The count of Montecristo: It is a page turner! I read it in two days because I could not put it away.

I remember reading Crime and Punishment at 28 and having an existential crisis. It was the first book I'd sat down and read properly in about 15 years since reading the LOTR trilogy. I realised I'd wasted 15 years of my life NOT reading.

The Count Of Monte Cristo is my favorite book of all time! I got so invested in trying to find out how he was going to exact his revenge without any casualties who dont deserve anything to happen to them. I promise it gets more interesting after the first 200 pages. Once you hit that mark youre gonna be golden! So good.

My personal advice regarding Infinite Jest is to just focus on character and plot. I think people get bogged down with all the end notes and details and clues (which are all fantastic to get into!) but might be better suited for a second reading. I say embrace a little confusion and stick with the personalities that are so beautifully developed :) Nobody can get it all on the first go-through, or at least I sure didn’t.

Infinite Jest is challenging, dense, and the kind of book you need multiple bookmarks. Loved it when I finally got through it but it took genuine effort.

Don't be intimidated! Do what I do: I look up everything that I don't know historically or a word that I'm not familiar with, and I love doing that. I have a master's degree and I also feel that my education could have been a lot better, mostly because of how lazy I was. My comprehension and reading has greatly improved with my age.

Love your list! I read Moby Dick in Feb and it is totally worth it. The chapters are short. Read it a chapter or two at a time and experience it. It's remarkable.

The guy is Ben McEvoy. He is marvelous.

If you get thru Cantebury Tales, try The Decameron, a collection of stories about 7 women and 3 men trapped in a villa outside Florence hiding from the Black Death. Written in 1353.

Started reading A little life a few days before I saw this video. It’s so good. Yes it’s challenging in the fact it jumps back and forth to different perspectives but the one character is the central focus of the story. It has so many emotions. You will like this one for sure.

Count of Monte Cristo is my #1. Joy. You will get the main point, and the nuance will come on future reads (time for my #4 in fact!)

Oh good luck with House of Leaves! It made me learn that I cannot do long footnotes. My brain can't handle a page of an interruption and then continue. I gave up after 2 tries at it

Don't think you'll find Canterbury Tales overly challenging. Granted, I read it many years ago but aside from the language, my enduring memory was how funny and charming it was.

I am a massive fan of House of Leaves. Thank you for including it in your reading list. You're plan to dedicate 10hrs a day to reading is brilliant! This book needs, almost requires time, focus, and sometimes a deep dive in to Google. For anyone out there who hasn't read it, I recommend going into to cold. No spoilers. No Wiki. Just step into it and see where it takes you. Some thing to know, it looks like you may have picked up the "full color" edition, which is likely the most available copy. ( look into the lore of the books publishing for more details on this). If you would like to take your reading and engagement of the book a bit further, I'd recommend finding a hardbound copy as there will be something additional to interact with. Best of luck. This is not for you. much es sein

I basically just started Blood Meridian, probably why your video got recommended. So far it has really drawn me in by the way he describes the landscape, it’s almost biblical. Some parts are a bit confusing because of the punctuation and style but if you take the time to look things up it comes together. There is also not infrequent Spanish dialogue but this just adds to it. The writing is really great.

It is the characters that add the philosophic and intellectual depth in a book, and Dostoyevsky does it like no other.

Thank you for reading these books and saying that we don't have to. Because, I have zero interest in any of these books. I appreciate it so much that I subscribed to your channel. !

I completely echo your thoughts on British schooling! Going to uni, I found myself having to play catch up on certain texts and still have such enormous gaps lol. I feel like I cheated with Moby Dick because I read Billy Budd, Sailor by Melville but I do eventually want to get to Moby Dick. Fantastic list!

Prepare yourself for A Little Life!!! A challenging book (very challenging!) for me was The Recognitions by William Gaddis.

I've read House of Leaves a few years ago and it still haunts me. Lol. It was definitely a challenge, and the story is wild, but the format is maddeningly difficult at times. Currently I'm reading Shōgun and that book is also pretty difficult. It's a good story, but the way it's written and having so many characters, it can be hard to keep track of it all. But, I'm really enjoying it. And I like how the author incorporated Japanese into the book as if you're learning it along with Blackthorn.

