The Reading Challenge Group discussion

The Really, Really, Really, Really, Hard 2015 Challenge!


January – This month: New Year = new authors! Read 5 books that are new to you authors.
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1. by Tina Reber
2. by P.J. Manney
3. by Patrick Süskind
4. by Jodi Picoult
5. by V.E. Schwab
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February – This month: Read 5 books with a red or pink cover to celebrate Valentine's Day
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2.
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4.
5.
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March – This month: March Madness!!! Read 3000 pages.
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Some Enchanted Éclair 336
Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History 336
The Only Pirate at the Party 272
Tarnished And Torn 314
Magic and Macaroons 304
Icebound Empire: Industry and Politics on the Last Frontier 1898 - 1938 354
The Vesuvius Club 240
Shatterproof 192
Writer in Residence 236
The Enchanted 237
Accidentally Demonic 352

Total: 3,173
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April – This month: Rain Rain Go Away! Read 5 books from 5 different genres.

May – This month: School is Out! Read 5 books where something comes to an end. Could be a death, end of a series, divorce, etc.

June – This month: Vacation Time! Read 5 books set in different locations.

July – This month: July 4th! Read 5 books with a red, white, or blue cover.

August – This month: It's Hot as Hades! Read 5 books that are hot romances or 5 hot new releases.

September – This month: Labor Day! Read 5 books where the main characters have a different profession.

October – This month: Oktoberfest! Read 5 books that are set in Germany or have a German character.

November – This month: The Year is Almost Over! Read 5 books that you need to catch up on either for a challenge(s), reviews, etc.

December – This month: Happy Holidays! Time is short for a lot of us this month. Read 600 pages from any genre.

Non-Fiction Bingo


January
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February
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March




April
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May
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June
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July
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August
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September
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October
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November
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December
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Alice in Wonderland


Read either Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass
Read a book based on Alice’s Adventures
Read a book with the word Adventure, Wonder or Land in the title
Read a book with a character named Alice
Read a book where the character is lost or is trying to get back home
Read a book that takes place in a fantasy world
Read a book with a Queen as a character
Read a book with a heart on the cover
Read a book published in November
Read a book with a Tea Party in the story
Read a book with a Tea Cup on the cover
Read a book with a girl or woman wearing a blue dress on the cover
Read a book written by a male author
Read a book that takes place in England
Read a book where the character has a cat
Read a book with a clock or watch on the cover
Read a book Book with the word Time in the title
Read a book where the character is always late
Read a book with flowers on the cover or in the title
Read a Series Book Number 1
Read a Series Book Number 2
Read a book that references or quotes the story
Read a book with an animal that talks
Read a book that mentions the game chess or croquet
Read a book that has been turned into a movie
Read a book that references a nursery rhyme
Read a book where the MC drinks something that changes them in some way
Read a book with a hat on the cover
Read a book with a knight as a character
Read a book with twins in the story
Read a book with a playing card on the cover
Read a book with the word heart, spade, club, or diamond in the title
Read a book with a mirror (looking glass) on the cover or in the title
Read a book where the character celebrates a birthday
Read a book where a character disappears in some way
Read a book that makes you grin

Summer Fun
June, July, August


1. Be a Tourist: Choose a location you have always wanted to visit and read a book that takes place there. Let us know where you visited.

2. Explore a Museum: Read a book that is labeled historical fiction, a book where art is an important component or a book that partially takes place in a museum.

3. Take Your Dog to the Park: Read a book with a dog on the cover or a book where a dog is an intregral part of the plot.

4. Build a Sand Castle: Read a book that has a castle in the story or a book with a beach or sand on the cover.

5. Attend a Family Reunion: Read a book about a family or a book where there is a family gathering of some sort.

6. Catch Fireflies: Read a book with a light source of some kind on the cover (natural or man made).

7. Sing Along to the Radio: Tell us your favorite summer song and read a book that has one of the song title words in the book title.

8. Make a Splash: Read a book that takes place by the ocean, a lake or river or has a body of water on the cover.

9. Have a Summer BBQ: Read a book that has two B's in the title (they do not have to be next to each other) or a book whose author's First AND Last Initials can be found in the word: SUMMER.

