What is the most convoluted, opaque, impenetrable book you ever read?

Blind Eye Jones

[Blind Eye Jones]

What is the most convoluted, opaque, impenetrable book you ever read?

[Xenalyte]

SWEET! Now that's the kind of story I'm hoping to hear!

[Xenalyte]

Man oh man, "Walden" sucks something fierce! Especially when you find out what a poser Thoreau was, eating dinner with his family every day.

But it's still better than Whitman. He can celebrate himself all he wants, as long as he does it behind closed doors and doesn't bother me with it. UGH.

[Xenalyte]

I used to adore Tom Robbins, when I was a young liberal. I thought his books were wonderful.

Now, it's been at least a decade since I picked one up.

[Xenalyte]

Maybe I should give it another shot. I loved "The Name of the Rose."

The narrator's annoying Brazilian girlfriend and her habit of calling her baby something demeaning - was it Lump? - irked me and I wanted to slap her, pregnant and all.

[Xenalyte]

Oh, HELL yeah Castaneda! Lying publicity hound faux shaman!

[The Grim Freeper]

"The Golden Bowl" by Henry James. This fella writes sentences pages long and so filled with parentheticals and asides that by the time you finish the sentence, you have forgotten what the subject was.

I have challenged myself to finish it, because like cod liver oil, it may actually be good for me, and by virtue of simply keeping it down, I am already a hero.

[Smokin' Joe]

Sham-man? Yep. He had a lot of nitwits running around looking at their belly-buttons, though.

[trisham]

Ulysses. I never finished it, because I kept falling asleep.

[-YYZ-]

"Hard to understand, but a model of clarity compared to Hegel's Phenomenology of the Mind (or Heidegger's Being and Time)."

What is it about German philosophers? Let's not forget Wittgenstein. Talk about impenetrable.

Actually, a lot of philosophy is just so much chop-logic and arguing about angels on pinheads. As a philosophical field, I find apologetics especially mind-numbing.

[incredulous joe]

"Now, it's been at least a decade since I picked one up."

It's odd how that happens? I think "Skinny Legs" was the very last esoteric novel that I ever attempted.

Previous to that, I enjoyed "Stil Life with Woodpecker" and I remember thinking that "Jittergug Perfume" was some kind of revelation. Now, I kind of doubt I could make it through those.

A few folks in this thread have taken aim at Kurt Vonnegutt, and I have to admit that I still think his stuff is very funny.

In music I've noticed the same thing. I used to listen to the likes of REM and Billy Bragg. While I am definitely put off by the politics of these folks you'd figure that I would still enjoy queuing up there discs,...not so. Some of the stuff is only in vinyl and I have no intention of upgrading to CD.

I think sometimes this has to do with being liberal, or not having resolved one's core values, and by this I do not necessarily mean political. It's an interesting phenomenon. My wife says there is a name for this though - she calls it "growing up".

[keeper53]

LOL, that is funny!
Bump to an interesting and funny thread~~

[GopherIt]

Missed you lately. Interested in your read on present sit.

[statered]

dude, you must have not been high when you read him.

[statered]

You need to add the juice of half a lemon and half an orange. It really kicks it up a notch and adds a good accent. Yum

[geopyg]

I found a copy of "Utopia" at the used book store and thought I'd try to add some culture to my life. Bad idea. (Well, bad book anyway).

[Interesting Times]

The Island of the Day Before by Eco.

I'll second that one.

[Smokin' Joe]

Can you still read if you are high enough to sort it out?

[Scotswife]

income tax code.

[Scotswife]

"Edgar Allan Poe is also very difficult to read. Except maybe on a cold, winter's night with a couple tumblers of whiskey already in you"

wasn't that the manner in which it was written?

[statered]

If you have toothpicks for your eyes. Tobacco you must be smokin'.