The Count Of Monte Cristo is my favorite novel of all time. Edmond Dantes imo is the best written character in all of literature. Absolutely phenomenal book. You definitely have the best translation. The Penguin edition. Very easy to read and understand. I truly hope that you start reading it soon. I get so excited for the reader who begins it because I KNOW that the experience will be extraordinary for them😊

Infinite Jest is that book I keep saying I’ll read one day but never do. I started it a long time ago and just couldn’t stick with it.

Oh what a nice selection!! I am so looking forward to the reviews of those books, especially Infinite Jest. (Haha could relate a lot to the „down a pint education“, I’m not from England but from Bavaria;)

Im just over 300 pages into Infinite Jest. First time reading it, and It. Is. DENSE! But, when it hits, it HITS. Im loving it so far. Just be patient and take your time and I think youll manage just fine.

A great quest you’ve set for yourself. Congratulations!!

Thanks for joining in on the fun! Your selection is excellent, particularly in terms of choosing difficult books that don't vie merely to be difficult; rather, their difficulty stems more often than not from just requiring focused attention. If any readers opt to read the books you suggest here, they will have learned something vital about reading generally, the merits of focus and of opening one's expectations. I do have some advice about Infinite Jest (if you don't mind unsolicited advice): I recommend reading Brief Interviews with Hideous Men first. That's how I got started with David Foster Wallace, and I found that Brief Interviews offers up the various technical tricks of Infinite Jest but at a more manageable length and register, making for a smooth transition, mentally, into DFW's dense, despairing, enlightening magnum opus of Infinite Jest. All the best, bud!

Your pronunciations are really good, don't worry so much. 🙂 I have most of these on my TBR as well, and Brothers Karamazov and Count of Monte Cristo are books I want to tackle this year. I sometimes get overwhelmed about reading books but then I remember - we're often more capable then we believe and we can always put books down to tackle again another time. Best of luck, so glad I found your channel today! Subscribed and look forward to future videos. 🤩

Great list! I have several on the list that I have either read or want to read. I’m looking forward to your thoughts on each of them, starting with House of Leaves.

Thank you for being so vulnerable! Great list, as always :)

I just finished Moby Dick after having similar fears and a couple false starts - what helped me was the audiobook, especially for the whaling textbook portions. While of course it's ideal to be 100% engaged in every word, I think it's ok to let those parts wash over you while you walk or do chores or something, like a friend telling you all about their new hobby. The characters stole my heart in a way I really was not expecting and rarely find in classic lit tho so worth finding a way to read it that works for you! I listened to the version read by Anthony Heald and he brought a very endearing earnestness to Ishmael.

I gave up on Infinite Jest. But if you want to read it I think there's a fanwiki that will come in handy. One of the problems I had with it was that it was overloeaded with a lot, A LOT of abreviations that he only spelled out once and then expected the reader to remember what it stod for. All hail O.N.A.N!

I loved Moby Dick! It is one of my favorite books! Count of Monte Cristo was a wild ride and you will be on the edge of your seat when things get good! It is a little long though. I have to read Infinite Jest still but it has me blocked so we are working on that. Classics and "hard" books can really surprise you. I read War and peace last year and loved it so much I was shouting in my car about some drama as I listened to the audiobook.

Ive just found you.hooray!!😊A little life is great and although very emotional is easy to read.Looking forward to more of your channel.Thanks.

I first read House of Leaves when I was 13 years old. I picked it up just by the cover at my local bookstore and it’s been my favorite ever since.

Still need to read the unabridged version, but I know already what a great book The Count of Monte Cristo is. Definitely very readable. One of the best books I've ever read, and damn entertaining too.

An excellent video! I think it is important to stretch yourself and I wish you the best for this challenge. Infinite Jest looks seriously intimidating. Paradise Lost was required reading for me at university, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I read The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales where you meet the characters before they set out on their pilgrimage, would love to hear your thoughts on the entire book. I DNFd House of Leaves, but to be fair, I was very young at the time. I loved The Road and would love to read more Cormac McCarthy. Blood Meridian sounds very dark!

You have a few of picks that match my own! Infinite jest, the Whale and Count of Monte Cristo. I have read House of Leaves and Blood Meridian, both of which are amongst my most revered books to date. I didn't find House of Leaves to be as taxing as many imply, granted it was presentationally atypical, but the language was not so difficult and it's story is superb. Blood Meridian was a more demanding read for me, the prose is dense and beautifully written, but the punctuation, particularly around speech is unusual. I had to learn to slow my standard pace to get into it (interestingly using the advice of Benjamin McEvoy!) and I'm so glad i did. Looking forward to seeing more from you and thoughts on your experiences!

