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The Hardest Books We've Ever Read

I got curious about what genres of writing are a struggle for my fellow readers so I asked the Book Riot contributors what book they groan about when they remember reading it. Like House of Leaves, the books they talked about are difficult to read in the most literal way: complicated sentences, disjointed plots, books that are a million pages long and hard to hold up after a while, etc.
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avg. score: 6 of 40 (16%)
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The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
The Brothers Karamazov
1
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (Pierre Bourdieu)
Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste
2
Pierre Bourdieu
The Bible (Anonymous)
The Bible
3
Anonymous
Ulysses (James Joyce)
Ulysses
4
James Joyce
Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
Atlas Shrugged
5
Ayn Rand
Infinite Jest (David Foster Wallace)
Infinite Jest
6
David Foster Wallace
Manhattan Transfer (John Dos Passos)
Manhattan Transfer
7
John Dos Passos
The Familiar (Mark Z. Danielewski)
The Familiar
8
Mark Z. Danielewski
House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski)
House of Leaves
9
Mark Z. Danielewski
Nightwood (Djuna Barnes)
Nightwood
10
Djuna Barnes
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
11
Ada or Ardor (Vladimir Nabokov)
Ada or Ardor
12
Vladimir Nabokov
A Tale of a Tub (Jonathan Swift)
A Tale of a Tub
13
Jonathan Swift
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (Laurence Sterne)
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
14
Laurence Sterne
Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
Moby Dick
15
Herman Melville
Dhalgren (Samuel R. Delany)
Dhalgren
16
Samuel R. Delany
As I Lay Dying (William Faulkner)
As I Lay Dying
17
William Faulkner
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edward Gibbon)
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
18
Edward Gibbon
Cantos
Cantos
19
Clarissa (Samuel Richardson)
Clarissa
20
Samuel Richardson
The Sonnets (Ted Berrigan)
The Sonnets
21
Ted Berrigan
Paradise Lost (John Milton)
Paradise Lost
22
John Milton
The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
The Count of Monte Cristo
23
Alexandre Dumas
Doctor Faustus (Thomas Mann)
Doctor Faustus
24
Thomas Mann
The Luminaries (Eleanor Catton)
The Luminaries
25
Eleanor Catton
Don Quixote (Miguel De Cervantes)
Don Quixote
26
Miguel De Cervantes
Pride & Prejudice
Pride & Prejudice
27
Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
Robinson Crusoe
28
Daniel Defoe
The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
The Picture of Dorian Gray
29
Oscar Wilde
The Flowers of Evil (Charles Baudelaire)
The Flowers of Evil
30
Charles Baudelaire
I, Claudius (Robert Graves)
I, Claudius
31
Robert Graves
The Anatomy of Melancholy (Robert Burton)
The Anatomy of Melancholy
32
Robert Burton
In Search of Lost Time (Marcel Proust)
In Search of Lost Time
33
Marcel Proust
The Making of Americans (Gertrude Stein)
The Making of Americans
34
Gertrude Stein
Gravity's Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon)
Gravity's Rainbow
35
Thomas Pynchon
The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)
The Name of the Rose
36
Umberto Eco
The Faerie Queene (Edmund Spenser)
The Faerie Queene
37
Edmund Spenser
To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
To the Lighthouse
38
Virginia Woolf
The Tale of Genji (Murasaki Shikibu)
The Tale of Genji
39
Murasaki Shikibu
Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Lord of the Rings
40
J.R.R. Tolkien
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