10. Ride a Ferris Wheel or Roller Coaster: Read a book that has a circular object or carnival ride on the cover, or read a book that kept you on the edge of your seat.

11. Plant a Garden: Read a book that has a green cover, a book with flowers on the cover or a book that grew on you as your read it.

12. Can Fresh Fruits or Vegetables: Read a book that has a vegetable or fruit on the cover or a book with a recipe included.

13. Go On a Road Trip: Read a book that has a road trip of some sort in it or a book with a vehicle on the cover.

14. Find the Perfect Summer Read: Read a book from one of the following Listopia lists. Please let us know which list your book came from.

15. Make Homemade Ice Cream or S'mores: Read a book with a tasty treat on the cover or a book you consider an indulgence.

16. Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Read a book that mentions baseball, a book that has something diamond shaped on the cover or a Series #3.

17. Let's Go Camping: Read a book that takes place in the great outdoors or in a national park.

18. Visit Your Local Library: Read a book you have checked out from your local library (online checkouts count).

19. Learn Something New: Read a non-fiction book or a book where you learned something new.

20. Rekindle the Spark: Read a Romance or a book that pulled at your heart strings.

21. Just Be Lazy: Read a book between 125 and 250 pages long or a book that took little effort to read.

22. Watch a Movie: Read a book that has been adapted into a movie.

23. Soak Up the Sun: Read a book with a yellow or tan cover or a book with the word "sun" in the title.

24. Join or Start a Summer Book Club: Read a book that has the tag "Book Club" on it's main page.

25: Gaze at the Stars: Read a book with the word NIGHT or STAR in the title or read a 5 star book from a friends book shelf (please let us know whose shelf it was from).

12 Month Challenge


January -
February -
March -
April -
May -
June -
July -
August -
September -
October -
November -
December -

Diagon Alley Supply List


Uniform
1.Three sets of plain work robes (black)
- Features item of clothing on cover or a black cover (x3)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
- Features a hat on cover
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
- Features gloves or a dragon on cover
4. One winter cloak (black with silver fastenings)
- Features black or silver cover
5. Please note all clothing should carry name tags
- Author's last name starts with same initial as your last name (S)
- Author's first name starts with same initial as your first name (D)
- Publisher name starts with same initial as your middle name (S)

Course Books
1. Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshank
- "Spell" in the title or author named Miranda
2. A history of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
- Fantasy or sci fi genre
3. Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
- Historical Fiction genre
4. A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
- First book in the series
5. One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
- "1,000" in title or plants on the cover
6. Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
- Features magic or potions
7. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
- Animals on the cover
8. The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trinble
- Features a killer or criminal

Other Equipment
1. One wand
- Wand on cover
2. One cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
- Book with a pot on the cover
3. One set glass or crystal phials
- Glass phials or tubes on the cover
4. One telescope
- Sky, stars, planet, or telescope on the cover
5. One set brass scales
- Scales on the cover

May also bring an owl OR cat OR toad
- Owl, cat, or toad on the cover

Oooh, I love your challenges for 2016, Delta!

Chinese Zodiac


Rat -
Ox -
Tiger -
Rabbit -
Dragon -
Snake -
Horse -
Goat -
Monkey -
Rooster -
Dog -
Pig -

Astrological Symbols


Aries -
Taurus -
Gemini -
Cancer -
Leo -
Virgo -
Libra -
Scorpio -
Sagittarius -
Capricorn -
Aquarius -
Pisces -

These challenges are insane. I look forward to seeing how they go!

A-Z Plays Challenge
I've noticed a distinct lack of challenges featuring plays and I haven't felt comfortable using them for challenges because of their lengths. So I will put it here.
A
B
C - Ceremonies in Dark Old Men
D
E
F - The Food Monologues
G
H
I
J - Jump at the Sun
K - The first part of King Henry the Sixth
L
M - Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

