by Shannon Fox
As always, TTT is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week’s topic, ten most intimidating books.
1. IQ84 by Haruki Murakami- I have this book on my shelf, but it’s so huge. I feel like I’ll be reading it for months.
2. 11/22/63 by Stephen King- Same as above.
2. Paradise Lost by John Milton – I loved the sections I read of this in an English class…but I’m scared that was just a fluke. I’ve built this book up to such lofty expectations.
3. The Idiot by Fyodor Doestoevsky – I’ve read this book twice and loved it. I want to read it again, but worry the joy of it will be somehow tarnished.
4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy- I read this book in 3 magical days. Worried I won’t regain the magic.
5. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese- So many people have read and recommended this book, I feel like it can’t possibly live up to the hype.
6. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini- One of my roommates read this a few years ago. She cried for like an hour. I don’t know if I can deal.
7. Seeing by Jose Faramago- I read Blindness a few years ago and while it was good, it was very, very intense. I want to read the sequel, but I also don’t.
8. The Girl in the Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender- Bender is such an amazing author, every time I read her, I was just sort of want to give up writing.
9. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer- Everyone loves this book, but it includes 9/11 as a theme and I just don’t know…
10. The Help by Kathryn Stockett- Everyone loves this. I own it. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like it. But what if I don’t?
Shannon Fox - Author 
I would have suggested The Grapes of Wrath The Scarlett Letter n For Whom The Bell Tolls.
Read “Extremely Loud”! It’s not intimidating at all, I promise. And it’s so wonderful. One of my favorites.
Renee! Hi! Yes, I remember how much you loved it…I’m still scared of the 9/11 angle in it…
Hi Shannon! 🙂 It’s definitely emotional at parts, if that’s what you’re afraid of, but it’s handled very well, I think. And since you’re reading from the POV of a very young boy, some of the distress is glossed over a bit. Of course, it also makes it a little more heart-wrenching sometimes, because he’s so young and he’s lost a loved one . . . But just read it! 🙂 It’s such a great book!
Paradise Lost – definitely intimidating. One of my lit professors did his thesis on it, so we spent about 5 weeks reading 80% of it. I made myself read the whole thing, and I count it as one of the most worthwhile things I did in college. I definitely recommend reading it alongside a good guide – Sparknotes at least – so you know what the hell is going on. Most definitely an eye-opening, though. Milton had his shit together on that one.
I know…you’re the only person I know who’s read the whole thing. Makes me want to as well, but asjkgng4th
Omg, I totally remember crying for an hour after reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, and then when I told you to read it you were like “…O…kay?” Haha, it mainly made me cry so much out of rage and helplessness. Like yes, it is heartbreakingly sad, but the thing that got me was the anger I felt at being unable to change the circumstances for the main character, if that makes sense.
But then again, I cried at the end of Beloved, and I still don’t know why I did that.
Toni Morrison is a beautiful writer. I teared up at the end of Beloved because those end passages are stunning.
I’m with you on 11/22/63 and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I have The Night Circus on my shelf and it’s funny– I started reading it and got about 50 pages in. (Then Christmas came and I had to wrap it and give it away. Oops.) I was enthralled for those 50 pages but now it’s built up in my head. I can’t explain why, but there it is.
Me too! I also have that book sitting on my shelf, unread. I’ve heard it’s a love/hate book…I want to be in the love camp, but maybe I’ll be in the hate?
You should read the help, even if you don’t end up liking it. I loved it, like everyone else. But you’re allowed to be different than everyone else and not like. But you’ll never know until you read it.
I will read it eventually… I have it on my shelf 🙂