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Difficult Reads

A list of 20 novels often considered to be highly difficult often due to complex language, radical experimentalism, heavy themes, relentless length, encyclopedic content, or some combination of these things.
489 users · 1,810 views
 
made by hollis frampton
avg. score: 3 of 20 (17%)
required scores: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 
type to search

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Absalom, Absalom! (William Faulkner)
Absalom, Absalom!
1
William Faulkner
Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
Atlas Shrugged
2
Ayn Rand
Clarissa (Samuel Richardson)
Clarissa
3
Samuel Richardson
Finnegans Wake (James Joyce)
Finnegans Wake
4
James Joyce
Gravity's Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon)
Gravity's Rainbow
5
Thomas Pynchon
Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)
Heart of Darkness
6
Joseph Conrad
House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski)
House of Leaves
7
Mark Z. Danielewski
In Search of Lost Time (Marcel Proust)
In Search of Lost Time
8
Marcel Proust
Jr (William Gaddis)
Jr
9
William Gaddis
Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
Lolita
10
Vladimir Nabokov
The Man Without Qualities (Robert Musil)
The Man Without Qualities
11
Robert Musil
Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
Moby Dick
12
Herman Melville
Naked Lunch (William S. Burroughs)
Naked Lunch
13
William S. Burroughs
Only Revolutions (Mark Z. Danielewski)
Only Revolutions
14
Mark Z. Danielewski
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (James Joyce)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
15
James Joyce
The Recognitions (William Gaddis)
The Recognitions
16
William Gaddis
The Sound and the Fury (William Faulkner)
The Sound and the Fury
17
William Faulkner
Ulysses (James Joyce)
Ulysses
18
James Joyce
War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
War and Peace
19
Leo Tolstoy
The Waves (Virginia Woolf)
The Waves
20
Virginia Woolf
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