European Challenge


Albania
Andorra
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium - Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
England - Fool
Estonia
Finland
France - Scarlet
Georgia
Germany - All the Light We Cannot See
Greece - The Blood of Olympus
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland - Cradle and All
Italy - The Serpent of Venice
Kazakhstan
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Netherlands - The Fault in Our Stars
Norway - Ice Shadows
Poland - The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story
Portugal
Republic of Macedonia
Romania
Russia - Holy Fool Holy Father
San Marino
Scotland - X Marks the Scot
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain - The Angel Court Affair
Sweden - The Bones of Odin
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine - Everything Is Illuminated
Vatican City
Wales - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

I like the idea of this challenge, but I didn't want to do it to a time limit. I'm desperately trying to get through the back log of first-reads, so I will only pull from there. Started August 8, 2015

12 books that you've acquired most recently

1. Murder in Java
2. Never Always Sometimes
3. The Admissions
4. Finding Someplace
5. Gold, Fame, Citrus
6. Ice Breaker
7. Come For Me
8. Eternal Mercury
9. Interest
10. Glimmer
11. Camallay: An Infinite Worlds Novel
12. How the World Moves: The Odyssey of an American Indian Family

11 books have been on your shelves the longest
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1. The Living Years: The First Genesis Memoir
2. The Angel Court Affair
3. Effortless Healing: 9 Simple Ways to Sidestep Illness, Shed Excess Weight, and Help Your Body Fix Itself
4. Holy Fool Holy Father
5. The Society of Orion Book Three Deception Colton Banyon Mysteries
6. Bullied Kids Speak Out: We Survived--How You Can Too
7. Social Safeguards: Avoiding the Unintended Impacts of Development
8. Capitol Revolution: The Rise of the McMahon Wrestling Empire
9. The Matchmaker
10. The Power & Intelligence of Karma & Reincarnation
11. A Brief Stop On the Road From Auschwitz
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10 books you randomly select from your shelves (using random.org)

1. Annie
2. The Light of Theolan
3. Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life
4. Jackpine
5. I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time
6. Pippa of Lauramore
7. Perfect Touch
8. Captain in Calico
9. Anchor and Flares: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hope, and Service
10. Targeted

9 sequels, series continuations, or spin-offs

1. Bound to Danger
2. Shattered Duty
3. Ride Steady
4. The Alpine Zen
5. Stormbound
6. Compulsion
7. Fatal Flaw
8. Persuasion
9. A Promise of Forever

8 novellas or short-story books

1. Viral: Stories
2. If I Would Leave Myself Behind: Stories
3. Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories
4. Dark Prince, Heed Thy Queen
5. We Can't Ever Do This Again
6. Buttonwood 24
7. Did Socrates Get Pissed ?
8. Fishbowl: A Novel

7 you're excited about reading
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1. Butter Off Dead
2. The Weight Loss Shift: Be More, Weigh Less
3. Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation
4. Do It Better: Twelve Sexual Routines and Principles You Wish You Knew
5. Uprooted
6. The Toymaker's Apprentice
7. BLOW: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel And Lost It All (hide spoiler)]

6 audio books
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1. Ice Shadows
2. Soul Cypher
3. Stones
4. Clan Lord: 카지노싸이트 Fiction Adventure Short Stories
5. Renegade Man
6. Midnight Riders
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5 how to or self-improvement books

1. Incremental Improvements: Change Your Life One Small Step At A Time
2. Beams of Light Piercing the Storm: Finding Hope in the Midst of Tragedy and Uncertainty
3. Passionate Pursuit: Getting to Know God and His Word
4. Stand Out: How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It
5. Rule of Thumb: A Guide to Sales Strategy

4 poems, plays, or graphic novels

1. Seated Above, Looking Below: Poems to Lift Your Spirit
2. Couples in Crisis: Five Plays
3. Blood and Honor: The Foreworld Saga Graphic Novels
4. A Silent Voice 1

3 books that you're not excited to read

1. 카지노싸이트 of Swimming Faster
2. The Coaching Solution
3. Metamorphosis: Journaling the Path from Domestic Violence Victim to Victor

2 children's books
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1. My Pet Human
2. Little Andrea's Great Adventure
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1 book that intimidates you

1. Goebbels: A Biography

Spring Carnival

Schnee Challenges (Winter)

