Posted on 03/09/2007 11:22:35 PM PST by Blind Eye Jones
Catch-22
Ulysses wins for me, hands down. I've picked it up at least 6 times in the last 20 years. I've not made it past page 100 yet.
A very helpful commentary on the Book of Revelation is one written by Ben Witherington a few years ago. I teach this stuff, and it is very readable and pitched for the general audience.
Carolyn
gravitys rainbow by thomas pynchon,
but well worth it
I was wondering how many responses it would require to come up with Pynchon. He's on my short list of gratuitous incomprehensibilty too.
I can't remember the title, but I read a book about sharing the Gospel, or explaining the Gospel, written by a less-than-average writer about fifty years ago.
Ugh. It was SO hard to get through. It must be laying around somewhere (I hate throwing out books). Okay, I found it. It's called The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert E. Coleman (1963 -- came close, didn't I?).
Funny thing, it came highly recommended, with evidently many many printings, etc. I remember bringing to my reading room at church, trying my best to get through it, and finally venting to a pastor about how bad the writing is. I think his wife told me I should look at this as a sign of where God wanted me to work.
Years later, I switched churches and now attend Redeemer in Manhattan. The pastor is brilliant at making the gospel real each week, and helping us explain it in a large city in post-modern America.
Now I feel like I am way, way better equipped to share the Gospel with just about anyone, and I find myself doing it more and more.
LOL. The best selling unread book ever. My copy is sitting in a closet somewhere. I think I might have read the title page.
I started to read As I Lay Dying and never finished it. Reading it was similar to taking a nap but not being able to fall asleep.
9/11 Commission Report
Possibly the best science fiction novel ever. The sequels and prequels co-authored by his son are dreck, however.
Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain. I liked some of his other stuff, ie Death in Venice and Doctor Faustus but that was a mountain too high for me.
Funny -- I think Michener's Hawaii comes in a close second.
Any Nobel Prize Winner.
I took three runs at that one before I finally got it. Once you figure out what brenschlaus (sp?) is, you are on your way. Probably the most obscure accounts of being bombarded by V2s anywhere...
I was the same way. I liked Name of the Rose so much I couldn't wait to read Foucault, but after 2 chapters had to give up.
I commiserate with you. I was going to say that if not posted. Any 'novel' by William Faulkner (tormentor of English majors for decades).
Hey, I read that. It wasn't bad. I went on a Michener kick in the early 80's and read like five of his books. I was 2/3 through Space when I said "That's enough!", threw it against a wall and never read a word he wrote since. Fun while it lasted, though.
you got the entire Gulag for 50 cents? the whole thing is in several volumes and runs about 2000 pages!
it is well worth the read, IMO.
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