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Ranker: Books You'll Never Finish Reading

"As Emily Dickinson famously said, "There is no Frigate like a Book / To take us Lands away," but sometimes you get halfway there and are all "Frigate, WTF, where are we even going?" There are some books that you will just never finish, no matter how many times you try. Maybe the authors of these hardest books to read are laughing at all of us right now, or maybe they didn't even mean to make the book so tough, but here we all are, slogging through these book swamps, trying to figure out what the hell James Joyce is even on about with Ulysses."
"Hard books to read run the gamut. Some are just too long, like War and Peace. Others are just perplexing and no one will ever know what's really going on in them, even that kid in your Honors College literature class who thinks he is so cool. Still others of the most difficult books ever written aren't even really that complicated, they just happen to be as boring as listening to anyone, anywhere, at any time, talking about traffic."
2,373 users · 7,720 views
 
from ranker.com · made by K.S. Smith
avg. score: 31 of 162 (19%)
required scores: 1, 16, 24, 31, 44 

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The Bible (Anonymous)
The Bible
1
Anonymous
Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
Moby Dick
2
Herman Melville
War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
War and Peace
3
Leo Tolstoy
Ulysses (James Joyce)
Ulysses
4
James Joyce
The Canterbury Tales (Geoffrey Chaucer)
The Canterbury Tales
5
Geoffrey Chaucer
A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
A Tale of Two Cities
6
Charles Dickens
Gone With the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
Gone With the Wind
7
Margaret Mitchell
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
Anna Karenina
8
Leo Tolstoy
Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
Wuthering Heights
9
Emily Bronte
The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
The Grapes of Wrath
10
John Steinbeck
Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)
Les Miserables
11
Victor Hugo
The Iliad (Homer)
The Iliad
12
Homer
Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
Atlas Shrugged
13
Ayn Rand
The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
The Scarlet Letter
14
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Red Badge of Courage (Stephen Crane)
The Red Badge of Courage
15
Stephen Crane
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
Jane Eyre
16
Charlotte Bronte
Don Quixote (Miguel De Cervantes)
Don Quixote
17
Miguel De Cervantes
The Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary
18
The Bridges of Madison County (Robert James Waller)
The Bridges of Madison County
19
Robert James Waller
The Last of the Mohicans (James Fenimore Cooper)
The Last of the Mohicans
20
James Fenimore Cooper
The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
The Good Earth
21
Pearl S. Buck
Walden (Henry David Thoreau)
Walden
22
Henry David Thoreau
Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
Crime and Punishment
23
Fyodor Dostoevsky
In Cold Blood (Truman Capote)
In Cold Blood
24
Truman Capote
David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
David Copperfield
25
Charles Dickens
Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)
Uncle Tom's Cabin
26
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
Catch-22
27
Joseph Heller
The Silmarillion (J.R.R. Tolkien)
The Silmarillion
28
J.R.R. Tolkien
The Sun Also Rises (Ernest Hemingway)
The Sun Also Rises
29
Ernest Hemingway
Roots (Alex Haley)
Roots
30
Alex Haley
Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
Lord of the Flies
31
William Golding
The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
The Count of Monte Cristo
32
Alexandre Dumas
Tess of the D'urbervilles (Thomas Hardy)
Tess of the D'urbervilles
33
Thomas Hardy
Exodus (Leon Uris)
Exodus
34
Leon Uris
Animal Farm (George Orwell)
Animal Farm
35
George Orwell
Paradise Lost (John Milton)
Paradise Lost
36
John Milton
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Steven R. Covey)
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
37
Steven R. Covey
1984 (George Orwell)
1984
38
George Orwell
Watership Down (Richard Adams)
Watership Down
39
Richard Adams
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
Pride and Prejudice
40
Jane Austen
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