Delta's Super Secret Hideout

Completed Challenges

Tower Teams IV
Tower Teams IV Book Posting

I Spy Challenge v 2.0


1. Color - The Golden Apple
2. Number - One for the Money
3. Things that grow - The Child Thief
4. Seasons - Winter
5. Name - Caden's Vow
6. Place - The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
7. Body part - Heart of Devin MacKade, The
8. Weapon - French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew
9. Body of water - Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
10. Form of water - Daring Do and the Forbidden City of Clouds
11. Product of fire
12. Celestial body - The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two
13. Architecture - Stranger in the Wizard's Tower
14. Senses - The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company
15. Royal title - The Princess Bride
16. Family member - My Father's Son
17. Element - Promises Made Under Fire
18. Time of day - 3:AM Kisses
19. Emotion/feeling - Enchantment
20. Metal - The Golden Compass
21. Animal/insect - Project Puffin: The Improbable Quest to Bring a Beloved Seabird Back to Egg Rock
22. Something to read - The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers
23. Gender identifier - The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared
24. Paranormal being - Strange Angels
25. Occupation - Eastern Cowboy
26. Food - Butter Off Dead
27. Punctuation mark
28. Land form - At the Mountains of Madness
29. Weather - Stormbound
30. Furniture - Cradle and All
31. Kitchen utensil - The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
32. Sport
33. Jewelry
34. Mode of transportation - Rocket 카지노싸이트
35. Compass direction - Ancient Places: People and Landscape in the Emerging Northwest
36. Relative direction - The Right Thing
37. Something to watch - Seduce Me at Sunrise
38. Country - Stars Between the Sun and Moon: One Woman's Life in North Korea and Escape to Freedom
39. State - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
40. A god
41. A holiday - A Dog Named Christmas
42. A disease - Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls
43. Cuss word
44. Toy - Buckminster's Ball
45. Military rank - Private
46. Something to smell - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
47. Something to taste - The Diva Runs Out of Thyme
48. Something to hear - A Christmas Story
49. Day of the week - Monday, Sunday
50. Month -

Career Day!


Adversary - The Secret Adversary
Collector - The Skin Collector
Cowboy - Eastern Cowboy
Demon Slayer - The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers
Detective - The Art Detective: Fakes, Frauds, and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures
Devil - Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Diva - Drop Dead Divas
Duchess - The Duchess War
Finder - Finder
Geek - Geek Love
God - Small Gods
Goddess - Sin City Goddess
Groupie - Serial Killer Groupies
Gunslinger - The Gunslinger
Guru - Death of a Guru
Handmaid - The Handmaid's Tale
Junglepreneur - Way of the Junglepreneur
King - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Oracle - Oracle: A Jade Ihara Adventure
Orphan Master - The Orphan Master's Son
Pirate - The Only Pirate at the Party
President - Ten Letters: The Stories Americans Tell Their President
Princess - The Princess Bride
Private - Private
Psychopath - The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry
Queen - Red Queen
Reaper - Reaper Man
Scientist - Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein - Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe
Spy - A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
Super - Hell's Super
Thief - The Child Thief
Time Lord - Doctor Who: Time Lord Fairy Tales
Time Traveler - The Time Traveler's Wife
Toymaker - The Toymaker's Apprentice
Yule Lord - Krampus: The Yule Lord
Warrior - Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage.
Werewolf - The Werewolf Meets His Match
Witch - Witches Abroad
Wizard - Stranger in the Wizard's Tower
Writer - Sleep Writer

What's in Your Pantry?


Apple - The Golden Apple
Apples - The Smell of Apples
Butter - Butter Off Dead
Cabbage - Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage.
Chicken - That Wasn't Chicken
Chili - Chili Con Corpses
Chocolate - Blood and Chocolate
Chocolate Chips - Charms and Chocolate Chips
Eclair - Some Enchanted Éclair
Egg - Project Puffin: The Improbable Quest to Bring a Beloved Seabird Back to Egg Rock
Fruitcake - Felony Fruitcake
Goats - The Men Who Stare at Goats
Grapes - Eight Hundred Grapes
Gummi Bears - Gummi Bears Should Not Be Organic: And Other Opinions I Can't Back Up With Facts
Ice - Ice Breaker
Lamb - Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
Lemon Cake - The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Macaroons - Magic and Macaroons
Milk - Milk-Blood: A Tale of Urban Horror
Octopus - The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness
Peach - James and the Giant Peach
Rabbit - Beware the Little White Rabbit
Salt - Salt: A World History
Spaghetti - The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Spice - The Spice Necklace: A Food-Lover's Caribbean Adventure
Sugar - Year of No Sugar
Thyme - The Diva Runs Out of Thyme
Truffle - Truffle's Sad Song
Twinkie - Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats
Wheat - Wheat Belly Total Health: The Ultimate Grain-Free Health and Weight-Loss Life Plan

