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The 25 Most Challenging Books You Will Ever Read

If you've made it all the way through any of these, give yourself a pat on the back. Bonus points if you actually understood what you were reading.
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1
Finnegans Wake (James Joyce)
Finnegans Wake
James Joyce
2
The Sound and the Fury (William Faulkner)
The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner
3
The Canterbury Tales (Geoffrey Chaucer)
The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer
4
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
5
Gravity's Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon)
Gravity's Rainbow
Thomas Pynchon
6
The Female Man (Joanna Russ)
The Female Man
Joanna Russ
7
Being and Time
Being and Time
8
Our Lady of the Flowers
Our Lady of the Flowers
9
Infinite Jest (David Foster Wallace)
Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace
10
Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
Moby Dick
Herman Melville
11
Nightwood (Djuna Barnes)
Nightwood
Djuna Barnes
12
The Silmarillion (J.R.R. Tolkien)
The Silmarillion
J.R.R. Tolkien
13
Blood Meridian, Or, the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarth
Blood Meridian, Or, the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarth
14
The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen)
The Corrections
Jonathan Franzen
15
The Magic Mountain (Thomas Mann)
The Magic Mountain
Thomas Mann
16
Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand
17
Ulysses (James Joyce)
Ulysses
James Joyce
18
Underworld (Don Delillo)
Underworld
Don Delillo
19
Simulacra and Simulation
Simulacra and Simulation
20
The Castle (Franz Kafka)
The Castle
Franz Kafka
21
Absalom, Absalom! (William Faulkner)
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner
22
The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)
The Name of the Rose
Umberto Eco
23
Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
Cloud Atlas
David Mitchell
24
To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf
25
The Recognitions (William Gaddis)
The Recognitions
William Gaddis
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