner, and only she could see it." Immediately i wanted to know more.

David Gemmell also often started his chapters with a cold open. It's fun to read.

I don’t think it’s especially confusing. I first read it when I was 13 and I did ok with it even then. It’s among the most popular works of fiction ever so I think it must have fairly broad appeal.

Definitely start with The Hobbit though, it gives very important background. The writing style in The Hobbit is much more aimed at children however. The LotR begins with a somewhat similar style and transitions through the first few chapters into a more mature and epic tone.

Some people struggle to stay interested through the first few chapters of the LotR, my advice if that happens to you is to just press on until the end of chapter 10, book 1 (“Strider”). That chapter is where the LotR really settles into the tone that characterizes the rest of the story.

There are quite a few mysterious references to things in the history of Middle Earth that you will not understand. Don’t worry about them; Tolkien intentionally scatters these “textual ruins” through the story. These are meant to make you feel like the story you are reading is set in a world with a real history, but you as the reader are not supposed to understand them. The mysteriousness of these references is the point. You can read The Silmarillion (and the wiki) afterwards to understand the what these textual ruins are about.

I don't think you need to maybe i am wrong but using the words that you know properly and express your ideas in the vocabulary that you know is always more valued and effective

I usually answer "I read anything but Westerns". That is the only thing I just can't get through.

I read historical fiction, the older the better. I also enjoy litfic, historical fantasy, magical realism, memoirs, and biographies. That's what I say. I also add that joining a book club expanded my horizons and I found authors I wouldn't have otherwise.

OP you can always say you read from any genre, that you just like a good story. Nothing wrong with that. That's how I am about music and tv.

Right. The juxtaposition of American audiences (i know plenty of people from around the world have read this book, but im thinking about my book club which consisted of people from the United States) being horrified by that scene, yet had little to say about the treatment of the Vietnamese humans whose country and lives were torn apart so thoroughly that many had to flee the country as refugees. It also spoke to the lengths men will go to in order to be more masculine- the eating of live monkey brains, toxic masculinity at its finest.

Maybe not look up every word that stumps you which might get pretty tiresome. But at least look up some each time, especially ones that are critical to the story. And also ones you know you’ve looked up before but somehow forgotten. Over time you’ll find there are less and less words that are a problem.

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And remember, it is better and to not learn the world than not reading at all and still not leaning the words haha

Lolita.

I can't believe how brainwashed or ignorant some of these westerners are!

The Americans, Brits, Australians and many other European countries have invaded multiple countries just in the last couple of decades. They routinely drop bombs on civilian areas using drones and the conflicts have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in Asia and Africa.

Despite all this, it still would be plain stupidity to claim that American or British authors are somehow evil and need to be boycotted.

This might be a rant unrelated to the topic. But as an Asian it's hard not to notice the difference in the discourse when a fellow European country is now invaded. People act as if some never before heard of horror and barbarism has been unleashed, when their own nations were committing those same horrors on others.

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Yeah I agree that it feels disgusted. I initially tried this but then my reading was really slow. I was just thinking if there is a middle ground and I have heard it from my friend who read alot that you just read and words will come to you naturally.

Yes.

You wouldn't steal a paperback edition of a hardcover you already own, simply because it's smaller and lighter and easier to travel with.

You bought a specific copy in a specific format. You didn't buy a perpetual license to the text in all its forms.

I think that you should not care to much about it, because it break your reading and make it less enjoyable. You will naturally learn the words by reading books.

You can still keep one ore two world in your mind, or write one or two somewhere and try to use them whenever you can for 2days (or more , or less, it is up to you)

I am saying this because I became quite disgusted by reading because I tried so hard to learn the vocabulary. Maybe it will not be your case

I read about half fantasy, with the other half being a mix of everything. For fiction, I like a faster pace and really interesting characters. I generally read more female authors and prefer books with strong female leads. My favourite nonfiction books are generally about either animals/nature, or science. I do not like heavily-woke books, though some woke themes are fine.