The Numbers Game


1 - Ready Player One
2 - NOS4A2
3 - Three Day Summer
4 - All 4 Da Doe
6 - Six Weeks to Yehidah
9 - Effortless Healing: 9 Simple Ways to Sidestep Illness, Shed Excess Weight, and Help Your Body Fix Itself
10 - Ten Letters: The Stories Americans Tell Their President
11 - Station Eleven
12 - Do It Better: Twelve Sexual Routines and Principles You Wish You Knew
22 - Catch-22
28 - Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes
30 - A Thirty-Something Girl
80 - The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation
100 - The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared
800 - Eight Hundred Grapes
1898 - Icebound Empire: Industry and Politics on the Last Frontier 1898 - 1938
2095 - Yours Truly, 2095
100,000,000 - BLOW: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel And Lost It All

Taste the Rainbow

Non-Fiction Challenge

NF book with > 500 pages
History
NF book that became a movie
Religion or Philosophy
NF book with a number in the title
Biography
NF book by a female author
NF book with a one-word title
NF about Nature or Animals
NF book set in a different country
NF book with a place in the title
NF related to Current Events
NF book you own but have never read
A Memoir
Math/Technology

I am in awe of your challenges! They look amazing!

Camille wrote: "I am in awe of your challenges! They look amazing!"

Aww, thanks!

I found this Buzzfeed article called The 25 Most Challenging Books You Will Ever Read.

1. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
What makes it challenging: There’s no clear plot — it’s all stream of consciousness, filled with idiosyncratic language, free association, and an overall attempt to capture the feeling of dreams. After seven decades, Joyce scholars continue to argue over what it all means.

2. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
What makes it challenging: The style is stream of consciousness with three different narrators and one third-person section. The first narrator is mentally disabled to the extent that he cannot process linear time and jumps between past and present mid-sentence.

3. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
What makes it challenging: You’ll never forget where you were when you learned that Shakespearean language is actually Modern English. That’s right — there was an English centuries before that’s even harder to understand. Chaucer’s collection of stories are often read translated, because the original is such a chore.

4. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez
What makes it challenging: Few family sagas stretch as wide as that of the Buendía clan — there are seven generations depicted here. As if that’s not confusing enough, names are frequently repeated (basically ever character is named Aureliano). And oh yeah, try reading it in Spanish.

5. Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
What makes it challenging: Quantum mechanics, mass extinction, speculative metaphysics — this is heavy stuff. It doesn’t help that Pynchon’s style is free-flowing and flashback-heavy. This has been called the definitive postmodern novel, which tells you everything you need to know.

6. The Female Man by Joanna Russ
What makes it challenging: There are multiple narrators throughout the novel’s nine chapters and various subdivisions, but it’s never clear who is speaking. (There are some clues. Good luck with that.) With the point of view changes, there are also confusing shifts in place and time.

7. Being and Time by Martin Heidegger
What makes it challenging: If you are looking for a straightforward explanation of existentialism, hermeneutics, and deconstruction, this is not the book for you. Reading it in a college course is bad enough — trying to understand it on your own is nearly impossible. Why must philosophy be so dense?

8. Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet
What makes it challenging: The classic queer novel about a drag queen named Divine — yes, the inspiration for the frequent John Waters collaborator — is lyrical and free-flowing. It’s beautiful to listen to (especially in the original French) but tough to follow.

9. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
What makes it challenging: It’s nearly 1100 pages. That aside, the novel is incredibly complex, with 388 endnotes — some of which also have footnotes. It’s not impossible to get through, but it is a serious undertaking. And of course, there’s the added pressure that this is one of those books you just have to read.

10. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville
What makes it challenging: The stuff about the white whale is fine, but there are several chapters — seriously so many — dedicated to whales and whaling. In high school, your teacher might let you skip them, but you’re not really reading Moby-Dick until you know how spermaceti is gathered.

11. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
What makes it challenging: Did you read The Lord of the Rings and think, “This needs way more backstory?” No, because you’re a sane person. But just in case, The Silmarillion offers a complete mythological history of Tolkien’s universe, and lo, it is dense.

12. Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
What makes it challenging: You know you’re in for something difficult when the prose is described as both “sparse” and “expansive.” McCarthy doesn’t use quotation marks or apostrophes, and he refuses to grant any interviews about the novel. Figure it out yourself, basically.

13. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
What makes it challenging: Now hear me out — there are likely plenty of Franzen fans shaking their fists right now, but his novel (however great) is truly dense. While readers may ease into the style, it’s initially rather slow-going, to say the least.

14. The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
What makes it challenging: There’s a lot of ambiguity, what with the novel shifting between realism and grand symbolic and mythological themes. It’s a constant back-and-forth between plot and allegory, and while Mann knew it was tough, he refused to offer any clues as to how to understand the work.

15. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
What makes it challenging: It’s largely an allegory for Objectivism, so if you don’t subscribe to Ayn Rand’s philosophy, making it through the lengthy novel is an unbearable chore. Don’t forget the 70-page speech that ends up being a significant chunk of the book.

16. Ulysses by James Joyce
What makes it challenging: The so-called greatest novel of all time might not be as impenetrable as Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, but it’s no easy task either. Inspired by The Odyssey, it contains a staggering 30,030 different words, and endless puns, allusions, and stylistic curiosities.

17. Underworld by Don DeLillo
What makes it challenging: Not only is Underworld non-linear — it spans from the 1950s through the 1990s, referencing contemporary historical events through disparate characters and intertwined themes. Even some of the most highbrow critics agree that it’s too long.

18. Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
What makes it challenging: As T.S. Eliot puts it in the introduction, “Only sensibilities trained on poetry can wholly appreciate it.” By which he means, this modernist novel is dense as hell. It’s important for its frank depictions of homosexuality, but that doesn’t make it any less of an ordeal.

19. Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard
What makes it challenging: With a title this daunting, it’s no surprise Baudrillard’s philosophical treatise is tough to digest. In addressing the relationship between reality and symbols, the philosopher exposes society while confusing the hell out of readers fighting a losing battle with postmodernism.

20. The Castle by Franz Kafka
What makes it challenging: Kafka never finished it, which doesn’t help. That aside, it’s complicated — the protagonist is known only as “K.” and the entire novel is a surrealistic take on alienation and bureaucracy. You’d have a much easier time with Kafka’s short stories.

21. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
What makes it challenging: Quentin Compson isn’t the most reliable narrator — you might remember him from The Sound and the Fury — especially when he’s telling a story to his roommate who keeps interrupting. As with most Faulkner novels, there are multiple points of view, and the truth is repeatedly obscured as the characters (and the reader) struggle to get the whole picture.

22. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
What makes it challenging: This is a novel of semiotics, the study of signs. Semiotics students use it to explain what they do — and I still have no idea what that is exactly. In some ways, The Name of the Rose is a straightforward mystery, but with complicated postmodernist elements.

23. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
What makes it challenging: In many ways, Mitchell’s novel is easier than the others on the list — it’s engaging and very readable. At the same time, it moves from the nineteenth century to a post-apocalyptic future, with a series of interconnected stories that end abruptly, then are finished in reverse chronological order.

24. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
What makes it challenging: Plot? What plot? I mean, it’s there, but this is a novel about philosophical introspection, with a plot that kind of happens in the background and is very hard to follow. There is minimal dialogue and action, because the whole thing is so internal.

25. The Recognitions by William Gaddis
What makes it challenging: Different characters are interwoven throughout the main narrative, which is loose to begin with. Gaddis admitted that his novel was “not reader-friendly.” That’s an understatement. Jonathan Franzen (who appears on this list) called The Recognitions the most difficult book he’d ever voluntarily read.