That’s an awesome challenge; I’m impressed. But a couple of those go beyond challenging yourself into punishing yourself. As for books that I found challenging, but ultimately rewarding… anything by Faulkner.

Fascinating list, we are at very similar reading levels. I have read three on your list, pulled two more off my shelves to be read, and have noted the other five for future purchase. Thanks!

A Little Life was incredibly sad but I found a lot of the details tedious. I didn’t cry until the very end.

Hey good list. Ive read 1- house of leaves. I didnt know i should actively participate more so just found it frustrating. Ill reread in a few years and hopefully enjoy it more. I just ordered Brothers Karamazov earlier this week. Expecting it to take a while. After that i was planning to read Lonsome Dove but ive had my eye on Blood Meridian so may have to swap- it does sound better in a lot of ways.

YOU NAILED IT. It wasn't until I read "Seveneves" that I wondered if I could have done better in school.

This is a great list of difficult books! I personally didn't find the cast of characters in The Cont of Monte Cristo difficult. I'm deffo interested in what you think of House of Leaves!

For the Canterbury tales: read it in the original Middle English, there’s really no substitution for the original poetry. And having an understanding of English prosody, especially iambic pentameter, will be an immense help in reading and understanding the Middle English. It’s a steep learning curve but I picked it up rather quickly.

I have started a few of the books on your list, but have only completed A Little Life. A Little Life was a two year project for me, because for one I didn't own it, and for 2, I got to certain points where I needed to put the book down and read something happier. I finished it in 2020, during lockdown and it had me in tears. I am not usually someone who cries at books, but this one left me emotionally bereft.

Of the ones I've read: Brothers Karamazov: Pretty easy, actually. The prose is simple and the story is straight-forward. The only "difficulty" is the philosophical subject matter. Paradise Lost: Difficult but worth it. Paradise Lost was my first "I didn't know language could do this!" readsthat turned me onto poetry. Milton's language is dense and his syntax is often convoluted, but it's also magnificent. Would highly recommend getting a good audiobook as you really need to hear it read from someone who understands how to read iambic pentameter (it's the rhythm/meter that Milton--and Shakespeare--wrote in). Canterbury Tales: Middle English is even further removed from our English than the early-modern of Milton and Shakespeare, so you'll definitely need a very well glossed edition. Once you get into the rhythm of it, though, it's very fun. The miracle of TCT is just what a tremendous variety of life and styles Chaucer fits into it. Every tale and teller has such a unique, identifiable personality and voice, and in that respect Chaucer was very much the model for Shakespeare. There WILL be a learning curve with the language, though. Moby Dick: It IS a brilliant novel but I understand how some reader's patience can be tested by the detailed bits about whaling. Ultimately, though, those parts are dwarfed by all the character and plot and philosophical subtext. Incredibly powerful and unforgettable experience. Blood Meridian: It is extremely bleak and violent, but like Moby Dick it's profound and brilliant and even beautiful. McCarthy just has such a hypnotic style. Very much influenced by Faulkner and Hemingway, and he really incorporated the best of both. The Count of Monte Cristo: It's a page-turner. Not difficult at all besides the length. As for other difficult must-reads: The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner Ulysses by James Joyce To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon The Ambassadors by Henry James Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs The Recognitions by William Gaddis Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Blood Meridian. I've been psyching myself up for House of Leaves recently, too.

Some of these were already on my TBR and now I’m adding several more. House of Leaves has me the most intrigued, so I’ll definitely be seeking that one out soon. The idea of being terrified enough to need to get it out of my house has me very eager to dive in and find out what that’s all about. 😅

Just finished Blood Meridian last night, fantastic book. Hope you do a review when/if you get to it.

I have read parts of the Canterbury Tales, it's one of those books I keep telling myself I'll read later. I have read Moby Dick in high school English class. I have read Paradise Lost. I admire you r determination to read these difficult books, some I've never heard of. Looking forward to views of your progress.

Good luck with what you choose to rad. I hope you get some great stories.

Infinite Jest is a wild ride. It's so exceptional it doesn't seem long. The Count of Monte Cristo is wonderful. I'm trying to get brave enough to read Russian lit and will definitely rely on Benjamin Mcevoy for help. I admire you for challenging yourself. It's never too late to learn. It's so good for us! I hope you'll let us know how you fared.

