I love big books and I cannot lie! But some of them go straight above my head… like right over it! But can I admit that part? No I can’t, because I don’t want to look dumb. But now after being tricked into drinking Veritaserum (the truth potion from Harry Potter) I have decided to come clean and list down the books I claim to love but just don’t understand. NOT! I will NEVER admit to my weakness ever; this is instead a list of books I think people pretend to love… but don’t understand (I understand everything).
Disclaimer: Please take the afore-written description with a pinch of salt, I’m generally a nice person. XOXO!
1) Ulysses by James Joyce
Considered to be one of the most important works of modernist literature Ulysses is 265,000 words in length, uses a lexicon of 30,030 words (including proper names, plurals and various verb tenses), and is divided into eighteen episodes. I mean I know people who claim to love it are lying because reading this book in the first place is a task in itself!
2) 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
This multi-generational story of the Buendía family confused the hell out of me. I know it’s considered to be Gabriel García Márquez’s masterpiece but man, this masterpiece goes right above my head (admit it, it goes above your head too).
3) The God Of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Don’t get me wrong, I’m supremely proud of an Indian (especially a woman) winning the Booker Prize but frankly *spoiler alert* I didn’t understand the need for the twins to… you know, consummate their relationship to strengthen their bond. It’s weird.
4) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
I don’t know if anyone can love this book. Appreciate it? Yes! Applaud Sylvia Plath’s accurate depiction of a woman suffering from clinical depression? Yes! But loving this book? Hmm…
5) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Expectations: Reading this book in one go and appearing smart in the next conversation you have with anyone.
Reality: Reading the plot on Wikipedia and attempting to appear smart in the next conversation you have with anyone.
6) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I can’t even pronounce the author’s name. Forget about the book!
7) Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Too many mommy issues, too many daddy issues. As much as I loved Julius Caesar; Hamlet I couldn’t understand. I guess I’ll just stick to watching Haider.
8) Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The characters, the sub-plots, the basic premise of a long running litigation process is far too taxing to read and then love.
9) Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
I think the Ayn Rand philosophy was beautiful and readable in The Fountainhead, in Atlas Shrugged however awesome her statement of Objectivism was, it got too textual and lengthy. Frankly, quite unreadable.
10) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
I mean even the movie put a strain on people, imagine the book!
What are your suggestions on this fascinating topic? Tell tell!