The early Chinese historical books like the zuozhuan and the book of documents. Dry as hell and so antiquated in language.
The early Chinese historical books like the zuozhuan and the book of documents. Dry as hell and so antiquated in language.
A collection of short stories by D H Lawrence. Yes the prose is at times lovely but by good did he labour the points he was trying to make. Completely tedious.
"The most boring book ever" is a silly question. I haven't read all the books, so I'm not in a position to judge.
If the question was what is the most boring book you have read? I can make a stab at an answer. Mind you I'm quite capable of pushing on with a book that I find unengaging in the hope that it will click, and I will at least be able to say to myself that I have read it. Proust, Richarson and Joyce all come into that category, although I can see why they are admired.
I gave up on Tristram Shandy when I was a student, pushed myself to read it a few years ago, and then listened to it as an audiobook this year, and began to enjoy and appreciate it. Now I know the structure, I can browze it and enjoy it in bits.
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T E Lawrence was inpenetrable to me. I mean it wasn't in "experimental prose" like Joyce or Pynchon or Faulkner or even Sterne. But I was totally lost as to what he was talking about and I gave up.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
I didn't finish it. Obviously.
Hell is other people
boredom by Alberto Moravia
Intentionally intellectual and cold writing styles can be irksome to read, esp. when they're extremely long. But they have their benefits too, i. e. people interested in Vienna 1900's should read Musil's brick. It isn't to be so judgemental on my part, truth is there is much also to gain from reading such works, a spectacular stick-with-'it'ness if nothing else. Besides where would literature be without many authors who would be fitting the above mentioned, i. e. Dosteovsky?
I hadn't as of yet finished even the first volume of The Man Without Qualities, but I vividly recall the justifications of the crime by the killer on trail, very very hard to forget.
Quite sad to see Moby-Dick pop up multiple times. Maybe it's because I'm currently reading it for class with an excellent professor, but the novel is simply astounding. It requires a very close reading though, so I'd imagine I'd probably have a different opinion if I had to read it on my own without a professor to provide insight.
As for the most boring reads I've experienced: Jayne Eyre and JR. I'll admit that my problem with Jayne Eyre is mostly with subject matter, I'm a twenty-one year old guy and have no interest in that crap. As for JR, Gaddis just totally lost me with that one. I loved The Recognitions and even Agape Agape, but JR just seems so repetitive to me, I feel like you can take away everything important within half the novel, but then it goes on for another three hundred pages, random ramblings of amorphous characters.
Originally Posted by ChicagoReader
I'm a guy who finds Charlotte Bronte over-rated and Vilette one of the most depressing books I've ever written.
But you should be careful as dismissing Jane Eyreas "all that crap". If you're straight, you might well be interested at some time in what women find attractive in men, and what pisses them off.
If you're gay, you might well sympatise with Jane's situation, always dismissed as second rate and holding her integrity.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
I don't know about ever, but I struggled to get through Persuasion by Jane Austen. I tried. I really tried to get into it this summer. But the only thing that got me through it was the idea that I could say I read the whole thing and didn't quit somewhere in the middle.
The whole match-maker plot weighs down on my eyelids like split-shot.
“Oh crap”
-- Hellboy
What match-making? Aren't you muddling it up with Pride and Prejudice.
I have to admit I read Ulysses in something of the same spirit (I'm damned if I don't get through this b....r.) But I can glimpse why it's admired, even if it doesn't click with me yet.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
I may be wrong but "Cherry Orchard" by Checkov is really very boring.Not that its bad or without literary value but its just so boring.
I love absolutely Chekhov. Sublime stuff.
Definitely Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, no doubt about it
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Depressed people are always boring, however deserving of sympathy they may be. Unhappy people are usually wrapped up in themselves and can't think of or talk about anything but their own pain- and as we all know, people who are wrapped up in themselves are bores. To be fair, it's a book for young women and not for 35 year old men!
Thank you Wickes, another nail struck squarely on the head, but why only thirty-five-years-old men rather than men per se?
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
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