The most challenging book I’ve ever read is The Concept Anxiety by Sören Kierkegaard. I’m trying to read more and more philosophical books, just to expand my horizons and soon I’m going to read Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche. I think it’s gonna be a tough one but I’m looking forward to it nonetheless! I also want to get into Dostoyevsky. I have The Brothers Karamazov but I want to read Crime and Punishment as well as Notes From The Underground. Great video as always! :)

Best wishes for a great challenge result. Milton and Chaucer poetic epics are fun and solidly illuminating. Russians tend toward depression time for me... Dumas a winner!

I have The Count of Monte Cristo on my tbr shelf. Found it at a free library in the grocery store I go to. It's the longest book on my tbr by like 300 pages. Not sure when I'll get to it as the length definitely makes it intimidating!

This is a great topic, I too wish, I had more of a reading awakening when I was younger, I feel like I discovered reading way too young in life. From your list of books, I hope you get a chance to read The Brothers Karamazov, I loved this book and the way that each brother explores a different philosophical ideas. I've also heard that the new Michael R. Katz translation of The Brothers Karamazov is amazing. A lot of these books sounds like essential reading us pretentious people, I fully support reading Infinite Jest, House of Leaves, etc for pretentious reasons

I was surprised not to find "Finnegan's Wake" on this one, but it's possible that one isn't rewarding. Of the ones you've listed I've only read "The Count of Monte Christo" and that one is delightful, brimming over with drama. I've read Dostoyevsky and names don't end up being an issue because the people attached to them are all so distinct, and they also won't be shy about telling you what's doing in Russia at the time, since many of them babble.

I bought the B&N edition of Count of Monte Cristo! I can’t wait to read it

i love infinite jest. my favorite book of all time, as well as a little life. both have changed my life immensely, in different ways.

I read Pere Goriot last year, and it was great. "Hard" books I recommend, that are worth the "struggle"; The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann and Essays by Michel de Montaigne.

I have the same copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, and hope to read it soon. I read the first couple of pages, and it seems really interesting. House of Leaves is a trip, but once I thought about it, I realized the format makes sense in a screwy sort of way. My husband gave me the side eye a few times when he saw me turning the book to read sideways or upside down text, lol! I just found your channel and subscribed. Great list! Vivian

Glad to see Pete Goriot on your list. It is one of the books that made me a fan of Balzac.

Hello!! I’m new to your channel. Great list! I read The Count.. when I was a kid & remember really enjoying it. I read it so long ago that’s it’s on my TBR list. Moby Dick is one of my fav books. It’s true that Melville digresses rather frequently from his plot but IMO he was a genius so all it is worth reading. I also think it’s an allegory about America’s rapacious desire to conquer the continent, AKA “manifest destiny.” I also love C McCarthy esp The Road, which I actually think is a better book than Blood Mer but BM is def worth reading & great. My fav Russian is Chekhov & I’m not a huge Dostoyevsky fan tho I have his big ones on my TBR, along many by Tolstoy. Thanks!! 😊

I would highly recommend reading Tristram Shandy by Laurence Stern! We read it as part of our studies in college and it's wild.

