T5W – Book I’m Intimidated By

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It’s that time of the week again when I bring you the Top 5 Wednesdays, created by gingerreadslainey and hosted by Sam @ThoughtsOnTomes. If you want to know how T5W works you can go to the Goodreads group by clicking here. This week theme is Book You’re Intimidated By. I’m not easily intimidated by books but there are few that I look at them and get scared because of big they are. I have most of these books in my bookshelf and every time I actually think of reading them I give up even before trying. But still, here are a few books I’m intimidated by.

books I'm intimidated by

1. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Every time I look at these books in my bookshelf (yes, books because it’s split in two volumes) I start thinking how in the hell will I be able to read that. But I really want to read it and I will, eventually.

2. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

I always wanted to read this book but then I read Tale of Two Cities and hated it. It took me one month to finish that book and that normally doesn’t happen to me. Now I feel really intimidated bu Great Expectations.

3. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

This is the only books in this top I don’t own mostly because every time I see these in the bookstore I think that I won’t read it that soon. I actually read The Hobbit already and loved it but then I think about these and I should really read them soon. It still has to happen XD

4. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Funny story, I started this one 2 years ago got to about 15% and gave up. This book is huge and I still want to read it but every time I look at it I get scared and never pick it up. Once again, I’ll read it… eventually.

5. Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon

Technically I already read the first book and loved it. I also started Dragonfly in Amber but I’ve had 25% to read left for almost a year. I should really go back to it, especially now that season 2 of the show premiered, but I haven’t yet. To make everything worse I think about the other 5 books I have left and I get even more intimidated.

These are some of the Book I’m Intimidated By. What about you? Which books do you have in your list?

45 thoughts on “T5W – Book I’m Intimidated By”

  2. I read Les Misérables for my final dissertation project, alongside Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. The only advice I could offer is to just prepare yourself for Hugo’s random 50-page long tangents. I believe there was one about the Paris sewer system that didn’t amount to anything – fascinating enough but at times not exactly relevant to the main plot. 😛

    If you didn’t like A Tale of Two Cities but want to read Great Expectations I would say try not to let that put you off as they are two very different novels! A Tale of Two Cities is more overtly historical and political in tone whereas (as I remember it at least!) Great Expectations is more specifically character driven storylines.

    My own intimidating reads include a lot of Dickens haha and classics like Herman Melville’s Moby Dick – it’s not the longest of books (and nowhere near as long as Les Misérables) but I feel like it’s one of those books whose content is so rich and deep, I really need to spend time on it, you know? The Luminaries is also on my list because I think I got 40 pages in once and gave up due to the sheer weight of it.

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    • Good to know Great Expectations is not like A Tale of Two Cities. I might give it a try soon. I don’t know how I feel about what you just said about Les Misérables but I’ll try to read it and I hope I’ll love it because I really want to love it.
      I was never really interested in Moby Dick but you’re not the first person I hear saying that is intimidating. I can’t see that it might not be the easiest book to read.

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      • I would definitely say give Dickens another try. 🙂 Plus I’m lead to believe Great Expectations has some decent television and film adaptations, so if you can get hold of them that might be something to enjoy too.

        I think with Les Misérables you just have to be prepared to find it a bit hard work at times. I actually really enjoyed it but, then again, I had to find enjoyment in it somehow because I was stuck working with it for months for my dissertation. I say ‘stuck’ but I did enjoy it!

        I’ve heard so many wonderful reviews of Moby-Dick but with those reviews have come comments about how rich and clever Melville’s style is and it makes me think it’s going to need maximum concentration to read it. I keep saying I’m not in the right frame of mind or it’s ‘not the right time’ – I’m not sure when the ‘right time’ is going to be though!

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    • I’m pretty sure I’ll love The Lord of the Rings. I love the movies and I loved to read The Hobbit. You should read Outlander. It’s really good (at least I can say that the 1st book is really good)

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  8. I was the exact same with Dragonfly in Amber. I was at about 100 pages in for a year then with the new season starting I got back into it and it sucked me that I finished it in two days! I think because it starts off different kind of deters getting into it especially if you just finished the first one. Great list!

    Danica @ A Redheaded Bookworm
    T5W

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