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Difficult but Worthwhile Books

If you're looking for a book to read that will be an uphill climb, then these books might very well fit your bill. Whether it's the style, the substance, or both, these will prove challenging and satisfying upon completion. If completed. That's the word on the street anyway, through the giant grapevine that is academia's labyrinthine halls and the internet's many freeways. Be all that you can be.
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100 Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcí­A Márquez)
100 Years of Solitude
1
Gabriel Garcí­A Márquez
1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)
1Q84
2
Haruki Murakami
2666 (Roberto Bolano)
2666
3
Roberto Bolano
A Brief History of Time (Stephen Hawking)
A Brief History of Time
4
Stephen Hawking
A Game of Thrones (George R.R. Martin)
A Game of Thrones
5
George R.R. Martin
A Void (Georges Perec)
A Void
6
Georges Perec
Alphabetical Africa (Walter Abish)
Alphabetical Africa
7
Walter Abish
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
Anna Karenina
8
Leo Tolstoy
As I Lay Dying (William Faulkner)
As I Lay Dying
9
William Faulkner
Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
Atlas Shrugged
10
Ayn Rand
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson (George Gurdjieff)
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson
11
George Gurdjieff
Being and Time (Martin Heidegger)
Being and Time
12
Martin Heidegger
Beloved (Toni Morrison)
Beloved
13
Toni Morrison
Bernoulli's Fallacy (Aubrey Clayton)
Bernoulli's Fallacy
14
Aubrey Clayton
Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)
Blood Meridian
15
Cormac McCarthy
Blue Lard (Vladimir Sorokin)
Blue Lard
16
Vladimir Sorokin
Bottom's Dream (Arno Schmidt)
Bottom's Dream
17
Arno Schmidt
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
Catch-22
18
Joseph Heller
Chaos: Making a New Science
Chaos: Making a New Science
19
Children of Time (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
Children of Time
20
Adrian Tchaikovsky
City of God (St. Augustine)
City of God
21
St. Augustine
Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
Cloud Atlas
22
David Mitchell
Collected Fictions (Jorge Luis Borges)
Collected Fictions
23
Jorge Luis Borges
Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
Crime and Punishment
24
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Critique of Pure Reason (Immanuel Kant)
Critique of Pure Reason
25
Immanuel Kant
Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson)
Cryptonomicon
26
Neal Stephenson
Democracy in America (Alexis De Tocqueville)
Democracy in America
27
Alexis De Tocqueville
Dhalgren (Samuel R. Delany)
Dhalgren
28
Samuel R. Delany
Dune (Frank Herbert)
Dune
29
Frank Herbert
Either/Or (Elif Batuman)
Either/Or
30
Elif Batuman
Faust (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)
Faust
31
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Finnegan's Wake (James Joyce)
Finnegan's Wake
32
James Joyce
Foucault's Pendulum (Umberto Eco)
Foucault's Pendulum
33
Umberto Eco
Gadsby (Ernest Vincent Wright)
Gadsby
34
Ernest Vincent Wright
Gardens of the Moon (Steven Erikson)
Gardens of the Moon
35
Steven Erikson
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (Douglas R. Hofstadter)
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
36
Douglas R. Hofstadter
Gravity's Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon)
Gravity's Rainbow
37
Thomas Pynchon
Green Henry (Gottfried Keller)
Green Henry
38
Gottfried Keller
Hamlet (William Shakespeare)
Hamlet
39
William Shakespeare
Hopscotch (Julio Cortázar)
Hopscotch
40
Julio Cortázar
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