I feel you. I grew up in a city and neighbourhood where ... Shall we say my neighbours were drunks and their daughter often came by to eat with us. For a variety of reason I was a strange and meek child and I grew up in my own world, not fitting in and was most happy when my classmates ignored me, because any attention I got was rarely positive. For all that though, it afforded me that formal education. I was the first in my family to finish upper secondary and I ended my educational journey with an MA in Historoy and linguistics. Sometimes not fitting in can have benefits. I have only read 5 out of the 10 books you showed (though I just bought House of Leaves) and none of them were not as part of a Uni course, so kudos for wanting to tackle them on your own. The best advice I can give you in reading these books is get the annotated versions. It will add context that is often omitted. Often times great classics are great classics because they reflect the times they were written in. As an example, I just read Norwegian Woods by Murakami, because I like to torture myself. The books is, as most of the books you present are, literary fiction. It is basically an allegory for the youth movement that failed back when Murakami was young and it reflects the social problems with intimacy that the Japanese society has. To that effect, the characters feel a bit like cardboard cutouts and often nor particularly likeable or even relatable, and that is because they are, in fact, card board cut outs. They are stereotypes and each reflect a particular "archetype" within young people in Japanese society. What makes it a classic is the fact that all if this critique still holds true today. Murakami manages to capture something truly essentila about his society and has some very bitter and poignant things he wants to say. The problem is that you need to know all of this in order to undertand what you are reading and why it is good. I have never read Murakami before, simply because the people who read him in the west tend to be the pretentious types who do not understand how to read literary fiction or even what the point of it is and yet they still, in an attempt to sound clever, pretend like it is the best book they have ever read. And that is a bit of a turn off for me. And maybe in some cases the story itself is in fact good (that is not the case for the surface story of Norwegian Woods btw, it was torture to get through ....). But often times it is a bit like people who watch Citizen Caine and claim that it is the best thing ever, not knowing that the reason it is seen as the best movie ever made is because it is basically a cinematic version of every single area of study you come into contact with on first year of university of you study film and media. The point is, get the annotated versions that gives you the context that you need in order to fully understand them. Often times that is not even enough (in the case of Fyodor Dostoevsky I would urge you to read up in Russian literature late 1800's as well as get a bit of a feel for the Russian history of the time, namely their relations to the rest of Europe, as well as the philosophical ideas leading up to this point. Dostoevsky is hard to read. Unless you really do just want to rad the surface level. In which case it is just a boring and at times a bit of a baffling read.)

I thoroughly enjoyed Brothers Karamazov. The translation I got made it quite easy to read. The real challenge for me was getting through the entirety of the text, just because of its length. The Russian names were intimidating to me at first but the text mostly uses their nicknames, which are much shorter and easier to remember. I read House of Leaves years ago and the first part (in conventional paragraph format) really did give me an eerie, weird feeling. The rest of the book, I just blazed through though, so I couldn’t fully appreciate it. I’m planning on reading it again one of these days though. The most challenging book I read was Dictionary of the Khazars. A relatively short book but its format is dictionary entries that are related to 3 different variations of religion. You can read it in any way you like (front to back, jumping back and forth between entries, alphabetically, etc) and you’ll have to stitch together the narrative yourself since it doesn’t tell a clearly linear story. Quite interesting to read. I had to make an Excel file to organize the dictionary entries because I read them based on how related each entry was to another.

The dirty joke in the Cantabury tales is hilarious.

The Count of Monte Christo and Blood Meridian are brilliant reads. I keep meaning to read a classic as it's been a while; I was thinking of reading East Of Eden but your video has reminded me that I have The Canterbury Tales on my kindle so that may be next!

Slowly mucking through Proust. Leaving done students in a summer test through of Brothers K. That book is ready to read. Goes down like a glass of water, but sprouts inside you.

This is a great selection of novels. and all very readable. I think you might have more than a year's worth of reading here - take your time and enjoy them like a fine wine. Glad you didn't include Finnegan's Wake or anything 'experimental' (though I suppose The House of Leaves ticks that box - it does, however 'make sense ' and is fun to read)

I came from a family of voracious readers. Its one of the great things my parents instilled into me. My parents were of the mind of read what you enjoy. I got through 600 pages of Infinite Jest in the early 2000's. Don't force yourself to get through it. Out of your other reads. Blood Meridian was one of the two books. I listened to the audio book*. It was the only way I was going to get through. Also a very long car ride helped. I've read other Format McCarthy books with no issues. Best of luck on the reading. *The other was Unruly by David Mitchell. I've got it on my Kindle. But found I could listen to it in Spotify. And being a fan of Mitchell and saw he did the audio version. Was a no brainer.

You'll be reading Canterbury in a poetic but modern English translation. Btw, the KJV is not middle English. The pronounciation of M/E is different, but you could read the original text I'm sure with a little bit of work. Some of the books on your list I've never heard of. Oh, Paradice is wonderful!

A Little Life is one of the most depressing books I've ever read. I was emotionally drained afterwards. You can tell that the author is a gifted writer, but I'm not sure I can ever go through that kind of experience again.

I'm interested in House of Leaves after your explanation, had heard the name before but none of those other details about "how" to read it. Sounds fascinating, it's going on my list. Certainly not nearly as involved but I just finished Freeze Frame Revolution which had certain letters bolded (or I've heard red in some editions) and if you asemble all the letters, it has a sentence and a web address to a sequel short story. I love this sort of thing

Count of Monte Cristo is next on my list. Exciting!

I actually just finished reading Moby Dick! Your worry about it testing your patience is well-founded, but the chapters are rather short (there's just so many of them). Think of it as a whaling journey in itself: sometimes you're working through chores, doing practical things, stuck in your head a lot staring out at the waves...until suddenly something exciting happens! I found that Ishmael is ultimately giving you something indispensable in understanding the gravity of his story: context. You will understand exactly the why and how of the ending, its depth, its philosophy, because of his exhaustive reflections and lessons on whales. But yes, I did still feel rather imposed upon before the penny dropped on its brilliance.

If you end up liking Milton, you'll probably love Blood Meridian -- also, try Dante, it's worth learning Italian to read it (Charles S. Singleton bilingual edition with commentary from Princeton UP)

Yes Moby Dick is on my TBR too! I fell in love with the story when I read the children’s classic version with my son. It’s significant because he didnt like to read. It was a lot of trial and error finding the right thing for him. We read this together and we continue to discuss Captain Ahab and reference the story in our lives. And we discovered he likes classic stories of adventure! Like Tom Sawyer and all vs modern fantasy that most kids are reading. He is 15 mine but he must have been 9-10 when we read Moby Dick

First time I’ve heard of House of Leaves, thank you. Count of Monte Cristo isn’t particularly challenging as previously mentioned but it is long read😂. Some parts you will fly through and other parts can drag a little. Anyone who loves The Road deserves a sub 👍

I can strongly recommend Karamazov brothers and Count of Monte Cristo. The last one is a little bit naive at the beginning but it gets better and better.

I read BrosKar earlier this year. The biggest thing I thought by the end was, "Just. Stop. Talking." 😄 I'm halfway through Moby right now. I understand what makes it one of the greatest novels of all time. But, some of the whaling stuff got pretty gory. I don't usually feel the ick when reading. But I sure did with this one. It's a really forward looking structure, quite experimental for his time. But I'm a bit bogged down atm. Maybe over the summer...

I had so much fun reading The Canterbury Tales! English is not my main language, but I found the translation very accessible. Knowing a little about how old English is, I can't imagine reading it in its original. 😅 In my country, classic novels that are super dense get split into several volumes, so The Count of Monte Cristo had 3 volumes and most anything Dostoievski is split into 3-4 volumes, which definitely makes the process easier. And btw, there is a fantastic anime adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, I would totally recommend it after you read the book.

I am adding all of these to my reading list. So thanks lol

Infinite Jest is absolutely hilarious. Don't be put off by the length, it really draws you in and it went from being a book I never thought I'd ever read - mistakenly presumed it would be too densely allusive to enjoy - but ended up loving just how much of a treasure hunt it turned out to be. I loved that there were words I'd never come across sprinkled throughout, found some very eerie predictions of how modern life has turned out, genuinely laughed out loud at many points and found the parts that involved (this isn't a spoiler in any way) people in rehab, very honest and sympathetic without being sentimental. It is a very 'involved' book that you need to spend a bit of time unwinding all the footnotes, glossary and think about why JFW chose certain words, but it really is worth it. The only thing that wasn't amazing was the ending, but it doesn't really take anything away from the enjoyment. It's a riot and I hope you enjoy it. Chaucer will do your head in if you don't have some kind of supplemental material on hand to help you through it. Even reading it aloud, Middle English can be so different to modern English that it's hard to even find the root of what the word is you're trying to understand. (Yes, even when reading out loud). Out of all the books you've listed here it's the one which will probably test you the most - even more than Moby Dick, because as long and dense as the entire back-history of the whaling industry is, at least the words are those you can comprehend. It might be worth looking for some online lectures or classes by English professors who can help you find your "in" to it. And if you're picking just one of the Canterbury Tales, 'The Wife Of Bath' is pretty fun. She was a proper character. A classic English battleaxe! Good luck! Bex P.S: I have Monte Cristo, Little Life and Goriot on my TBR too, so I'll keep an eye out for your future videos of these. 👍

I hope to change your mind about your regrets in terms of your basic education. I taught for 32 years and came to believe that we introduced great books too early. The life experiences you bring to THE BROTHERS K and other books on this list will deepen your enjoyment and appreciation in ways that a teenager could not perceive. Bon voyage as you wrap yourself in these new worlds. Your list gave me a couple of new books to read.

Years ago I read every word of Moby Dick and have regretted it ever since. Time may have twisted my memory a bit, but it's something like 95% useless information on whaling, and 5% really good stuff. A piece of advice I would give younger me: it is OK to quit a book if you're not enjoying it! (I also read The Count of Monte Cristo years ago and enjoyed just about every minute of it!)

That Dali clock is SICK!

Excellent list!

Infinite Jest.... where to start?? I was told when I started to read it that 1)you must read the footnotes 2) You need to read the first 500 pages before it will make sense 3) tabs are a must. You won't be able to put it down!

Les Miserablses - while I didn't finish it I am glad that I read the amount of it that i did. I may at some point go back and try again. With books that have a translation is is often important to find the 'right' version for you.

I am currently waiting for my copy of Infinite Jest to arrive in the mail. Can't wait to try and tackle the beast lol

Great job. I'm reading Moby Dick right now and I think it will be worth the effort. Prepare yourself for A Little Life, it is gut wrenching but well worth the pain. I am quite interested now in investigating House of Leaves. I would add The Jungle and Lolita to the list! Maybe Death on the Installment Plan by Celine, but after the those other two.

House of Leaves is a huge undertaking but it's so worth it! There was one point where I was sitting in my apartment and I swore the walls were moving

Consider adding to your list The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner. It's worth the effort.

19th century character development is fantastic - plot development, not so much. I loved Moby Dick, enjoy! I just found your channel and really like it. I do have a suggestion - when you are discussing a book, hold it steady. It is easy to hold a book and end up using it to express your opinion about it, while moving your hands around. It can be distracting for the viewer, however. Some book tube channels use a graphic image of the book, while they are discussing it. I think you have selected some really good books, but I know it would take me longer than a year to read all of them - I only read 20 pages an hour so most people are able to read more material at a faster pace. I am looking forward to hearing your opinion of House of Leaves.

Moby Dick is one of my favourite books I’ve read it three times and I always take something new from it. The whaling chapters are a challenge the first time you read it but on re read it really shines. Monte Cristo is very accessible and it’s a real page turner, it flys by. As for Blood Meridian….you might want to plan a few Disney cartoons once you finish it 😂.

So I dnfd blood meridian.. but I'm happy it's on this list. It's made me want to try again. A little life is an epic character study and emotionally challenging but soooo worth it. .. another to add to the list that I'm struggling with at the moment is shogun.. its long .. its understanding different cultures in history.. it's taking its toll .. good luck

Absolutely love the idea of this video there needs to be more off it!! There are definitely some books on my TBR that are so daunting to me and I keep putting it off because it is so daunting! However what maybe could help is to do a buddy read? Not sure if you even have plans like that or if that's even possible now but I would love to be a part of a future buddy read on discord or something with whatever is next! Russian literature is notoriously dense and even with my relatively decent education I feel like I am not intellectually equipped to read it. Please don't feel bad about your education, there is no shame in that, on the contrary I applaud you for trying to tackle these behemoths of literature!! Blood meridian can also be found on my tbr, but one thing I avoid like the plague are books whose sole purpose is to smash my heart into tiny little pieces. Life is sad enough as it is kinda want to stay away from it in my escape literature.... My personal daunting book lists does include some russian literature like Crime and punishment [The brothers Karamazov as well] but also lots of 'classics' if that makes sense....in all genres really. Malazan Book of the Fallen is on my goal list at least the first book by end this year [there are 10 books...] honestly if you read blood meridian, I am going to drop everything and read it with you so help me God. Never read anything by cormac McCarthy and this book is so notorious I need to know what the hype is all about!

My adult son and I both read Infinite Jest this year (he finished and I'm still working on it) and you definitely need to read the footnotes and keep a dictionary handy, his use of esoteric words is unbelievable! Brilliantly weird. We are hoping to pick a classic book each year to read together. Loved this topic and seeing your selections. I have read most of them (I'm old, lol) but I'm still working through my "want to read" of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. I remember reading Cantebury Tales in high school and we acted out some of the stories aloud in front of the class. My parents had three daughters and my Dad was always giving me "boy type" books to read and The Count of Monte Cristo was his favorite, so he gave it to me in high school and we both loved talking about it together. I can't say I enjoyed being dragged to see Western cowboy movies with him as much, lol.

I am fairly active reader and can give a big thumbs up on Brothers Karamazov, Moby Dick and The Count of Monte Cristo. IMHO paper is much better than electronic reading devices. I also recommend modern Chinese novel, The Seventh Day by Yu Hua as totally captivating read.